Friendly-burgh (Pittsburgh, Washington, Taylor: how much, motel, neighborhood) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

BrianTH · 06-20-2012, 05:13 AM

Why you should say hello to strangers in Pittsburgh

Quote:

[Taylor] Falk described a pleasant walk through his neighborhood in Washington, D.C. to the local farmer’s market, and his spontaneous—though largely rebuffed—desire to greet fellow pedestrians. Falk devised an experiment along his walk, greeting passerby and assigning each an “acknowledgement point” for reciprocated greetings. His results were somewhat alarming: only 3 of the 25 people he greeted acknowledged him—a measly 12.5 percent. . . . Using Falk’s “acknowledgement point” system, I began greeting pedestrians and cyclists alike on a bike commute from Pittsburgh’s Northside to my rented duplex in Squirrel Hill . . . and was rewarded 15 out of 32 times. That’s right. Approximately 47% of Pittsburgh residents acknowledged me greeting them on the street.

Although not quite a scientific study, I am not particularly surprised by these results--I do think strangers are relatively friendly to each other here, at least in comparison to the Bos-Wash corridor.

okaydorothy · 06-20-2012, 05:30 AM

Defiantely I agree. While I like DC for the historic value, I found people there not friendly.

But people in Pittsburgh ; wow, they are very very friendly. No matter where we went, people were outgoing, friendly and seemed genuine.

BrianTH · 06-20-2012, 05:46 AM

Not to immediately sidetrack my own thread, but for all that some people here complain about "Yinzers", I think the friendliness in places like DC suffers from the fact that it often feels like no one is actually from there, and you have people from all over who don't have established norms for socially interacting with each other. In my experience the long-time natives here (aka Yinzers) are usually friendly, which is likely in part a consequence of their long-standing community ties and comfort with local social norms, and that friendliness in turn is infectiousness even among the non-natives like me.

That's not to say migration is inherently bad, since we need a steady supply of them for the City to prosper. But I think there is something to be said for a healthy balance of newcomers and natives.

WILWRadio · 06-20-2012, 06:54 AM

Three years ago I spent a night at a mom and pop motel near Vandergrift and I was pleasantly surprised to find out the owner who happened to be a World War Two Vet was very pleasant and liked to talk about the area. I spoke to him for about 15 minutes about Vandergrift, Apollo and life in general. Quite a difference from the attitude of the older folks (really anyone in their 40's and older) in the Kansas City area. Most are not only not friendly at all but in many cases, just plain nasty and rude. It is refreshing to find a place where a portion of my target market (radio audience will likely be the 30 to 70 plus age bracket) are civilized.

pman · 06-20-2012, 07:12 AM

I think DC may be the least friendly in the entire northeast. ..not take take anything away from the burghs friendliness. Two extremes perhaps

BrianTH · 06-20-2012, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pman

I think DC may be the least friendly in the entire northeast. ..not take take anything away from the burghs friendliness. Two extremes perhaps

I agree, and I think that underscores the "no one is from around here" factor. DC seems to me like the city most like that in the northeast, and Pittsburgh the least.

Blackbeauty212 · 06-20-2012, 08:28 AM

DC is becoming more and more like NYC....uber-transient, a city loses its identity from too much of a Transient population. While I've always stated the Burgh could stand to become more Transient amungst its natives, I would never want it to become DC or NYC levels.

ML North · 06-20-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Why you should say hello to strangers in Pittsburgh

Quote:

[Taylor] Falk described a pleasant walk through his neighborhood in Washington, D.C. to the local farmer’s market, and his spontaneous—though largely rebuffed—desire to greet fellow pedestrians. Falk devised an experiment along his walk, greeting passerby and assigning each an “acknowledgement point” for reciprocated greetings. His results were somewhat alarming: only 3 of the 25 people he greeted acknowledged him—a measly 12.5 percent. . . . Using Falk’s “acknowledgement point” system, I began greeting pedestrians and cyclists alike on a bike commute from Pittsburgh’s Northside to my rented duplex in Squirrel Hill . . . and was rewarded 15 out of 32 times. That’s right. Approximately 47% of Pittsburgh residents acknowledged me greeting them on the street.

Although not quite a scientific study, I am not particularly surprised by these results--I do think strangers are relatively friendly to each other here, at least in comparison to the Bos-Wash corridor.

I've found Northsiders to be particularly fond of the casual greeting. A walk through West Park at dusk will yield no fewer than five friendly hellos.

And to the point that a transient population is less likely to adopt the casual greeting, consider South Oakland (large and transient student population) -- it would be really weird to walk from Bates Street up to the Pete greeting everyone along the way.

bradjl2009 · 06-20-2012, 08:38 AM

People here are more likely to acknowledge you as a stranger here than other places and it actually does catch me off guard when it happens but it still is nice to have happen to you.

Aqua Teen Carl · 06-20-2012, 08:41 AM

I've always thought as Pittsburghers are pretty friendly as a whole (especially when directly compared to other major American cities), but it very much does depend on what neighborhood you are in. Personally I have gotten comments on how much I smile (you'd never know it from the internet

) and I have no problems having a casual conversation with a complete stranger. Never identified that behavior as a regional thing, but I guess if a generation or two is raised that way it becomes part of the local culture.