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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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. :)
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
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
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.)
Quote from: triplemultiplex on May 09, 2011, 01:47:38 PM
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. :-D
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 ;)
Quote from: BigMatt on May 08, 2011, 05:40:04 PM
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
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
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
QuoteI 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
Quote from: corco on May 09, 2011, 10:49:47 PM
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
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.]
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
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
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)"
Quote from: realjd on May 09, 2011, 09:05:33 PM
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.)
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.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on May 10, 2011, 04:52:44 PM
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? :sombrero:
Quote from: national highway 1 on May 10, 2011, 07:47:40 AM
Sydney:
Trust a convict to not also add that Aussies:
prefer a cold tinny to a sheila (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1nxxVe5pTs)
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?
Quote from: BigMatt on May 08, 2011, 05:40:04 PM
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.
a lot of people think they know Nebraska just because they've taken I-80 through it. I can tell you plenty of things to do... especially things in small towns.
Quotea lot of people think they know Nebraska just because they've taken I-80 through it. I can tell you plenty of things to do... especially things in small towns.
That goes for Kansas too- I hate, hate, hate that. The interstates go through the worst part scenery-wise. But there is scenery there- it's just subtle. The interstate grades and rights-of-ways it all out. Even if you drive US-30 instead of I-80 across Nebraska, you get a completely different experience on the state and I suspect folks would like Nebraska a lot more if they did that but it's nearly impossible to convince somebody to do that.
In reality, it's OK with me. 99% of America would never think of Chadron Nebraska as a place to go on an outdoorsy vacation, but I know better. More for me, less for you. Go ahead, think Nebraska is boring. I don't want Californians to come in and ruin it. When I was in Wyoming and folks wanted to go camping for the weekend it was "Oh, are you going to Grand Teton/Yellowstone?" and the Wyomingites would respond "Nope- heading up to Chadron. Less tourists, pretty much as scenic, better experience"
yep, US-30 is a very fun drive in Nebraska, as is US-6, US-75, etc etc.
I've driven cross-Nebraska on several different off-interstate routes and Nebraska 4 was the only one I might qualify as boring, but even that had its upside. Nebraska 23 sticks out for me as a neat drive in the "ugly" part of Nebraska.
Quote from: corco on May 10, 2011, 10:00:04 PM
I've driven cross-Nebraska on several different off-interstate routes and Nebraska 4 was the only one I might qualify as boring, but even that had its upside. Nebraska 23 sticks out for me as a neat drive in the "ugly" part of Nebraska.
I like all parts of Nebraska, including the southwest 'corner' (kinda hard to actually be a corner, since the SW corner of the state is Colorado!).
then again, there's good stuff to be found in every state. Just gotta know where to look.
Yep, if you had to pick the most boring drive across Nebraska, I-80 would be it. Nebraskans have been saying for years that if you've only been across the state on I-80, you haven't seen the real Nebraska.
Quote from: huskeroadgeek on May 10, 2011, 10:08:18 PM
Yep, if you had to pick the most boring drive across Nebraska, I-80 would be it. Nebraskans have been saying for years that if you've only been across the state on I-80, you haven't seen the real Nebraska.
Iowa is the exact same way. though I-35 isn't all that much better.
US-6, US-18, US-65, IA-2, all better choices. the other US and state routes too - it's just that those four are the ones I've done large chunks of in the state.
It was a little bit of a joke, but I'm not particularly fond of Nebraska, I have nothing against it, but it's not my favorite state.... ;)
BigMatt
The thing people have trouble grasping is that it takes a different mindset to appreciate Nebraska over, say, western Colorado. There's beauty in both- Colorado is more obnoxiously obvious about it "HOLY CRAP LOOK AT ME I'M A 10,000 FOOT MOUNTAIN I'M SCENIC OH LOOK OVER HERE BIG MOUNTAIN" whereas in Nebraska it's "Wow, that's a neat landscape- look at the way that old barn sits on top of that grassy hill"- now there are parts of Nebraska that are blatantly scenic like the aforementioned Chadron area, but a lot of it is more reflective. I don't know- I prefer the subtlety, but a lot of folks don't want to take the time to appreciate it. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Then obviously if you're off-interstate you have to deal with subtle terrain changes more intimately, and that always raises folks's perspective of an area, it seems like.
this is the sort of thing you will never see on I-80:
(//www.aaroads.com/shields/blog/photos/044086.jpg)
it's US-30, btw, around Gothenburg, NE. I-80 is two or three miles away.
Quebec:
- NOBODY speaks English. Speaking English in Quebec is like being black AND gay in the 50s.
- We all hate English speakers, even tourists.
- We all want to split from Canada; we hate them anyways.
- We all think that English people from Canada and the United States are all retarded hillbillies and rednecks.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on May 10, 2011, 11:04:59 PM
Quebec:
- NOBODY speaks English. Speaking English in Quebec is like being black AND gay in the 50s.
- We all hate English speakers, even tourists.
- We all want to split from Canada; we hate them anyways.
- We all think that English people from Canada and the United States are all retarded hillbillies and rednecks.
Take a shower, Frenchie.
Quote from: tollboothrob on May 08, 2011, 09:22:42 PM
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. :)
Don't forget the old joke: "How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? –Because everybody else would have called it a 'teethbrush.'"
