Toronto is Friendlier than Vancover

[west_end_don]

Originally Posted by FellowTraveler

I lived in Toronto for many years, and with all due respect, the above observations are superficial at best. Torontonians are the rudest, most unfriendly, belligerent, and passive-aggressive people you will ever come across. BUT for some reason they only manifest these traits with each other. Torontonians have a sixth sense for who is an outsider, and they are unfailingly polite and pleasant with outsiders. Asking for directions is a dead giveaway of your outsider status, and will elicit nothing but kindness from a Torontonian.

The reason for this behavior is that Torontonians are a deeply embittered people. Most of them come from rural towns in northern Ontario and had no choice but to move there for work. They bring their small-town provincial attitudes with them while pretending to be big-city folk. Their deep insecurity leads them to believe that anyone who is fortunate enough to not have to live in Toronto (this applies double for Americans) must be better than them. And so they treat outsiders with the utmost respect and cordiality.

Try moving there and you will discover a very different side to these people.

"Most of them come from rural towns in northern Ontario..." - Where did you come up with that??? Have you ever been here? Or actually lived here?

I seriously doubt "Torontonians are the rudest, most unfriendly, belligerent, and passive-aggressive people you will ever come across".
You might have a point if you called us the most reserved or passive, but belligerent way off base. How often do you hear people even honk their horns in this city (except during world cup)?

I guess for some people the glass is always empty.

[Torontonian1980]

Originally Posted by FellowTraveler

Most of them are from Northern Ontario. Seriously. Nobody travels far to go to Toronto because it is such an unpleasant city to live in. People in Canada have reached a general consensus on their justified loathing of Toronto. Most people in Eastern Ontario would much rather live in Ottawa or Montreal, and those in Western Ontario are perfectly happy with London. All of these cities offer a much higher quality of life without the stresses or snobbery of Toronto. People in the Praries usually move to Vancouver rather than Toronto if they seek the big city lifestyle.

It is true that Toronto has an enormous number of people from out of the country. These people tend to stick to their little racial cliques so one generally has little contact with them, other than to hear them walking down the street speaking to each other in a foreign language. They definitely give Toronto a distinctly third-world country feel.

Why do so many apparently non-Torontonians like yourself hate us Torontonians so much that you have to make up such utter crap about us? Is it some kind of jealousy?

[titan5576]

Toronto is a tough place for an outsider and most will experience an initial culture shock. Some adapt and others never do. People can be very rude but there are some very nice people also. The thing is that the city is so big that you encouter so many diff types people everyday and if your personal life is not exactly in balance then little things are multiplied. Toronto is mostly a business city so unless there are some shared interest (money, business, family, alumni, culture etc), people just focus on themselves. Its hard to make friends as in anywhere in the world these days because humans have become increasingly suspicious of each other. But if you can find your type of people in Toronto, suddenly the city opens up and its beauty begins to show.

[dpylyp]

Originally Posted by FellowTraveler

The reason for this behavior is that Torontonians are a deeply embittered people.

OUCH

No matter where you travel people are people.

I try to smile at strangers, Make someone's day better.
Maybe I'm just a glass half full person.