What exactly do you think the rest of the country is like?

You know what New Yorkers love? Saying the phrase “Only in New York!”

Now certainly, this is a unique city. On my daily walk between the subway and FIT, I’m pretty sure that I cross through some sort of “mannequin district.” Store after store selling various versions of the human form? Sure. I'll give that an "only in New York."

But the problem is, New Yorkers use this phrase to describe anything that is remotely strange or odd. I think for some people it is like a reflex—something to say to end a story or fill an awkward pause.

A few weeks ago I was at the Met Museum and found a package of note cards I wanted that were miraculously on sale for under $5. When I took them up to the cashier I commented on what a good deal it was. “Amazing, isn’t it?” she said. But then she smiled knowingly and said, “Only in New York!”

Huh? Bargains are a New York thing now? Try telling that to the woman who paid $1 for two bags of old tabloids at the all-town garage sale in Boston, Ohio.

A few days ago I was at the Met again (maybe it is a Met employee thing?) and a guard was following me around trying to tell me interesting facts. Bless my heart, I was humoring him. “Hey, do you want to hear a great New York story?” he asked. Sure. He led me over to a painting of a guy in a wig who sort of looked like J.S. Bach. The guard’s version was pretty long, but the story was basically this: “I once saw a guy who had hair like this. I pointed it out to him. He did not welcome the comparison!” Waiting for the punch line, I looked at him expectantly. “Only in New York!” he exclaimed.

Sigh. Look New Yorkers, I know you think your city is really great and all, but it doesn’t actually have a monopoly on quirkiness. As someone who went to a college where Ren-Faire geeks routinely wore glue-on horns to class, and lived in a city that was home to local characters such “the Bubble Man” and that one guy who always dyes his beard to match his pants, the idea that someone has 18^th century hair doesn’t impress me.

(And yes. The tabloid bag lady was me.)