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Mother Teresa! Right. In Calcutta, Mother Teresa is probably an absolute pussycat, but if she moved to New York, she'd be a New Yorker. A couple of years ago, I started to use a true story about Mother Teresa to illustrate how all New Yorkers, living in what I believe could be considered a rather challenging environment, find themselves trying to get a little edge. Around 1987, Mayor Koch was briefly hospitalized with a slight stroke, and a few days later he got a surprise visit from Mother Teresa, who happened to be in town to establish a hospice. She told him he had been in her prayers, and he took the occasion to say that New York was grateful for her presence and that she should let him know if there was any way he could be of assistance. She said that as a matter of fact, there was one thing he might do. It would be helpful at the hospice to have a reserved parking spot. So envision this scene: here is Mother Teresa, perhaps a saint, making a sick call on a man who has just had a stroke -- and she's trying to hustle him for a parking spot. You've got to say it's a tough town.
CHART: NOT AVAILABLE
CREDIT: From a telephone poll of 1,009 New York City residents for TIME/CNN on Aug.2 to 5 by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. Sampling is plus or minus 3%.
CAPTION: Which of these words or phrases do you think describes people living in New York City?