Why does Philadelphia have a reputation of being a rude, mean city? (Indiana: homes, neighborhood)

[chicagoliz]

I haven't heard that it has a reputation of being a "rude, mean city." It's perhaps not as friendly as some midwestern cities, but it's friendlier than Boston. I haven't experienced it as particularly rude or mean. I'd say it's pretty average in term of rudeness and meanness.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by jkobb510

I never understood that. I visited Philadelphia, being warned that the people there can be rude, mean, or dangerous but met really friendly, down to earth people. Isn't it the City of Brotherly Love?

For better or for worse, "City of Brotherly Love" has nothing to do with an actual aspect of Philly. It's just literally what the city's name means in Greek. The city was named before it was physically laid out or anyone lived there.

It's so weird to me that people always have these serious discussions about this. It's like going to Los Angeles and wondering why you didnt see any angels there.

[Gerania]

There aren't any angels in Los Angeles? That guy on the corner told me his name is Angel.

[ionlyused59]

I haven't experienced this. I've met some of the friendliest people since living here! I engage in conversation with total strangers (largely due to the fact that I have my sweet pup with me).

If anything, the East Coast may have more of a "get somewhere quickly" mentality which could be interpreted as rude. Shrug. You'll find all types everywhere. I wouldn't trade the friends I've made here for the world. As for people on the street, some make eye contact and we'll exchange a "hello". Some open doors. Some don't. No biggie either way.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by ionlyused59

I haven't experienced this. I've met some of the friendliest people since living here! I engage in conversation with total strangers (largely due to the fact that I have my sweet pup with me).

If anything, the East Coast may have more of a "get somewhere quickly" mentality which could be interpreted as rude. Shrug. You'll find all types everywhere. I wouldn't trade the friends I've made here for the world. As for people on the street, some make eye contact and we'll exchange a "hello". Some open doors. Some don't. No biggie either way.

The "rep" probably came from a couple sports fan incidents that happened years ago. Booing Santa Claus. Or throwing batteries at that baseball guy... was it JD Drew? Tbh I hardly remember those things and I live in Philly.

[MikeNigh]

Actually if someone is being rude normally it's a pretty good indicator that they aren't from here (at least in the city).

[BajanYankee]

From the PBS interviews.

Glenn: Do you think that there's any personality traits shared by all Philadelphians?

Yvonne: Attitude. You get a lot of attitude. Oh yeah, you get a lot of attitude. You see it when you're a crossing guard. Doesn't matter where you are in the City, North Philadelphia, Kensington, Roosevelt Boulevard, anything, right? The first thing they'll yell out at you is yeo, move your fat ass out of the way. I hear this from drivers. Yeo, you stupid *****. And then the MF for everything. I even had somebody and call me a matagonlick. I don't understand Spanish that much, but I know what it is. I went your momma. (Laughter.) But you get a lot of attitude. That is like they say, oh, the City that loves you back. Yeah, would love to beat the hell out of 'ya. (Laughter.) You know, the City that loves you back. Yeah, they'll kick your butt, they'll love to kick your butt, you know? A lot of attitude. That's basically what you get all over. It doesn't matter if they're Hispanic, if they're white, they're black, if they're Puerto Rican, if they're Dominican, if they're Laotian, German, Irish. You get attitude. The City, people in the City have attitude. But I think they earned it because of all the BS they been getting lately from like the politicals and everything. I mean what have you done for me lately, you know?

PBS - Philadelphia Diary: Interviews

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by kyb01

The "rep" probably came from a couple sports fan incidents that happened years ago. Booing Santa Claus. Or throwing batteries at that baseball guy... was it JD Drew? Tbh I hardly remember those things and I live in Philly.

Or Frank Rizzo threatening to take Stan Bohrman to a back alley to find out "who the real man is." Or Bernard Hopkins stomping on the Puerto Rican flag in Madison Square Garden. Or Angel Garcia cussing out the media every opportunity he gets. That's obviously not everybody, but it's enough examples for people to develop certain perceptions of the city's residents.

My personal opinion and experience is that Philadelphians, on average, are harder-edged than New Yorkers. It's part of the charm.

The responses in these threads all seem to state the opposite of whatever's stated in the OP anyway. If I started a thread called "Philadelphians are the nicest people anywhere," people would argue that Philadelphians are among the rudest people in the world. So the thread is set up to elicit a lot of contrary opinions.

[Clark Park]

Originally Posted by rotodome

For better or for worse, "City of Brotherly Love" has nothing to do with an actual aspect of Philly. It's just literally what the city's name means in Greek. The city was named before it was physically laid out or anyone lived there.

It's so weird to me that people always have these serious discussions about this. It's like going to Los Angeles and wondering why you didnt see any angels there.

True.

In the ancient Hellenistic world there were other Philadelphias. One of these Philadelphias changed it's name and is now known as Amman, Jordan.

Philadelphos (He who loves his brother) was also a personal name ... several princes and kings of the Ptolemy dynasty of Hellenistic Egypt had that name: Ptolemy Philadelphos. The famous Ptolemaic queen, Cleopatra (you know, the one that was involved with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) real name was Cleopatra Thea Philopator - which translates from the Greek 'The Glory of her Father, a Goddess, Who Loves her Father' ... This Queen also had a younger brother named Ptolemy Philadelphos. This is all very, very weird because despite all these father/brother/mother/sister loving names the Ptolemies were the most dysfunctional family in the history of the world: parents killed their children, children killed their parents, siblings killed their siblings, fathers married daughters, sons married mothers, siblings married each other, etc.

[Jameson999]

I know this is an old post, but having lived in Philly for over ten years I can say this: people can range from friendly to hostile. That said, if you think Philly people are generally nice, you've never worked in customer service there. I've never been treated as badly as I was in Philly. It was common to be called stupid, obnoxious, incompetent, or worse to my face. People loved to play little power games too like shooing you away or calling you over by curling a finger, all without making eye contact. Sure, people just "say what's on their minds," but what's on their mind just happens to always be ugly and cruel.