Most of the Virginia stereotypes I've heard come from people in the rest of the state stereotyping Northern Virginia due to traffic and carpetbaggers who didn't grow up here (for the most part, people my age are the first generation to have a substantial number of us who grew up in Northern Virginia), or people from Northern Virginia stereotyping the rest of the state for supposedly being rednecky or in love with their guns or the like.
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 11, 2011, 09:27:18 AM
Don't forget the old joke: "How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? –Because everybody else would have called it a 'teethbrush.'"
I hear that most frequently with Alabama.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 10, 2011, 06:50:57 PM
a lot of people think they know Nebraska just because they've taken I-80 through it. I can tell you plenty of things to do... especially things in small towns.
This can probably be said for just about any state and any freeway that goes through it (it certainly is true in Ohio).
Quote from: exit322 on May 11, 2011, 10:42:59 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 10, 2011, 06:50:57 PM
a lot of people think they know Nebraska just because they've taken I-80 through it. I can tell you plenty of things to do... especially things in small towns.
This can probably be said for just about any state and any freeway that goes through it (it certainly is true in Ohio).
Given that a lot of people think the Turnpike IS New Jersey,
Car and Driver's memorable description of a portion of the Turnpike is appropriate for this thread. They memorably described the portion of the New Jersey Turnpike from Exit 12 to around the point where the road divides into the Eastern and Western Spurs as "miles and miles of universal fart."
(I have relatives in the Red Bank area and I know well that not all of the state is like that part of the Turnpike. But it's a great description of that area. My brother drove me up to Brooklyn one time to help me move some furniture to Virginia when I bought my house. The dumbass insisted on having the windows down. Of course we got stuck in stopped traffic on the Goethals Bridge and it was too late to switch to the AC. The smell was so bad I wanted to puke out the window.)
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 11, 2011, 09:27:18 AM
Quote from: tollboothrob on May 08, 2011, 09:22:42 PM
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. :)
Don't forget the old joke: "How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? –Because everybody else would have called it a 'teethbrush.'"
Here's one I used to hear: "What is the state flower of West Virginia?" - a satellite dish.
That was before the advent of DIRECTV and DISH Network.
Quote from: PAHighways on May 11, 2011, 12:39:33 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 11, 2011, 09:27:18 AM
Quote from: tollboothrob on May 08, 2011, 09:22:42 PM
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. :)
Don't forget the old joke: "How do you know the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? –Because everybody else would have called it a 'teethbrush.'"
Here's one I used to hear: "What is the state flower of West Virginia?" - a satellite dish.
That was before the advent of DIRECTV and DISH Network.
I remember the time when the Backyard Brawl was being played in Pittsburgh and the stadium's PA announcer got into some hot water for announcing that the owner of a tractor with West Virginia license plate EI-EI-O had left his lights on.
I don't get any of these West Virginia things!! Could someone explain?? :/
BigMatt
Quote from: BigMatt on May 11, 2011, 08:29:00 PM
I don't get any of these West Virginia things!! Could someone explain?? :/
BigMatt
Quote
- Finding "love" within the family, or farm animals
ALL WEST VIRGINIANS ARE GOAT FUCKERS.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 11, 2011, 09:42:31 PM
ALL WEST VIRGINIANS ARE GOAT FUCKERS.
Well, to be fair, their sisters do look like goats. I'll bet it's hard to tell for them sometimes.
Quote from: kurumi on May 10, 2011, 03:15:36 AM
Nevada:
- Most churches have Elvis impersonators as priests and video poker in the pews
That might actually get me to go to church.
If their paytable was set high enough.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 11, 2011, 09:42:31 PM
Quote from: BigMatt on May 11, 2011, 08:29:00 PM
I don't get any of these West Virginia things!! Could someone explain?? :/
BigMatt
Quote
- Finding "love" within the family, or farm animals
ALL WEST VIRGINIANS ARE GOAT FUCKERS.
Does that mean the new state song consists of the Rolling Stones singing "Goat Goat"?
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 14, 2011, 03:21:26 PM
Does that mean the new state song consists of the Rolling Stones singing "Goat Goat"?
no no no, it's the original version... goat fucker, goat fucker goat fucker goat fucker goat
Quote from: BigMatt on May 09, 2011, 11:23:00 PM
Quote from: corco on May 09, 2011, 10:49:47 PM
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
Depends on where you are. Salt Lake proper is around 50-50, while its suburbs are 80-20 (LDS to non-LDS). If you were talking the Provo metro area, then yes - Provo and its suburbs are around 90% Mormon. You'll find that percentage in rural Utah as well.
Anyway, more Utah stereotypes (some of which naturally turn into stereotypes of the LDS Church):
- Everyone lives in the Amish fashion, with hand-churned butter and no electricity (not true at all).
- There are many polygamist families in the state (again, not even close).
- Alcohol is not available for purchase (it is, though hard liquor and wine are only available in state liquor stores).
- The whole state's desert (it's surprising how many people are unaware of the Rocky Mountains going through Utah).
- Utah's the reddest of red states (actually, this stereotype is pretty much true; however, Salt Lake proper has been a liberal mecca since the 1970s).
- The Great Salt Lake is a tourist attraction (not really; locals rarely ever go there because of all the brine flies surrounding the shore).
- Also, I get the impression people see Salt Lake as a smaller city than it really is. It's not the size of Denver, but the Salt Lake metro has 1.1 million people and the urban area 2.2 million. We're pretty big.
