9. Subway Etiquette Was Already a Concern on the First Day
Vintage subway etiquette from “The Subway Sun” in the 1940s/50s.
The Chicago Tribune asks, “Will there be a subway ‘hog’?” quoting a “young man in spectacles” riding the subway that first day:
“Now here’s a social problem. What kind of hog will the underground develop. Of course, we know the end seat hog, the stinking cigar hog, and the sprawling hog with his feet in the aisle for people to stumble over. They are always with us and of course they will follow us underground.”
This early precursor to manspreading and the MTA etiquette campaign proves that while some things change, many things stay quite the same. Take a cue about manspreading from the puppet Johnny T!
