Common Stereotypes of your State, City, Region, Etc

[BigMattFromTexas]

OK, I live in Texas, maybe one of the most stereotyped states in the U.S.. Here's just a couple:

• We all ride our horses everywhere.
• We all talk like hicks.
• We all wear cowboy hats.
• We all live in the boondocks.
• We marry our cousins.
• Texas is COMPLETELY flat, no mountains.
• We all drill for oil.

I know for a fact that other states, etc, are stereotyped.
I have a friend who used to live in Nebraska, people think all there is up there is corn.. I know this is probly 75% true (as I've been there), but there is a little bit to do there..

Post your states stereotyped madness!
BigMatt

[Zmapper]

Colorado:
When the flowers you get for mothers day are not planted until fathers day.
When you drive a $500 car and ride a $5000 bike.
The state is completely mountains.

I am sure there are more.

[Brandon]

Illinois:

We're all Chicagoans.
We're all Flatlanders.  (I live in a town with hills and river valleys).
We're all crooks based on our politicians.  (Well, far too many of them are crooked, but most of them hail from Chicago and Cook County - See comment 1 above).
We're all Cubs fans.
We're all bad drivers.
We're all FIBs.

[allniter89]

Florida:
There is nothing to the state except beaches.
All residents are old retired people from up north.
Miami IS Florida.
We welcome the tourists that clog our beaches and highways..NOT!

Delaware:
There is no good reason to go to or live here.
Everyone here is a farmer.
There are no cities here only small towns.
Wilmington IS Delaware.
There is nothing in Delaware.
We welcome the tourists that clog our beaches and highways..NOT!

[yanksfan6129]

New Jersey:

-The "New Joisey" accent (that's actually how they say it in Brooklyn, duh.
-Dirty, dirty wasteland that smells like shit. Actually, there are some very rural areas and posh suburban areas. And there is no smell.
-We're all right off the turnpike.
-We're all Italian.
-We're all mobsters.
-We're all just like the people on Jersey Shore.
-We're all Jewish.
-We're all poor.
-We're all rich.

Yes, there are contradictions on that list.

[tollboothrob]

I'm from New Jersey but grew up in West Virginia.... this response could take a while. Both states I think give Texas a running for most-stereotyped state.

West Virginia: (Most people I know, especially at work, truly believes these are true)

- Nobody has shoes, running water or floors not made of dirt
- Everyone lives in a trailer
- Moonshine stills in the backyard, drunks and meth labs
- Uneducated
- Finding "love" within the family, or farm animals

I think New Jersey has been covered pretty well already. I'm from the very rural part of the state, so I know how true that is. I'm also very familiar with the "What Exit?" one, but working for the Turnpike helps that a lot.

[english si]

I'm English:
- We are all posh or cockney
- We all have bad teeth
- We all live in little villages in old cottages, or in a 'London Theme Park' where all the landmarks are right next to each other
- It snows every Christmas
- Everything is quaint and a bit old fashioned
- Wizards run around the country having fights with each other in the sky

[Chris]

In the Netherlands;

- we wear clogs to work
- we all smoke pot
- we're all married gays
- we're drug runners
- we all pick tulips
- we all live in windmills
- we only use the bicycle for transportation

[triplemultiplex]

I'm a Milwaukeean therefore, I must be:

a raging liberal
a drunk
a gang member
a drug dealer
a drug user
a murderer
Black
Mexican
Polish
Catholic
poor
overwieght
unemployed
corrupt somehow
anti-freeway
molested by a priest
live in constant fear of any of the above
have an inferiority complex when it comes to Chicago

That sums up what the rest of white-bred Wisconsin thinks of us.
(Some of those actually do apply to me.)

[Brandon]

I'm a Milwaukeean therefore, I must be:

a raging liberal
a drunk
a gang member
a drug dealer
a drug user
a murderer
Black
Mexican
Polish
Catholic
poor
overwieght
unemployed
corrupt somehow
anti-freeway
molested by a priest
live in constant fear of any of the above
have an inferiority complex when it comes to Chicago

That sums up what the rest of white-bred Wisconsin thinks of us.
(Some of those actually do apply to me.)

