Language barrier...or not....

[ShadowBall]

Ohhh how I hate trying to explain to people where I live. I'm in an itty bitty town, so telling people my location usually goes like this: "(Town). Meth Valley? It's near Elmira? Closest large town is Scranton? No? Four hours from either NYC or Buffalo - please tell me you've heard of those." People seem to also think that living in Pennsylvania = living in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. And I can handle that since I lived in the 'burgh for four years.

[bainsidhe]

Quoted for truth. I live in upstate NY myself and anyone outside the state asks me how the city is. It's actually very irritating at times because the state actually has a lot of farmland.

Truth indeed. I've lived here over 8 years, but I remember how shocked I was when I first moved to western New York and saw farmland and *gasp* silos . For a Nebraska gal like myself, farming doesn't exist outside of the midwest. And vineyards don't exist in Nebraska. I moved in the early spring before things were blooming and I couldn't figure out what the "organic-looking barbed wire" was. That's how a vineyard looks without leaves.

I often get asked how The City is, and folks are shocked when I say I've never done the touristy bit. I work with lifelong New Yorkers who have never been to New York City. *shrugs*

[surreal20]

Have you ever seen New Mexico Magazine? The last page is "One of our 50 is missing",stories about people that don't know we're a state,some damn funny stuff sometimes.

Happened to me once when I was playing in South Dakota.We'd sat down with some customers that liked the band & they asked us "Do y'all have any trouble getting across the border?" The bass player & I winked at each other & asked them "Which border? The Colorado border? Wyoming? South Dakota? Which border are you talking about?"

Funny enough, I'm from West Virginia. A lot of people don't realize we are a state as well. They think we are "west" of Virginia. I'll get a lot "is that near Richmond" and then i have to explain. No, West Virginia is a STATE. It was founded around the time of the Civil war, because half of Virginia was Union and the other half was Confederate, so it eventually turned into two states. O.o

[Frantic Freddie]

All y'all east of the Mississippi & north of the Mason Dixon line are Yankees to me

[KabeRinnaul]

Funny enough, I'm from West Virginia. A lot of people don't realize we are a state as well. They think we are "west" of Virginia. I'll get a lot "is that near Richmond" and then i have to explain. No, West Virginia is a STATE. It was founded around the time of the Civil war, because half of Virginia was Union and the other half was Confederate, so it eventually turned into two states. O.o

From and am still in West Virginia.

I remember an elementary school teacher having a similar story. She was on vacation and mentioned being from WV. The person she was talking to replied, "Is that near Raleigh?"

Personally, I usually just wind up beating my head against the wall of stereotypes.

[wolfie]

Funny enough, I'm from West Virginia. A lot of people don't realize we are a state as well. They think we are "west" of Virginia. I'll get a lot "is that near Richmond" and then i have to explain. No, West Virginia is a STATE. It was founded around the time of the Civil war, because half of Virginia was Union and the other half was Confederate, so it eventually turned into two states. O.o

Can't recall the exact year, but WV was admitted to the U.S. as a state during the Civil War. When Virginia seceeded, the northern counties wanted to remain part of the U.S., so they seceeded from the state. Ironically, the westernmost point of Virginia is further west than the westernmost part of West Virginia. Why couldn't they have called it "North Virginia"? Of course, that would have led to confusion during the Civil War, since the Army of Northern Virginia was Confederate (and led by an officer who was in the U.S. Army until Virginia seceeded, and in fact was the leader of the U.S. Army force that suppressed John Brown's rebellion at Harper's Ferry). Despite his name, he wasn't orange with "01" painted on his side.

[Dracalous]

I grew up and live in Washington, the state. Every time I've traveled outside of the Northwest areas, I get people who assume I'm talking about DC.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

All y'all east of the Mississippi & north of the Mason Dixon line are Yankees to me

Anything South of Connecticut is Southern to me. :P





I once was talking to a friend, who was arguing that New York was part of New England, since it was in the North Eastern part of the US. Explained to her that New York, once called New Amsterdam was Colonized by the Dutch, therefor not a part of "New England"

Her response was: "Wait... but... don't they speak English there now?"

I eventually gave up.

[Damien]

When I was in Boston for a conference, I had someone ask me if Queensland was in Texas....

[PepperElf]

I've heard it said that the rest of the state of New York can't stand New York City cause too many people think that's the "state" itself.

yes but not for those reasons
we just get tired of supporting the city and some of us think it should be its own state.

[Bright_Star]

Can't recall the exact year, but WV was admitted to the U.S. as a state during the Civil War. When Virginia seceeded, the northern counties wanted to remain part of the U.S., so they seceeded from the state. Ironically, the westernmost point of Virginia is further west than the westernmost part of West Virginia. Why couldn't they have called it "North Virginia"? Of course, that would have led to confusion during the Civil War, since the Army of Northern Virginia was Confederate (and led by an officer who was in the U.S. Army until Virginia seceeded, and in fact was the leader of the U.S. Army force that suppressed John Brown's rebellion at Harper's Ferry). Despite his name, he wasn't orange with "01" painted on his side.

Makes me wonder why they didn't call it "New Virginia".

[Nayeli_Sabia]

yes but not for those reasons
we just get tired of supporting the city and some of us think it should be its own state.

My family(Malone/Batavia) fall into that last attitude, and i don't blame them >.>