Pennsylvania: (like most there are many contradictions)
Everyone lives near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. I can't recall the number of times when I said I originally came from Bloomsburg and people would ask whether it was near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
The whole state is all urban. (far from the truth, of course)
The whole state is all abandoned steel mills or coal mines.
-- In actuality Pennsylvania has a vibrant farming industry and (used to be anyway) second only to Wisconsin in dairy products and first in milk production.
Philadelphia has an inferiority complex about New York City.
Pittsburgh has an inferiority complex about Philadelphia.
All the restaurants in Philly serve Cheesesteaks.
Rural Pennsylvania is just like West Virginia or Kentucky. Yes, I have heard rural PA called Pennsyltucky.
Pennsylvania has the worst roads in the county because PennDOT is corrupt. Unfortunately, the former is true to some degree, and the latter not so much any more, but the bad roads are more due to high traffic and bad winters.
Ohio:
Everyone hates Michigan.
Everyone is a Ohio State Buckeye fan.
The whole state is abandoned factories.
The Cuyahoga River still catches on fire.
The only thing that ever happened at Kent State University was the shooting on May 4, 1970.
Tennessee:
Everyone is a redneck. (see Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, etc.)
-- Roadkill is considered Haute cuisine, though it IS legal to pick up roadkill to eat it!
Everyone in Nashville is in the music business or wants to be.
Memphis is all about Elvis
Knoxville = University of Tennessee
Some states are proud of their stereotypes. Missouri, Show Me State, for one. Oklahoma Sooners, proud of their thieving/dishonest heritage.
Quote from: mightyace on May 16, 2011, 06:36:47 PM
Everyone lives near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. I can't recall the number of times when I said I originally came from Bloomsburg and people would ask whether it was near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
When I would speak to someone from outside the US and told them I was from Pennsylvania, I'd usually get the question, "How far from Philadelphia?"
Quote from: mightyace on May 16, 2011, 06:36:47 PMThe whole state is all abandoned steel mills or coal mines.
-- In actuality Pennsylvania has a vibrant farming industry and (used to be anyway) second only to Wisconsin in dairy products and first in milk production.
Last time I looked at statistics Agriculture is again the #1 industry, tourism second, and manufacturing fallen to third.
So what do you international people say about us Americans?
Quote from: pianocello on May 17, 2011, 05:28:20 PM
So what do you international people say about us Americans?
Good question! :clap:
andHow are international drivers, stereotyped by Americans? ie Oriental=slow drivers, tourist, no idea where they are, where they're going, or where they've been :poke: Mexicans=total disregard of all traffic, common sense and general rules of humanity.
Here in the states, I lived in Delaware for many years. We Kent Countians referred to the general lifestyle of rural Sussex County as "lower slower Delaware" (or lsD :spin: :) :hmmm:
We're fat, lazy, immoral gluttons who pretend to be religious and do whatever the fuck we want no matter the cost?
-We love war.
-We love cars.
-We love nationalized health care... except when those under 55 get it.
-We love gays. Whoops, thats not correct. At least for some people.
Quote from: allniter89 on May 17, 2011, 09:31:21 PM
Mexicans=total disregard of all traffic, common sense and general rules of humanity.
I have noticed this in the US too... which is so weird because in Mexico, I've noticed that the quality of the drivers is very, very high. aggressive as Hell and competent - basically reminds me of NYC.
Quote from: pianocello on May 17, 2011, 05:28:20 PMSo what do you international people say about us Americans?
I find it difficult, knowing stuff about America, and it varies from country to country. Us Brits are more pro-American than the French or Germans, which stems from the common political roots that we've apostated from and the common language. The French, despite you guys helping
- The left hates all your guts - I read a letter to a paper that attacked elected police sheriffs (which we won't get as the political establishment doesn't like the idea much) on no other grounds than that it was American, as that was the worst possible thing.
- There's certainly an Americans are all fat view (and some of that is cultural - we don't really do doggy bags here, and have smaller portions at restaurants because of that, so those that visit America take back the big portions note about Americans). American breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, maple syrup with bacon) don't help either, nor does the amount of HFCS in soft drinks giving a massive count on how much sugar is in there.
- Americans are ignorant of the world - they claim to have saved Europe from the Nazis (even rewriting stuff like U-571 so that Yanks did it), yet were late, just like they were in the First World War, and most haven't been to a foreign country (of course the geographical distances to get to another country are a lot bigger than in Europe)
- Americans are loud, brash, and somewhat rude tourists
Take what the liberal elites thought of conservatives 3 or 4 years ago, at the height of culture war tensions and you'll get how the liberal elites of Europe tend to think of almost all America, including most Democrat voters. Those who've spend some time making TV series there (eg Stephen Fry, Jamie Oliver) are a lot less bigoted against America, having gotten to know the people.
Quote from: english si on May 18, 2011, 07:04:46 AM
- There's certainly an Americans are all fat view (and some of that is cultural - we don't really do doggy bags here, and have smaller portions at restaurants because of that, so those that visit America take back the big portions note about Americans). American breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, maple syrup with bacon) don't help either, nor does the amount of HFCS in soft drinks giving a massive count on how much sugar is in there.
I've never understood this one. As someone who lives near Orlando, one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world for the British, it's painfully obvious that we don't have a monopoly on fat people. I see a large number of people with British accents who can give any bacon-loving American a [strike]run[/strike] slow walk for their money. Oh, and they all seem to wear track suits.
