True story from my friend Laurie, who works at a private boys school on the Upper East Side:
This past Thursday was the closing luncheon for our faculty. The theme was a Hawaiian Luau, and it was very festive, complete with straw huts, floral leis, a tikki bar, etc. The menu was equally exotic—and very much in keeping with the theme.
As the afternoon wore on, people slowly started to leave. Two members of the faculty report this uniquely NYC moment.
As they were walking up Madison Avenue, they saw a taxi. They had been planning on walking, but one teacher announced to the other that they had to take the cab, because "everybody knows the NY rule": if you see an available cab—you take it—period. As the car pulled over, two women stepped out, apparently a mother and her teenage daughter. They were dressed simply; jeans, white tee shirts, pearls, and headbands. The same member of the faculty who insisted on the cab, pointed out to her friend that you can "always tell a native New Yorker from a visitor—here, I'll prove it." As the mother and daughter got out of the cab, she said very cheerfully and politely, "You two aren't from New York, are you?" The two replied equally cheerfully, that no, they were from Texas. My friends wished them a good day, and told them that they hoped they would enjoy their visit. The older woman asked my friends how they knew these two were not from the city. "We just knew," one replied, "we don't mean it at all judgmentally." The two smiled and went on their way.
As my friends got in the cab, they looked at each other, and burst out laughing. These two native New Yorkers, who were clearly recognized as such and also identified the visitors in jeans and tee shirts, were wearing . . . Hawaiian tees, shorts, straw hats, sandals, and leis!
My guess it was the t-shirt and pearls combo that gave them away. I myself have never followed the NY rule about cabs, which are inevitably available only when one doesn't want them, at least in my case.
I sent this on to Rob, who's now teaching in Guam where what he calls "go-to-hell" Hawaiian shirts are de rigeur for the smart, up-and-coming young prof, and students too. I wonder what he'll make of it. Of course, New York is a town where one regularly sees people walking around in costume even when it's not Halloween—but not in pearls and a T-shirt.
The only thing I can say is, here, the louder the aloha shirt, the more likely that the wearer is Asian! The locals tend to the more subdued ones. With a few exceptions; surfwear is even bigger with my students.
Of course, tourists here are very easy to pick out; Asians don't look like Pacific Islanders, who in turn don't look like haoles like me. You can just tell here, too, but it's not all that difficult.
Just think what those Texan women are going to tell friends back in Houston!
Posted by: Rob | June 14, 2005 at 06:44 PM