My comment to Ashley in my previous post (regarding her post on irritability) struck a chord with Melissa. She intends to use the phrase “I was born irritated” from now on. (Edit: It seems I was mistaken, it was Rory who made the remark I was referring to. Comments from people who don’t use Blogger only come through as ‘anonymous’. Blogger and WP do not play well together. Apologies to both Melissa and Rory.)
What I said was “Hell, I was born irritated plus I’m a New Yawker – we are always irritated and make no bones about it.”
Now then the dictionary definition of irritated is “aroused to impatience or anger”. And the definition of irritability is “the quality or state of being irritable” And the definition of irritable is “capable of being irritated”.
Does that help you at all? So let’s stick with ‘aroused to impatience or anger’.
I haven’t lived in New York City since 2000, that’s a long time to be away but I’m pretty damn sure that the NYC sensibility hasn’t changed much – have you ever been to NYC? Impatience is a permanent state of being.
NYC is a place of too much. Too many people, too many cars, too many things to do, too many places to go. All that too-muchness means that rather than fast, everything moves slower than molasses going up a hill on a rainy day. At least it feels that way to those of us who have somewhere to go in a particular amount of time (as opposed to those who have nowhere to go and all day to get there).
New Yawkers are vocal in their irritability, for example – I would walk Lexington Avenue (going North) every night to get to the subway to go home. Just about every night, walking along the curb, going South, would be this disheveled old man waving his hands about and shouting “Walk on the right, walk on the right”.
Oh please yes, if you ever are a tourist in NYC – Walk On The Right! Funnily enough in the Washington DC metro system there are huge signs above the escalators and stairs that say “Stand on the right, Walk on the left” – tourists MUST be reminded to stay out of the way of the natives.
(Hey, I just thought of something – all this “stay to the right” business – is this what is affecting our political/social climate? If that’s the case I think I’ll start walking and standing on the left. Just sayin’)
Another Only in New York description that I do believe I coined is “All New Yorkers have a license to kvetch. It’s right there in the fine print on on your birth certificate.”
So there you have it, my kvetchiness is a birthright and my permanent state of irritation is due to me being a little Italian girl from Da Bronx.
Subject to Change Without Notice 
I had to be told to stand on the right while on an escalator when I was in D.C a few months ago. I've been retired long enough now that I can't figure out why that would possibly make a difference. I feel the same way when I watch cars whose drivers are constantly changing lanes in order to shave two or three seconds off their commute. But I stand on the right now.
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All joking aside it is a safety issue. If someone has to weave in and out and around people on an escalator or even stairs the chances of a fall are increased. Some folks prefer to walk and some folks are in a hurry – and given how poorly the DMV Metro operates – missing a train IS a big deal.
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Hey Grace – Melissa here – [aka, your struly, you know me, the 'Guy' from England ] We have people like that here, except it's more like a level of grouchiness, they are determined to walk right in the middle, they love to annoy people ……….. aggggh! Come on already, left, right anyone of those two just not the middle! 🙂
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I've never been to New York other than Rochester. I'm pretty sure they would eat me alive in the big city 🙂
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Oh my goodness Rory – I mistook you for Melissa! So sorry. I know commenting on a Blogger blog is a PITA for some people, my apologies! Single walkers right in the middle – Argh indeed. Also – a group of people who take up the whole walkway and then get annoyed when you try to pass them, even when you say “Excuse me, can I get by”.
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Contrary to popular opinion NYers are very friendly, or perhaps I should say helpful – the NYC way may seem a bit gruff or hurried but NYers love to show off their knowledge of the city. NYC is totally a separate entity from New York State and should probably be a state in and of itself – New York state of mind should be a geographical/political entity. When I say “New York” I always mean the city of New York, the rest of the state is a mystery to me.
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Apology not necessary from one of my fave bloggers (you). However, I did want to let you know that if it's Ms. Melissa Pumpkin commenting, I shall always identify myself in the comments here. I will seldom comment since it's a pain in the ass. Sometimes the way I respond to your posts is to mention something you said here in my own wordpress blog post because it's so much easier than dealing with this comment section. I hope you are having a good Saturday. One of these days I need to check out the other bloggers you mention a lot such as this Rory fellow.-Melissa
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That comment sounded so you LOL When Rory's new blog goes 'live' I will post a link. He blogged for years on the Guy blog and he closed it down to start a new blog which he has spent months building. He lives in the town of Sandwich in Kent, England and his new blog will part business – which is worm farming – I tend to skip those parts – the rest is just fun stuff…he is funny and smart but not snarky.
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