It could be worse. I can't even get the "natives" here to move out of the way so I can get on the train. Le sigh.

ETA: A nun is a "religieuse", which is also the name of a tasty cream-puff pastry.

You would expect that people coming to NY would have learned the difference between an express and a local train, but no.

Hey, I have no idea what the difference is, and I've been to NY.

(OK, I was there with my NY host, so she took me to see places without me experiencing the wonders of getting lost).

But I was almost angry at people with Israeli t-shirts (that's to say, shirts in Hebrew that you only get to see in Israel. Like "end of combat course, December 2004"). You're going to a new part of the world. Try new things, not your brother/boyfriend's shirts!

Ack. Doop post.

Which is probably still unfair, but I think most locals wherever you are more welcoming to people who seem to have some interest in things that make the city unique, or are at least aware that mega-chains aren't it.

Teh internets have helped with this immensely, in my case. Sometimes chains are destination simply because people have a fear of the unfamiliar. So now I use Yelp or something to find some good places that aren't chains.

As much as tourists can be annoying? I still want them in SF. I remember what the city was like after the dot com crash, and Sept. 11. It was dead. Favorite restaurants died. Hotels closed up. Lots of stores went out of business. The result wasn't pretty. So, when I am annoyed with a tourist, and wanna bang 'em on the head with my umbrella, I take a breath and thank goodness they chose SF to spend a holiday.

I've been in other places where I've certainly been mocked for my ignorance, and I deserved it. It's not a huge deal.

This too. If I'm being That Tourist, I'm totally willing to take shit for it.

I had a great tourist/people watching moment years ago when I was hanging out on the front steps of Adler Planetarium. A wedding party pulled up in a limo and piled out to get photos taken with the skyline in the background. Then at least half a dozen groups of tourists started posing for photos with the limo.

You would expect that people coming to NY would have learned the difference between an express and a local train, but no.

I would expect people who live here to know the difference, too, and that's not always the case. Same thing with walking slowly in a group of 3-5. Don't do it! I don't care if you're getting a drink after work!

Same thing with walking slowly in a group of 3-5. Don't do it! I don't care if you're getting a drink after work!

This is what cracks me up about Sex in the City!

Also, when I went off to college, I was very conscious of not becoming one of the Damn Students, as we liked to call them in my neighborhood growing up. This means no group decision-making in the cereal aisle, and no leaving trash wherever you go.

There was recently a HILARIOUS post on my neighborhood Yahoo group asking WTF was up with the F-train in Brooklyn (since it's not an express train except when it is, which is pretty often but also completely random).

So I have no problem with tourists who are confused by the subway, because quite often it just doesn't make any sense. Especially on the weekends when there are construction changes and proportionately fewer riders are natives who understand how to navigate things like the A/F/G Hoyt-Schemmerhorn transfer.