How You Know You Are a New Yorker: Subway Edition

It feels like meeting someone who was born in New York is rarer than finding a seat on the subway during rush hour. Indeed, most of the people reading this blog are probably transplants and would be surprised to find out that I was born and raised in Brooklyn. A friend of mine that has lived here for 6 years recently asked me how she knows if she is a New Yorker. In light of that, here are ten ways you know you are officially a New Yorker—subway style.

-You ignore the automated announcements, and instead lean over the track to see if a train is coming.

-You have been on the L train while it is above ground.

-You know that the L train goes above ground.

Proof. Courtesy of The SubwayNut

-On your commute, you know exactly where to get on the train as to perfectly align yourself with the exit at your destination.

-You have ridden the subway for some reason other than getting from point A to point B.

-You are too stubborn to get off the subway car with the smelly homeless person because that is where the seats are.
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Standard protocol. Courtesy of beelersspace on flickr

You can take a nap and wake up exactly when your stop is announced.

-One time you didn’t wake up at your stop and woke up at the end of the line.

-You have come to terms with the fact that you will never understand the subway map.

@#$%! Courtesy of danpeters on flickr.

-You get your book recommendations by looking over people’s shoulders on the subway

Did we miss something? Leave a comment!

14 thoughts on “How You Know You Are a New Yorker: Subway Edition”

  1. Honorable mentions:
    -You have mastered the MetroCard swipe “technique” and scoff at tourists as they swipe several times.
    -You have ridden the 6 train past the last downtown stop to see the original City Hall station.
    -You have a favorite busker.

  2. – You don’t even so much as flinch when break dancers swing on the poles directly in front of your face

    – You know every word -and skin ailment- on the Dr. Zizmor ad by heart

  3. You remember when it cost less than $2.00.
    Or…
    $2.25 doesn’t sound high anymore.

    You’ve heard 24578744577 original poems by the homeless.

  4. So does the N train!

    Taking another city’s metro system feels like adultery.

    You’ve either never had a license, or haven’t renewed it in years.

    While watching a movie based in New York, you wonder how they came out of the 4/5/6 without being miserable.

    I’m really not a New Yorker, but this list is fun.

  5. I remember when the trains had graffitti on them and the tokens had holes… There are alot of imports or transplants as you would say… I wonder if the perverts who ride the NYC mta beat off to the imports as well as the locals…

  6. When you no longer notice the city smell.
    When you’ve figured out how to work around train delays and construction and still get to places on time.
    When you’ve identified the schtick of various hustlers working the train lines.
    When you can hear the Brooklyn or Queens accent on top of the Croatian or Russian or Jamaican accent.

  7. -You don’t give a crap about the alarm, you just use the “emergency exit”.

    Yeah, I’d have to say these are the same for any urban RTS.

    I live in Vancouver, and our measly “SkyTrains” have so many little idiosyncrasies. It’s amazing how a three-line can be so confusing for some people.

  8. – You’ve bought a “$1 Battery, $1 Battery”
    – A rat ran off the platform into a car, and your reaction was just to lift your feet
    – You’ve smoked inbetween cars
    – You’ve heard “Uhh, because of a slight delay there will be a slight delay”
    – When you see a sick passenger, you pushed them off the train at the next stop in order to avoid delays waiting for EMS
    – You know when the rats scurry means trains-a-comin before you ever see a headlamp or hear it
    – You’ve taken “never evers”, made them stand, and laughed
    – Sworn we must be going 100 mph latenight on the 4/5 uptown express
    – Seen Scandanavians getting on the 4/5 express at 86th street going north and thought “good luck!”
    – You’ve had a crotch or breasts in your face as someone leans over you to read the map
    – Standing at the door = questions about where this train goes (what, I got a conductor hat on?)
    – You’ve sat in “something wrong”

    1. – and you stay to the friggin RIGHT when standing on escalators, & when using the left “lane” you run up two escalator stairs at a time

  9. Hardly any of this is true for me other than this (-On your commute, you know exactly where to get on the train as to perfectly align yourself with the exit at your destination.
    -You can take a nap and wake up exactly when your stop is announced.
    -One time you didn’t wake up at your stop and woke up at the end of the line.
    -You have come to terms with the fact that you will never understand the subway map.)

    I was born and raised in NYC, im in my late teens.

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