I enjoy a clever headline, so when I saw “The Gaitkeeper” in yesterday’s Washington Post (with a Gen Z headline in the online edition) I had to read it. Oh, and it was about walking, too.

The story profiled 21-year-old Cameron Roh, who has 1.4 million followers rating pedestrians on TikTok. I’ve been rating pedestrians all my life but have no followers to show for it. Probably because I rate them only in my head, as in “why are those people taking up the entire sidewalk?!” or “why don’t those escalator riders stand on the right?!”

Roh gives high marks to walkers who are aware of their surroundings and navigate crowds with ease. He criticizes those who walk blindly into passersby while glued to their phone screens.

I’m glad that Roh and others are raising the issue of walking etiquette. It doesn’t matter much to walkers in the suburbs — but it certainly does to walkers in the city.

When I lived and worked in Manhattan I’d try to match my pace to the lights of the cross streets. If I was up to speed I would catch “Walk” signs at each one. To do this required sidestepping and passing and thinking ahead. It was part stroll, part sport. It was gaitkeeping, for sure.