US: Despite a reputation as a fast-moving, tough-talking town, New York ranked as the world's most polite major city, according to a survey released yesterday.
Outscoring large cities in 35 countries, New York proved best in three tests of courtesy, according to the survey by Reader's Digest.
The magazine's reporters conducted a "door test" to see who would hold open a door, a "document drop" to see who would help pick up dropped papers and a "service test" to measure if sales staff said thank you.
Coming in second in the test was Zurich, followed by Toronto, Berlin, São Paulo and Zagreb.
The more than 2,000 tests of behaviour showed that people under 40 were more courteous than those over 40, men were more polite to other men and women to other women. The region that most lacked courtesy was Asia, where eight out of nine cities tested finished in the bottom 11.
People everywhere tended to offer the same explanation for their politeness: they were polite because they had been brought up to be that way.