You know you're a New Yorker when...

How great is this shot I got today driving over the 

Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan?  

I found these Top Twenty Signs You're From New York, and seeing that I've only been here a year and a half now, I didn't relate to all of them, but I did relate to a good amount.  I'm sure that many of my fellow city-mates can claim the ability to relate to all of them.  I've bolded the ones below that I personally identify with, and I made sure to leave a good bit of commentary to give a little insight of my own.  It's an interesting world living here and learning the points-of-view and the mannerisms of these crazy Natives.  New Yorkers...unlike any others!  


Enjoy!
_____


You say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

You secretly envy cabbies for their driving skill.  (I can't tell you the number of times my girlfriends and I have dubbed our Friday or Saturday night cab driver as "The best driver we've ever had drive us!", followed up by all of us asking for his business card so that we can call him whenever we are in need of our next ride.  I don't think that we've ever been denied a cell phone number at the very least, however I also don't think that we've ever followed up with any of these unsuspecting souls for a lift.  And I may or may not have the habit of listing each of them as "Mario Andretti" in my phone. )

You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.  (I have not been to see Lady Liberty, however I work right next to the Empire State Building, and have managed to make it to the top twice.  While it is an experience to be had, I personally prefer the view from the top of Rockefeller Center (called "Top of the Rock") on 50th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.) 

You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park at 3:30 on the Friday before a long weekend, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.  (Duh I know where Wisconsin is!  But I can argue about best traffic routes...)

Hookers and the homeless are invisible.  (Both of these still make me sad.  I actually hope I never become hardened to that one.)

The subway makes sense.  (It did take me a few months...)

The subway should never be called anything prissy, like the Metro.  (We also call it "The Train", which took me a good few weeks to figure out if "The Train" was the same thing as "The Subway", or if it was actually a different rail system... Silly, right?)

You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.

You think $7.00 to cross a bridge is a fair price.  (The tolls to get in and out of the city via bridge, tunnel, or parkway are all ridiculous!  I think its like $10 to go through the Lincoln Tunnel from New Jersey to Manhattan!)

You've considered stabbing someone just for saying "The Big Apple".

Your door has more than three locks.

You go to a hockey game for the fighting....In the stands....To participate.

Your favorite movie has DeNiro in it.

The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.  (I get so annoyed by all of the unnecessary honking that I try to refrain unless absolutely necessary.)

You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.  (I love wearing sunglasses in the city so that I can people watch as much as I want without the object of my staring realizing what a creeper I'm being.)

You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a yard.

You complain about having to mow it. 

You are a skee-ball juggernaut.

You consider Westchester "Upstate". (Because it is, DUH!)

You cried the day Ed Koch took over for Wagner.  (I don't know who either of these people are...)

Bonus Points:
When you say "New York" you mean New York City. The rest of the state not worth mentioning.  (Very true.)

The purpose of the Governor is to give our hard-earned tax dollars to the undeserving people upstate.  (It hurts me to think of the percentage of income tax that we New Yorkers pay...  7% to New York State and another 4% for residents of New York City in what they call City Tax.  I call it ridiculous.)

As a child, your parents taught you to recite the following with an overblown Brooklyn accent for the entertainment of their friends: (pronunciations on this side) It's spring, the bird is on the wing (da boid is on da wing) but that's absurd (but dat's absoid) for I have heard (for I have hoid) the wing is on the bird! (da wing is on da boid!) 

Jaywalking is an important skill you were taught when learning how to cross the street.  (First lesson learned:  Jaywalking is a New York way of life.)

Pedestrians have the right of way at all times, unless you are driving a car, in which case they are a nuisance and all deserve to be shot.

People from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and New Jersey are referred to as "Bridge and Tunnel People." (Funny enough, I was at dinner tonight with SJ and MM, and as we were people watching, we continually called out the B+T folks... 'B+T' stands for 'Bridge + Tunnel'.  I first learned this term on my first trip to New York in 2004, and it has stuck ever since.)

You know that all people from places outside of New York/Tri State Area are inbred hillbillies and often have six fingers.  (As obsessed with my city as I may be, I do love getting away for a bit.  It makes it all the sweeter upon my return!)

You know NJ sucks.  (I am slowly learning that this indeed may not be true, however, I feel that it is a duty as a New Yorker to pretend to always think this.  Unless I'm speaking to a New Jersey resident, of course, at which point I have to pretend that I think that the suburbs are the hottest thing since sliced bread.)