Quote
- Americans are ignorant of the world - they claim to have saved Europe from the Nazis (even rewriting stuff like U-571 so that Yanks did it), yet were late, just like they were in the First World War, and most haven't been to a foreign country (of course the geographical distances to get to another country are a lot bigger than in Europe)
We also tend to forget that the only reason we were able to beat you Brits to begin with was the French. If it weren't for them, we'd be South Canada.
Quote
- Americans are loud, brash, and somewhat rude [strike]tourists[/strike]
FTFY. But yes, there are definitely loud, brash, rude American tourists. And it gives the rest of us a bad name.
Quote from: realjd on May 18, 2011, 08:42:52 AMI've never understood this one. As someone who lives near Orlando, one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world for the British, it's painfully obvious that we don't have a monopoly on fat people. I see a large number of people with British accents who can give any bacon-loving American a [strike]run[/strike] slow walk for their money. Oh, and they all seem to wear track suits.
I'm with you that this and the tourist one are unfair.
Keeping up stereotypes, these obese track-suited people are all from Glasgow - to use the broad brush strokes of stereotypes: Scotland lives on a diet of deep-fried food, with the added bonus of being high in salt as well. Add to that they only drink drinks made of girders (Irn-Bru) or whisky - except in Glasgow where they drink the more calorific cheap super lagers (though kids go for wine-strength alcoholic health tonics, drinking big bottles of it at a time, as they can't cope with the lack of sugar in beer). The oats in their diet had been helping keep hearts healthier, but they've lost their taste for them and Scotland has become the heart disease capital of the world. In the mid-90s the English, mostly London-based, media thought it would spin an urban myth about Scots eating deep fried Mars bars only to find out it wasn't a myth.
Some of that is actually true - Scotland being the heart disease capital of the world and the story about deep-fried Mars bars (yummy, but sickly sweet). Irn-Bru is real and outsells CocaCola (Scotland is the only place in the world where CocaCola are outsold by another soft drink), but I don't think they make it with girders any more.
Quote from: realjd on May 18, 2011, 08:42:52 AMOh, and they all seem to wear track suits.
"Shell suits" in British English, I think. Plus these people in general tend to be called "chavs" in Britain (though there are regional usages, like "neds" in Scotland).
In fact Britain has been catching up to the US in the obesity sweepstakes, a fact which has caused much anxiety and handwringing in the British press (though my impression is perhaps somewhat skewed by reading leftwing papers like the
Guardian).
QuoteQuote
- Americans are loud, brash, and somewhat rude [strike]tourists[/strike]
FTFY. But yes, there are definitely loud, brash, rude American tourists. And it gives the rest of us a bad name.
This is called the "Ugly American" stereotype. When I lived in Britain, it was part of the reason I tried not to have my Americanness be the very first thing people knew about me. This was easier for me to do than it is for most Americans because, as a profoundly deaf person, I never felt I could rely on my voice as a primary means of communication and so I didn't have a south-central Kansas accent give me away. I was a little taken aback though by the number of people who thought I was English.
In regard to Scotland, the traditional rule of thumb has been that Glasgow is working-class, while Edinburgh is middle-class, and there is in fact a huge disparity in health outcomes not only between Glasgow and the rest of the UK, but also between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Several years ago a study (NHS-sponsored, I think) showed that on average, adults in Glasgow were about three to six inches shorter and had life expectancies about ten years shorter than adults in Edinburgh.
As an aside, superficially Glasgow strikes the casual (American) tourist as an oasis of Americanness in Britain. It has a grid layout (including four-lane undivided surface arterials, which are very common in Midwestern cities but vanishingly rare in most large British cities), the Glaswegian accent is rhotic and for that reason alone is almost easy for Americans to lip-read, and the M8 feels very much like a urban freeway in a large American city with exits on the "wrong" side of the road and all the rest of it. But I don't think there are very many, if any, large American cities which are socially polarized based on religion the way Glasgow is ("Rangers versus Celtics" is the shorthand way of describing this split in the British media--Rangers being the Protestant soccer team, Celtics the Catholic one).
Quote from: english si on May 18, 2011, 10:02:32 AM
Quote from: realjd on May 18, 2011, 08:42:52 AMI've never understood this one. As someone who lives near Orlando, one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world for the British, it's painfully obvious that we don't have a monopoly on fat people. I see a large number of people with British accents who can give any bacon-loving American a [strike]run[/strike] slow walk for their money. Oh, and they all seem to wear track suits.
I'm with you that this and the tourist one are unfair.
Keeping up stereotypes, these obese track-suited people are all from Glasgow - to use the broad brush strokes of stereotypes: Scotland lives on a diet of deep-fried food, with the added bonus of being high in salt as well. Add to that they only drink drinks made of girders (Irn-Bru) or whisky - except in Glasgow where they drink the more calorific cheap super lagers (though kids go for wine-strength alcoholic health tonics, drinking big bottles of it at a time, as they can't cope with the lack of sugar in beer). The oats in their diet had been helping keep hearts healthier, but they've lost their taste for them and Scotland has become the heart disease capital of the world. In the mid-90s the English, mostly London-based, media thought it would spin an urban myth about Scots eating deep fried Mars bars only to find out it wasn't a myth.