And here I would just said a Cheesehead. 

[SSOWorld]

Wisconsin in General:
* Cheeseheads
* Drinking
* most recently - union busting
* liberal politics (which obviously conflicts with the above)

Madison
* Drinking
* Partying
* Potential riots by drunk students
* more raging liberals - can possibly compete with Milwaukee

[pianocello]

I have a friend who used to live in Nebraska, people think all there is up there is corn.. I know this is probly 75% true (as I've been there), but there is a little bit to do there..

Living in Iowa, I get that stereotype even more. At least Nebraska has Omaha. Other stereotypes against Iowa include:

No cities, all small towns (I live in a city of 100,000)
The entire state was underwater back in 2008
The entire first song in "The Music Man" http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/themusicman/iowastubborn.htm

[BigMattFromTexas]

I was fixin' to post a facebook status that says "If New Jersey is anything like they show it on T.V. I'll cross that off my list of places to go." But I thought of this and figured that's probly one of the biggest stereotypes ever..

As for Iowa, my mom was born and raised there, and I've been there several times. You must admit, when the largest city is 100,000+ people it's not a real, "big city, state". Considering I live in a city of 100,000 and it's considered small...
I like reading these posts.
BigMatt

[realjd]

Honestly, I've never stereotyped Wisconsinians(?) or Minnesotians(?) as anything other than midwesterners with goofy accents. Think "Fargo".

Y'all are much too soft on Florida. Common stereotypes are:
* Old folks
* 6th Borough of NYC
* Jews
* Rednecks
* Cubans
* Alligators
* Beaches and Disney (Disney is on the beach, right?)
* 80 degree weather year round
* Crazy crime
* Low wages and no work
* Cocaine
* Germans and Canadians in speedos

Pick your stereotype. I've heard it all

[corco]

I know this is probly 75% true (as I've been there)

That's very unfair. The sandhills take up almost half the state and are definitely not cornfields


Idaho:
Potatoes. All there is are potatoes. If you live there you are a potato farmer.- Fuck you, we grow more peas than potatoes

Utah:
You're a Mormon!

Oregon:
You're a stupid hippie

Arizona:
You hate Mexicans
You simultaneously are Mexican

[BigMattFromTexas]

Utah:
You're a Mormon!

Well that one I could see more than the other... I'm not sayin' it's true, I've never been there... But there is a huge population of Mormons there, but not everyone is..
BigMatt

[KEK Inc.]

Washington:

• Hippies everywhere.
  
• Grunge Rock is the main music scene.
  
• The entire state is a rain forest.

California:

• Bad drivers.
  
• Bad traffic.
  
• The entire state has a desert climate.
  
• The entire state has a Mediterranean climate.  
  
• Rude people.
  
• Everyone is rich.

[Removed font tags. -S.]

[kurumi]

Nevada:

• There's a pawn shop in Reno that specializes in wedding bands
• Most churches have Elvis impersonators as priests and video poker in the pews
• The Strip is wall-to-wall 200-foot billboards of entertainers you have never heard of (Danny Gans? Who the **** is that??)
• On US 50, the "Loneliest Road in America", there are still guys at the side of the road trying to hand you fliers for strip clubs
• There's no way to get from Las Vegas to Reno by road
• Reno 911 = documentary

[english si]

Some more English ones:

Dickens/Austen/other period drama is a documentary for today, only with old clothes.
We eat roast beef and little else (at least according to those damn Frogs across the Channel)
We don't drink coffee, only tea

Some home counties (so called as it's where a lot of people who work in London have their homes) ones:
We're all 'little Englanders' - insular, xenophobic, Daily Mail reading Tory supporters (the latter parts of that are fairly true, though the Telegraph is commonly read as well! We are very skeptical of the EU, but we're probably more xenophilic than the north, what with our holidays in the sun, foreign food and all)
We're stinking rich but soulless, commuting in every day, working long hours and then going back out to our place in the country to sleep

[national highway 1]

Sydney:
We all are surfers
We go to the beach
We are tanned
We all have a ute (pickup truck) with a surfboard on the roof and/or a boat trailer attached to the rear.
We survive on burgers, fries, ice cream and barbecued steak, sausages, lamb & beef
We are all blonde
We all are fat truck drivers
We all speak with a broad Aussie accent and say "No Worries, mite (mate)"

[Coelacanth]

Honestly, I've never stereotyped Wisconsinians(?) or Minnesotians(?) as anything other than midwesterners with goofy accents. Think "Fargo".

