We're number one... Again!

New York was ranked the most polite city in the world; could you believe it?

Reader's Digest sent reporters undercover to 36 cities, in 35 countries, to measure courtesy. New York was the only American city on the list. So, where's your Southern hospitality and Midwest gentility now? I know the rest of America loves to hate on us cause we're prettier and smarter and richer and now so much more gosh darn nicer. (I didn't say were the most modest.)

In a city with a reputation for being in-your-face, New Yorkers seem to be expressing themselves with a new one-finger salute: a raised pinkie. In fact, they seem to have even better manners than people in London, Toronto and Moscow.

In its admittedly unscientific survey, the magazine's politeness-police gave three types of tests to more than 2,000 unwitting participants.

The reporters walked into buildings to see if the people in front of them would hold the door open; bought small items in stores and recorded whether the salespeople said "thank you"; and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up.

New Yorkers turned out to be the politest: 90 percent held the door open, 19 out of 20 store clerks said "thank you," and 63 percent of men and 47 percent of women helped with the flying papers....

The rudest continent is Asia, Readers Digest said. Eight out of nine cities tested there - including Mumbai, India - finished in the bottom 11. In Europe, Moscow and Bucharest ranked as the least polite.