“Have you experienced a petty crime in London?” chirped the New York Times enthusiastically on Twitter, which prompted a deluge of sarcastic responses from Londoners keen to let everyone know just how petty they could be. The US newspaper was attempting to report on the rising level of crime in the capital – a problem the Metropolitan police commissioner recently said was being turned around – but instead it learned a lot more about what was getting on Londoners’ nerves.
Naturally, public transport etiquette featured heavily:
Londoners’ obsession with mumbling apologies, or “dealing” with a situation by tutting while not making eye contact, was also mentioned.
Queues and apologies are natural bedfellows in London, it seems.
The notoriously high price of alcohol was also referenced:
The cost of living in London in general featured in a lot of replies:
Our national obsession with the niceties of making tea cropped up:
And there was faux nostalgia for a time when London seemed a better and more welcoming place.
Most people, however, focused on Londoners’ refusal to speak to one another unless communication was absolutely unavoidable:
And stressful social interactions brought out pettiness in full force:
There were also comments about the snobbishness of some of the more fashionable parts of London.
And some visitors were disappointed that the city hadn’t lived up to some of its traditions:
Then there were surreal comments that were difficult to explain:
Dickensian London made more than one appearance:
References to Mary Poppins abounded:
One of London’s most famous immigrants also made an appearance:
And while there was a lot of Victorian and Edwardian nostalgia, there were also new levels of pettiness to take into account:
It isn’t the first time this year the New York Times has faced the ire of London’s social media users. In August, an article by the food critic Robert Draper was widely mocked after he suggested the capital’s food scene had at last moved “beyond porridge and boiled mutton”. References to the article featured in some of the replies on Thursday:
This claim, however, may have topped them all:
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