The words you're looking for are Wisconsinites and Minnesotans. A preferable term for the first one is "Bucking Fadgers".

I've lived in Minnesota all my life and speak pretty much standard American English. The whole Fargo accent thing is a complete crock. Some of the more rural areas which developed from a primarily homogeneous immigrant population do have something of an accent, but in the larger cities we talk like everyone else in the country.

Incorrect stereotypes of Minnesotans:
Liberal (wrong! we sent Michelle Bachmann to Congress for crying out loud)
"Minnesota Nice" (wrong! see above)
Lutheran (um, no)
Scandinavian (we have as many Germans and Irish)
Like the cold ("tolerate" would be a better word. We do like seasons that are different from one another.)

[triplemultiplex]

Iowa was covered without mentioning the stereotype that all Iowans are farmers?

For Minnesota, I think the big thing is definitely the "Fargo" accent.  TV fishing show host Al Linder is a textbook Minnesota accent.

For Michigan, I'd say the biggest stereotype is that the whole state looks like Flint except for the one part with the militias.

And swinging around to our last neighbor, Illinois, simply take one of "Da Super Fans" and put 'em behind the wheel of a monster SUV towing a jet ski riding your ass on I-39 NB on a Friday evening at 80 mph.  That's my FIB stereotype.

[Brandon]

For Michigan, I'd say the biggest stereotype is that the whole state looks like Flint except for the one part with the militias.

An dat all Yoopers speak lik a cross 'tween Minnesootans an Canucks, eh? 

[english si]

Sydney:

Trust a convict to not also add that Aussies:
prefer a cold tinny to a sheila
are good at sports (though not test cricket against the poms anymore! )
are all called Bruce
are all sheep shearers
are all lifeguards
don't know how to, when speaking, not make a sentence a question?

[huskeroadgeek]

I have a friend who used to live in Nebraska, people think all there is up there is corn.. I know this is probly 75% true (as I've been there), but there is a little bit to do there..

Post your states stereotyped madness!
BigMatt

Not sure what you mean by 75% true. Yes, there is plenty of corn here-that's true. But I don't know where the specific number comes from. And there is more than a little bit to do here. I hear all the time about how there is nothing to do in Nebraska. Well, in small towns that's usually true, as it is most places. But Lincoln and Omaha especially have plenty of things to do-the kind of things you would find in other cities of the same size in other states. It isn't like there is less to do in Nebraska just because it's Nebraska. Also on the subject of corn-many of us in Nebraska get annoyed when they show Nebraska football games on TV that many times they show scenes of cornfields when they go to and come back from commercials-as if that's all there is to show. Occasionally, people from other states who come to Nebraska for football games are surprised to find out that our stadium is not in the middle of a cornfield-in fact, it's one of the more urban settings in college football with the stadium very close to downtown Lincoln.

Of cousre like most farm states, there is the stereotype that we are all farmers. The sad thing is some people actually believe it. I knew someone who kept a foreign-exchange student one time who was a little apprehensive about coming to Nebraska because people had told him that everybody in Nebraska were farmers and he'd have to get up early to do farm work every day. He was relieved to find out that his host family actually lived in a city, as do most of us.

A couple of other stories I have heard about-I knew someone who had friends in Pennsylvania that were surprised to find out that we have cable TV(which is kind of ironic, considering that cable TV actually got its start in rural areas). They also were surprised to find out we have McDonalds and other national restaurant chains in Nebraska.