Birmingham Named Nation’s Rudest City
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James Joyner | Saturday, October 22, 2005 |
Having spent many years living in Alabama, a generally friendly place, I was shocked to hear that Birmingham was judged the “nation’s rudest city” in a Reader’s Digest survey. It turns out that it was that other Birmingham.
Birmingham named nation’s rudest city (AFP)
Don’t expect a helping hand in Birmingham — after an opinion poll showed that residents there are the rudest people in Britain. “Brummies” were the least likely to pass a series of courtesy tests such as holding the door for someone behind them or stopping to help a person who had dropped their shopping, according to the study by the Reader’s Digest. In contrast, Newcastle residents were most polite, followed by inhabitants of Liverpool and Exeter in the south east.
The Reader’s Digest sent undercover “civility inspectors” to eight British cities to test them with a variety of politeness trials. As well as door-holding and help with dropped shopping, they checked whether shop assistants were well-mannered enough to say “please” and “thank you” and whether drivers thanked those who let them merge into rush hour traffic.
Britons overall were polite 59 percent of the time, while Newcastle residents passed 77 percent of the tests. In contrast, Birmingham natives managed to show common courtesy on only 43 percent of occasions.
I suspect Birmingham, Alabama would have fared better.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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I hear it is Paris!
I know, but the headline didn't say which nation....so I took the opportunity to remind the French what we think of them.
"Holding the door?" How about storming, stoning, and death threats -- don't they count?
Hey I live in Birmingham UK. It really is a nice place to visit.
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