NY-Style Offense

 

I’m in a Facebook group where someone (an admin) posted their disappointment with a slice of pizza and mentioned they’re from Brooklyn. That was basically it. No, “it wasn’t as good as a NY slice.” They merely referred to their Brooklyn origin and got torched by someone who took offense to an imagined (though unstated) comparison to something local. 

Why would that be offensive? 

When someone came to the OP’s defense, they got a similar — and ruder — response from the self-aggrieved person. The rude comment and subsequent thread were deleted after a few hours, presumably by an admin (but maybe the original commenter sobered up). 

But if anyone watches TV, you'll see commercials for at least one national pizza chain touting its “NY-style” product. Yet saying pizza (or Chinese-American fare) is “NY-style” seems to offend some non-New Yorkers. 

I’ve seen pizza called NY-style touted in California, for example, and I don’t know if Angelenos are as upset as some Floridians are by that reference. It’s really a selling point, a shorthand for the style of food.

I've seen "Boston-style Chinese food" and it evoked curiosity, not offense. Same with "Montreal-style bagels." 

But there's clearly an anti-NY vibe in South Florida, probably because New Yorkers are rarely bashful. And the obnoxious ones are often really obnoxious. But that doesn't mean they all are or that anything "NY-style" isn't good — or better.

If any eatery thinks they’ll get extra customers by saying they sell “Lake Worth-style pizza,” “Tamarac-style Chinese food,” “Boca-Raton-style bagels,” etc., so be it. Not holding my breath, though.