Some of that is actually true - Scotland being the heart disease capital of the world and the story about deep-fried Mars bars (yummy, but sickly sweet). Irn-Bru is real and outsells CocaCola (Scotland is the only place in the world where CocaCola are outsold by another soft drink), but I don't think they make it with girders any more.
Almost sounds like the stereotypes of the American South. Even the deep-fried Mars bars. However, Coca-Cola is the drink of choice there (as well as sweet tea).
yeah, the US is mercifully free of sectarian violence. as much conflict as there is between "red state" and "blue state" values, we don't go around blowing each other up.
those that do blow people up are quite rightly condemned by the public, the media, the politicians - really, by everyone across the board. we sure as Hell don't have major sports teams that implicitly condone Timothy McVeigh.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 18, 2011, 11:19:48 AMyeah, the US is mercifully free of sectarian violence. as much conflict as there is between "red state" and "blue state" values, we don't go around blowing each other up.
They don't do that in Glasgow--that is more Northern Irish. Glasgow is more penny-in-box-cutter country.
Quotethose that do blow people up are quite rightly condemned by the public, the media, the politicians - really, by everyone across the board. we sure as Hell don't have major sports teams that implicitly condone Timothy McVeigh.
Nope (but, to be fair, neither Rangers nor Celtics would ever be caught dead explicitly endorsing sectarianism). We are First Amendment absolutists, so we tend to condemn the act, but acquiesce in the existence of media personalities who wind up the crazy that commits it. Enoch Powell at his worst does not compare with Father Coughlin.
Quote from: english si on May 18, 2011, 07:04:46 AMAmerican breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, maple syrup with bacon) don't help either, nor does the amount of HFCS in soft drinks giving a massive count on how much sugar is in there.
Some soft drinks are now being made with sugar. Jones Soda Company makes their drinks with sugar, Pepsi Throwback has become a year-round offering, and apparently 7-Up Retro will be offered soon. While others sold in restaurants still contain HFCS, Sierra Mist is now only manufactured with sugar.
Quote from: PAHighways on May 18, 2011, 12:24:58 PM
Quote from: english si on May 18, 2011, 07:04:46 AMAmerican breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, maple syrup with bacon) don't help either, nor does the amount of HFCS in soft drinks giving a massive count on how much sugar is in there.
Some soft drinks are now being made with sugar. Jones Soda Company makes their drinks with sugar, Pepsi Throwback has become a year-round offering, and apparently 7-Up Retro will be offered soon. While others sold in restaurants still contain HFCS, Sierra Mist is now only manufactured with sugar.
Then there's always the Mexican Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Pepsi that I can find around here bottled in glass and made with real sugar. Beats the local stuff, IMHO.
Quote from: J N Winkler on May 18, 2011, 12:17:38 PMWe are First Amendment absolutists, so we tend to condemn the act, but acquiesce in the existence of media personalities who wind up the crazy that commits it.
yep, that's another American thing - to assume that we're consciously capable of overriding psychological reprogramming. so we assume that Father Coughlin types should be allowed to go off at the mouth and if you want to listen to them, it's your own damn fault.
though, to be fair, who these days is as extremist
and commands as wide an audience as Father Coughlin did? Your average mainstream talking heads (Rush Limbaugh and the like) are just windbags. I can't even name the leader of the American Nazi Party or whatever, that's how out of the public consciousness such extremism is these days.
Quote from: J N Winkler on May 18, 2011, 10:37:32 AM
But I don't think there are very many, if any, large American cities which are socially polarized based on religion the way Glasgow is ("Rangers versus Celtics" is the shorthand way of describing this split in the British media--Rangers being the Protestant soccer team, Celtics the Catholic one).
That's one thing that America disappointingly lacks - sports violence. It would be a lot easier to recognize a gang banger or other delinquent youth here if they prominently wore identifiable sponsor logos on their gang-colors. And I will give Glasgow credit for taking it to the next level by mixing religion and racism into what would otherwise be good old fashioned hooliganism.
Of course I follow Arsenal, the one team that has fans mature enough to put aside political differences and agree that Tottenham sucks. How else would the late Osama bin Laden, your royal family, Jay-Z, Matt Damon, and Chad Ochocinco all support the same team?
Texas: The only type of skyscrapers we have are oil refineries.. Ever heard of Dallas, Houston, and now Austin??
I however like the look of oil refineries, mainly at night with their Mercury lights.
BigMatt
Quote from: BigMatt on May 18, 2011, 11:38:07 PM
Texas: The only type of skyscrapers we have are oil refineries.. Ever heard of Dallas, Houston, and now Austin??
I however like the look of oil refineries, mainly at night with their Mercury lights.
BigMatt
Anyone who's ever seen an episode of "Dallas" knows Texas has real skyscrapers. Now, we all just assume they are in the oil and ranch business, sleep around, are stinking rich, and know who shot J.R. :sombrero:
Quote from: realjd on May 18, 2011, 04:32:00 PMOf course I follow Arsenal, the one team that has fans mature enough to put aside political differences and agree that Tottenham sucks. How else would the late Osama bin Laden, your royal family, Jay-Z, Matt Damon, Chad Ochocinco, and your royal family all support the same team?
Arsenal - Spurs used to be Irish v Yids, but that's gone, other than any Jew in the UK interested in football will support Spurs. Spurs looked good this season, and will only be one place behind Arsenal in the league (following Arsenal's implosion), they dazzled in the Champions League (which you have to be good to get in, so they didn't do bad last season) - against Italian teams at least. Of course, they are on their way down, fighting for 5th next year, whereas if Arsenal can get an experienced defender or two to lead the team and shore up the defence, they won't collapse like this year and be pushing on all four fronts, winning at least a couple of trophies.
