New National Ranking: How Rude Is Providence?

Friday, January 27, 2012

GoLocalProv Features Team

You said we were what??? How rude is Providence?

Are you talking to me?

The editors of Travel + Leisure are, because they've just published this year's ranking of America's Rudest Cities, and guess which Rhode Island metropolis made the list.

Hint: it's not Westerly.

Yes, Providence has been named one of the Top 20 rudest cities in America in this year's vote of Travel + Leisure readers. Specifically, the city of stop-sign-ignoring, line-cutting, and the occasional hurled expletive, took the #18 spot.

Road rage rules the top 5

T+L's Katrina Brown Hunt cites car-based skirmishes as the common factor in this year's Top 5 rudest cities. "Three-time champion Los Angeles, home of road rage, went head-to-head with classically brusque East Coast cities such as Boston, New York, and Washington, DC," according to Brown, "all of which landed in the top five." Miami, no safe haven for peaceful driving, rounded out the rudest quintet.

Big is brusque

Another trend this year, according to T+L: the bigger the city, the bigger the attitude (or at least the perceived attitude, as these rankings reflect the opinions of thousands of T+L readers). "People in big cities tend to be very direct," Diane Gottsman, owner of Protocol Etiquette School of Texas, told T+L. "[But] it's no excuse for being rude."

Providence's rank

This is the second year in a row at #18, and according to T+L, although Providence was named #2 in the country for Day Trips, visitors said they just didn't always feel like sticking around the capital city to "get acquainted." To love Providence, perhaps, you have to get to know us.

Bad-mouthed Boston

As for #5 Boston: "Are they just a bunch of smart mouths?" wondered T+L. Perhaps, but it does not endear the nearby capital city to visitors. No other New England cities made the Top 20.

Whatever.

For the entire list, go here. And for more coverage of Providence, rude or not, don't miss GoLocalTV, fresh every day at 4pm and on demand 24/7, here.

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