Smiles

San Franciscan faces definitely tend toward smiling. In New York I think they tend toward glum stressed hurt and aggressive tensed frowns. People here want to smile, and they want you to smile, and if you don't they'll more or less ignore you. And there seems to be some concern for the quality of the smile -- vacuous fake smiles aren't nearly enough, a good smile should reflect a good hearty inner life. As Eskimos famously have many words for snow, and hippies have many for pot, here they have many words for smiles. The best smile is open-faced the middle is the ironic smile, then the front door smiles, etc.

In New York, of course, it's exactly the opposite: they yell at you for smiling. One night I was riding my bike down by Houston and Allen Streets, riding no hands, just thinking about something with a big absent-minded smile on my face, and out of nowhere came a "Git that smile off yo face!" I use this incident to summarize New York to San Franciscans in one anecdote.