How do you do, New York?

I don’t buy into the opinion that New York is especially rude (impatient and snappy possibly), a view which is supported by a Reader’s Digest survey of the world’s rudest cities. Paris, yes, but then again the French generally have been cultivating a certain strain of exquisitely artful incivility for centuries. But spare us from surveys bemoaning the rudeness of London. It’s always been that way.