We don't have much violence outside of Old Firm derbys: Celtic - Rangers which are pushing other tensions, as explained above - unlike Northern Ireland, no attempts at reconciliation have been made in the city as they aren't blowing people up. It's gang violence with the excuse of football.
In England there's about 5 rivalries (though relegation and such like meaning the teams are often in different leagues) that have about 20 arrests on a bad year, and a few more that have a handful of arrests. Ones involving Millwall and Leeds are all about who are the most hooliganish set of supporters. Southampton - Portsmouth is all about trade unions - both ports went on strike in the 20s, and Southampton made an agreement first and stole all the business waiting to use a port - this one goes deeper than football and applies to healthy competition between the cities. Watford - Luton I have no idea what started it, but Luton supporters like getting violent at it.
Quote from: english si on May 19, 2011, 05:22:41 AM
Quote from: realjd on May 18, 2011, 04:32:00 PMOf course I follow Arsenal, the one team that has fans mature enough to put aside political differences and agree that Tottenham sucks. How else would the late Osama bin Laden, your royal family, Jay-Z, Matt Damon, Chad Ochocinco, and your royal family all support the same team?
Arsenal - Spurs used to be Irish v Yids, but that's gone, other than any Jew in the UK interested in football will support Spurs. Spurs looked good this season, and will only be one place behind Arsenal in the league (following Arsenal's implosion), they dazzled in the Champions League (which you have to be good to get in, so they didn't do bad last season) - against Italian teams at least. Of course, they are on their way down, fighting for 5th next year, whereas if Arsenal can get an experienced defender or two to lead the team and shore up the defence, they won't collapse like this year and be pushing on all four fronts, winning at least a couple of trophies.
We don't have much violence outside of Old Firm derbys: Celtic - Rangers which are pushing other tensions, as explained above - unlike Northern Ireland, no attempts at reconciliation have been made in the city as they aren't blowing people up. It's gang violence with the excuse of football.
In England there's about 5 rivalries (though relegation and such like meaning the teams are often in different leagues) that have about 20 arrests on a bad year, and a few more that have a handful of arrests. Ones involving Millwall and Leeds are all about who are the most hooliganish set of supporters. Southampton - Portsmouth is all about trade unions - both ports went on strike in the 20s, and Southampton made an agreement first and stole all the business waiting to use a port - this one goes deeper than football and applies to healthy competition between the cities. Watford - Luton I have no idea what started it, but Luton supporters like getting violent at it.
The last good game Arsenal played was the first leg of their Champions League match against Barca. Even their win against Manchester a few weeks ago looked sloppy. I'd argue that their problem isn't defense though. It's the fact that their forwards can't shoot on target. Van Persie in particular seems to always try for flashy SportsCenter worthy goals (aiming for a corner or something) when a simple hard shot in the middle would do the job.
But I suppose all this soccer (sorry, football) talk is a bit OT. As for stereotypes, you limeys drink warm, flat beer and have bad teeth. Oh yeah, I went there.
Quote from: realjd on May 19, 2011, 07:50:16 AMAs for stereotypes, you limeys drink warm, flat beer
Far better than the rubbish Americans tend to drink. Fizzy beer is horrible and I find ice cold drinks all taste the same (and I don't like the taste, of cold so don't have ice in drinks at all), so why would I want beer that isn't fridge or warmer (cellars where pub beer tends to be kept are about 12C - which isn't really warm) and full of bubbles, rather than flavour?
Quoteand have bad teeth. Oh yeah, I went there.
We're just not as concerned about having glow in the dark perfect smiles - Americans are vain!
You forgot that our food sucks - I was reading today in the paper that Americans, like the French, are a bit snobby about food and, while they are happy with food from elsewhere in the world, they have a particular dislike of British food. While it was, in austerity times like WW2, really rather poor (with the double meaning intended) - it's a lot better now. Apparently this snobbishness is starting to be slowly eroded by Brits going over and giving out food samples and only telling them it was British afterwards.
As for Arsenal - while trying to score the flashy goal, rather than the easy one, is a problem and has been for a while - the bigger problems are that they give away leads (Newcastle being the example
par excellence, though they were unlucky that Nolan wasn't send off and it was 10v10 when it was 4-1), and have no real leadership on the pitch (which aggravates the flashy goal problem). I agree time they played well was Barca - their next game was the Cup Final, which are always nervy affairs so you don't expect a team to play well, and it was a defensive mistake, losing the match, that started the rut that they haven't got out of - leadership and a firmer defence would have stopped that!
Michigan:
Nothing outside of Detroit.
Everyone from the southeastern part of the state says they're from Detroit or the east side.
The workers are greedy.
We're all old and sick.
Manistee, MI:
You or your parents work at either the tribal casino, the prison, the hospital, or the school system.
Brethren, MI:
Redneck Central
Any inner city:
Crime-riddled
Poor performing schools
Quote from: realjd on May 19, 2011, 07:50:16 AMVan Persie in particular seems to always try for flashy SportsCenter worthy goals (aiming for a corner or something) when a simple hard shot in the middle would do the job.
