Charleston shares polite distinction with NYC

There’s a special place in America, a land where politeness reigns supreme, a city of manners, taste and etiquette beyond reproach.

And everyone in Charleston knows where that place is, at least as chosen by manners czar Marjabelle Young Stewart on her annual most-polite-cities list.

Of course. It’s … New York City?

The land of honking horns, of the thousand-yard subway stare, of “Whaddya want?” The very heart of Yankee-dom?

Indeed, New York finished at the top of this year’s list. But fear not, defenders of Southern politesse. Charleston, which has finished atop the list eight times, tied New York for first place.

The news drew astonished – though polite – reactions from many Charlestonians.

“You’re kidding, right? That’s some kind of spoof?” said Maggi De Lamater-Jeng, who greets tourists every day at City Hall’s council chambers.

“Come on,” said Bernice DeCosta-Davis, a longtime Charleston resident who studied at Columbia University in New York. “Well, maybe New York’s changed since they had the terrorism.”

Something has changed, said Stewart, who bases the list on comments she receives from visitors to various American cities.

Since Sept. 11, more people have good things to say about the quintessential Yankee metropolis, she said. “People have fallen in love with New York City,” Stewart said.While some speculated that New York’s top ranking amounted to something of a deserved sympathy note, others said the city probably has changed.

“I think New Yorkers have been in need of a connection with others,” said Ellen Dressler-Moryl, the city of Charleston’s cultural affairs director. “I think that’s a lovely message. I think it’s a major echo of what everyone’s been feeling.”

While New York only made the list once before, Charleston has been ranked in the top 10 each time since Young first created it 25 years ago.

That’s not to say there aren’t a few things to quibble about, DeCosta-Davis said.

“Charleston is very mannerly – when you get the college students out of the way while they’re on vacation,” she said.