Either my sarcasm meter is off...or someone missed a very important civics lesson...
Rudest City is Toronto ?
- Thread starter Flick
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I'm a bit biased since I lived in Manhattan close to Times Square and never had an issues in my area. The weirdest thing I found was that many people, including my Canadian friends & family had arrived with preconceived biases about the city. I sold my car and used the subways, taxis or walking but in all my taxi rides - I can't recollect any taxi driver who was rude to me.
There are times that you are going to get short answers if you are asking directions and this is the same time in Toronto. That s when you are trying to stop commuters who are running to catch their train. My area was central Manhattan and down but I didn't frequent north (Harlem), Brooklyn or Queens (except Yankee games).
I have traveled a lot for business & pleasure and I really can't pick a city out that was rude. I had language obstacles and a few ignorant people but not enough to class a city as rude. Then again I have seen some tourists who are ignorant, demanding, arrogant and impatient who reap what they harvest. I'm guessing they might generate a 'rude' list that is undeserved.
French & English (not english) are the 2 official languages of Canada (not canada).
On the topic of speaking English in a foreign country... the friendliest city I've ever been to is Tokyo. Every single person I stopped on the street to try and figure out directions, immediately grinned ear to ear and eagerly tried to use the limited English they knew to help me. One guy even gave me his subway card and drew out a mini map on a piece of paper he had!
People in Tokyo have spent thousands on English classes in Japan or overseas, and have gotten little opportunity to practice..thus when there is a native English speaker there, they naturally try to get in some practice.
Good point...many immigrants have such limited English that they can barely carry a conversation. And since English is not promoted to them and is not valued by many, they stay that way..It looks like the appearance of rudeness is yet another consequence of Multiculturalism
New York City is Rough and Rude too in all respects, now Mini New-York Toronto is following the Big Apple too
+1. There are a lot of tourists in NYC so maybe you're mistaking tourists for natives.
i am not gonna use capitals ever again just to piss you off. brill had me thinking about changing my ways but that ain't gonna happen now.
I was in Venice, gazing at the splendor of its beauty, 2 French women asked me English for directions! So I answered in English, they answer you don't speak French. I said no. They turned up there nose and walked away. I should have said, No capheshe, englese, or frances! Your in Italy learn Italian and to be respectful and not rude.
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I'm afraid you're out of touch. You have to go back about a hundred years to get the full story.
The Quebecois get what they deserve and if they don't like it they can separate. They started this French only garbage. They don't accept the two official Canadian languages.
Do you remember when they tried to enforce only french internet programs. What a joke.
If I'm downtown and hear some French I'll listen to the accent and if I deem it to be from France I'll help as much as I can in my broken French but if it's Quebec. Vive la Quebec libre.
Do you anglo knuckle draggers learn how to be jerks at your parents' knees, or something?
Why can't people in the ROC learn a little french? Are you too stupid or something? In europe, people are often conversant in a few languages, so why can't the philistine assholes over in the supposedly best country in the world just broaden themselves a little by learning one of the nicest languages in the world? But then again, even the english in england don't bother learning any foreign languages, so maybe that has something to do with it.
I understand the french; they haven't been respected by the english for centuries after what they call the 'conquest', so bridle at the arrogance of english jerks who don't even bother to make an attempt at speaking french when in la belle province. The french coureurs du bois did actually play a seminal role in the settlement of early Canada, which a cursory glance at some early canadian history will confirm; Toronto was even discovered by the frenchman Etienne Brule. When I was younger, I made it a point to watch the french CBC and read french journals so that I could acquire the rudiments of their language, and even see what the quebecois were thinking about the subjects of the day....when over there, I can converse in their language at a basic level...and understand them completely if they find it more comfortable to express themselves in French. And so I have absolutely no problem with french canadians because I demonstrate respect for them....in fact, I kind of prefer them to the people in the ROC.
No, but it would make a hell of a lot more sense to learn Chinese or Spanish. Plus Spanish speaking people and Chinese don't have a permanent case of PMS when it comes to language. Despite what the Quebec language Nazi's want, thanks in part to the internet, French is dying.
I found the same thing particularly in the countryside and in Kyoto. They were very helpful and extremely patient. I wonder how many would exhibit the same for Japanese tourists that spoke no English.