More stereotypes in at the end of this post, but, now the season's ended, I'll point out (having just heard these stats) that Van Persie's 18 goals in the Premiership was only bettered by 2 people on 20, 21 goals in 23 games (one of which would be the Neu Camp where he wasn't playing well and was sent off because his one shot was so poor that the ref misread it entirely and was a numpty) is really rather good and the goal in each of the last 8 away games he had before today was the record until he scored a 9th in 9 consecutive league away games. Arsenal, however, had no goals winning Match of the Day's Goal of the Month award this season. I do like how Arsenal's post-Wembley collapse wasn't as bad as Birmingham's - I don't think I've cheered a Spurs goal as much as the one that guaranteed that they were going down.
Brits/English:
- Gentlemen (in the classic sense of the word - to the point where it's used as a loan word across the world because no other culture has the concept of gentlemanly behaviour)
- Thugs (the Gentleman-Thug tension has been held) - linked heavily in with football violence and Spanish holidays (and latterly Eastern European stag dos)
- I've not yet mentioned our love of tea, tea time, cream teas, afternoon tea as a meal, etc
- our fashination with talking about the weather
- Stiff upper lip, repressed emotions
- are xenophobic nationalists (coming off our skepticism about the EU)
- are eccentric
- a great exporter of classic comedy - Americans go with Python, most of the rest of the world (sadly) goes with Mr Bean
Londoners:
- are all Cockney
- are all foreign
- eat jellied eels at pie and mash shops (OK, not really in anyone's mind anymore, but 50 years ago that was in the psyche)
- don't care what goes on in England outside the M25, other than maybe the football results
- use the tube and buses to travel and not cars
people from the 'Home Counties':
- All middle-class well-off people
- Would vote for a cabbage if you put a blue (ie Conservative) rosette on it
- Mostly work as stockbrokers in the City of London, commuting in from the countryside
the Welsh:
- can sing
- coal miners
- speak gobbledygook that's full of unpronounceable vowel-less 10-letter-long words
- have a fetish for woolly animals that go 'baa'
Wales (and Manchester) - always raining, or just about to rain
Germans:
- punctual
- sticklers for rules, lists, order, efficiency (the Germanic influences in US culture can be seen here, as a Brit, in road numbering and the different approaches to it from authorities and roadgeeks either side of the pond)
- get up at the crack of dawn, while on holiday, to put beach towels on sun loungers, thinking it reserves it for them, and even if you try and do the same, they'd have got up earlier
- have a collective memory block as to what their country was doing in the 1930s and 40s and just plain old can't remember the time between 1914 and 1918
- eat lots of sausages and drink lots of beer
Quote from: english si on May 22, 2011, 08:26:37 PM
- our fashination with talking about the weather
despite the fact that you don't get anything very interesting.
ask Louisiana about interesting weather! :ded:
The easiest way to identify if someone is really from Wyoming is to tell them what Wyoming city you're from. If their response is "[city name]? You guys have an awesome Walmart" then they're from Wyoming. Unless you say you're from Rawlins in which case a native Wyomingite would respond "Bummer, why don't you guys have a Walmart yet?"
Re the Welsh and sheep - it's a trait shared with their sister lands of Kentucky and Newfoundland.
I'll throw in some more stereotypes (and more soccer discussion) tomorrow when I've had time to digest all of the results.
The closest thing I've witnessed close to sports violence was at a couple of NASCAR races at Talladega.
In one, Jeff Gordon won back when he was one everyone loved to hate. i.e. pre-Kyle Busch. In the other, Brian Vickers won the fall 2006 race by wrecking Jimmie Johnson and the sainted Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the final lap.
In both cases, many fans threw bear cans and other debris onto the track.
Quote from: english si on May 22, 2011, 08:26:37 PM
the Welsh:
Yeah... pretty sure this one is an exaggeration. (Though, Tom Jones could sing....)
Quote
In the past, I'd say this was a pretty true sterotype (My great-grandfather worked in a pit in Wales...).
It's kind of the same thing with some people still thinking Pittsburgh is a dirty smokey city filled with steel mills. Once true, but not anymore.
Quote- speak gobbledygook that's full of unpronounceable vowel-less 10-letter-long words
The only time this is true is when they're speaking Welsh instead of English. (My dad tried learning Welsh once as a hobby, Not sure how long he tried though...)
Quote- have a fetish for woolly animals that go 'baa'
Not saying anything about the fetish part... but man, there ARE a lot of sheep over there.
QuoteWales (and Manchester) - always raining, or just about to rain
Sometimes a stereotype becomes a stereotype because it's true.
Quote from: Mr_Northside on May 24, 2011, 02:09:25 PMIt's kind of the same thing with some people still thinking Pittsburgh is a dirty smokey city filled with steel mills. Once true, but not anymore.
One time I was talking to someone from France, and after explaining I lived nowhere near Philadelphia, I had to explain that there were no mills left within the city limits and hasn't been smoky since the 50s. It amazed me that in the Internet age with Google Images (http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=635&q=pittsburgh&gbv=2&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=Pittsburgh) and Google Earth (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Pittsburgh,+PA&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Pittsburgh,+Allegheny,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.442379,-80.013013&spn=0.016592,0.038581&t=f&z=15&ecpose=40.42339286,-80.01301268,2330.63,0,44.979,0) that this was still prevalent.
Manistee County, MI: Gas prices are usually at least a few cents higher than surrounding counties (case in point, today gas in Manistee County ranged from 3.99 to 4.02 while gas in Grand Traverse County was either 3.88 or 3.89)
ftballfan: wrong topic? Gas prices aren't exactly a stereotype.
It isn't a stereotype, but it is true ;)
Here's a stereotype of Manistee County: All the females are short.
Quote from: ftballfan on June 01, 2011, 06:37:33 PM
It isn't a stereotype, but it is true ;)
Here's a stereotype of Manistee County: All the females are short.
Do they have flat heads?
Quote from: Mr_Northside on May 24, 2011, 02:09:25 PM
Quote from: english si on May 22, 2011, 08:26:37 PM
the Welsh:
Yeah... pretty sure this one is an exaggeration. (Though, Tom Jones could sing....)
and Charlotte Church, Dame Shirley Bassey, Bonnie Tyler to name the really famous ones. Then you have the Male Voice Choir tradition in the valleys and stuff. It's an exaggeration to say they all can sing, but there's a massive singing tradition that has lead to the stereotype.
QuoteQuoteWales (and Manchester) - always raining, or just about to rain
Sometimes a stereotype becomes a stereotype because it's true.
[/quote]I've spend weeks in Wales where you had one bit of rain, at night, on one of the days and you actually got a lot of sun during the days.
Quote from: Steve on June 01, 2011, 07:29:48 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on June 01, 2011, 06:37:33 PM
It isn't a stereotype, but it is true ;)
Here's a stereotype of Manistee County: All the females are short.
Do they have flat heads?
No. By short, I mean 5'6" or shorter. In my high school graduating class, we only had about five girls (out of about sixty girls total) that were taller than 5'6".
50 State Stereotypes (in 2 minutes) (http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/adb7b5e6cd/50-state-stereotypes-in-2-minutes)
For my brother Josh in Brooklyn NY:
We are all part of the Italian Mafia.
We are all Italian, Jewish, or Black.
We all have no driving experience because we don't have cars.
For me, my Wisconsin roots first:
People from Illinois think we all drive slow just to piss them off. (partily true. :) )
State Motto: Eat Cheese or Die.
There is nothing to do and no where to go anywhere in Wisconsin.
Bear fans believe Packer fans are fat, toothless, redneck, gun wielding, hunting fools in bright orange. (None which applies to me). All I have to say to Bear fans is, since your last SB win, we have got 2 more trophies. Suck it! hehehe
For Illinois/Chicago:
We all know Micheal Jordan.
Every fan of the Bears and Bulls is like the "Super Fans".
Chicagoland is Illinois.
The boonies of Chicago is beyond Harlem Ave. (More of a Chicago vs Illinois stereotype)
Everyone in Illinois talks like they are from Chicago. (Ever been down south of I-70??? More like Kentucky accent),
Aurora IL:
Nothing but gangbangers and pimps.
Naperville IL:
Everyone lives in a mansion.
BTW, Aurora and Naperville have had a long rivalry politically like Minneapolis-St Paul.
Quote from: hobsini2 on June 03, 2011, 10:39:18 PM
Everyone in Illinois talks like they are from Chicago. (Ever been down south of I-70??? More like Kentucky accent),
Something similar in southern Indiana. I've gone to Holiday World a few times and things on the north side of the Ohio River look a lot like they do in Kentucky.
another regional stereotype is northern Florida. A lot of people perceive Florida to all be similar to Miami, Orlando, and/or Key West (lots of beaches, etc) - but generally, north of Tampa or so, it's Deep South - Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia are accurate comparisons.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 22, 2011, 08:29:08 PM
Quote from: english si on May 22, 2011, 08:26:37 PM
- our fashination with talking about the weather
despite the fact that you don't get anything very interesting.
ask Louisiana about interesting weather! :ded:
Louisiana gets extreme weather, but this isn't about willy waving over strongest winds, highest floods and so on. In Louisiana they talk about weather disasters, in England we talk about weather in all it's mundane glory.
1)English weather is rather unpredictable - the forecasters often can't get it right on the day, despite the largest weather supercomputer in the world. Due to rain at teatime according to the forecast at breakfast time? take your raincoat out if popping out to the shops for lunch - it might not rain then, or in the late afternoon either, but they said rain at teatime, so it's likely to rain at some point in the afternoon.*
2)English weather is weird - yesterday was rather hot (for living north of the 51st parallel and having a big ocean around us cooling us down in the summer) and humid - in sub-tropical Florida, in tropical Indonesia, and other times when we get days like that in England, you get a thunderstorm and lots of rain sometime in the evening - there were occasional, rare, drops. We got the full tropical downpour at half 6 this morning (about 3 hours after sunrise, and while it was still cooler from the night). Totally bizarre.
In short, there's lots more to talk about with the weather than just the newsworthy stuff and because we have massively changeable weather, and don't have really hot summers (whether wet or dry they are rather predictable) or really cold winters (again, predictable what's going on), there's lots to talk about, as what's happening/going to happen changes lots.
* the case
par excellence of getting it wrong was Michael Fish, backed up with the Met Office's data, saying this: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't, but having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France." A few hours later that night, cue southern and eastern England losing 15 million trees and 18 people to 3 hours of hurricane and near-hurricane force winds constantly gusting, the military being informed by the Met Office that they might be needed to assist sorting out the damage, the BBC's breakfast programme having to be broadcast from an emergency studio as if the bomb had fallen, and very little public transport running, stopping London for a day.