<p>From another thread:
And my rejoinder
Followed by audiophile’s contribution
Now, you’ve got your California Fruits and Nuts; your Midwest ladies who are all frumpy librarians…</p>
<p>Have we exhausted the possibilities?</p>
<p>I grew up in Southern California, lived in Vancouver BC, the midwest and now the northeast. I’ve found wonderful people in each location, and found that the stereotypes are not usually true. You may run into the shallow extrovert in CA or the fuddy-duddy in the midwest, but I’ve also met bright, charming people everywhere. My S attends college in the northeast, and has hall mates from all over the country. My feeling is that there are nice, friendly kids everywhere, and they just seem to find one another. I will confess to some concern that people would be a little snobby, but have not found that to be true.</p>
<p>I’m just going to open up a bag of nuts and drink a pina colada. But I’m so shallow you won’t be able to tell I’ve been drinking…</p>
<p>In California, in case I’m being obscure. I remember when I went to college back east. From SF Bay area. In 1974 I was always asked if I surfed…</p>
<p>Alu, I have two nephews who grew up in the Bay area and they came out to the ranch to visit one summer. The youngest, a lanky blondish 16 year old, was getting the eye from a couple of local gals and a couple of the local boys asked him , where are you from ? He said “California”. They asked him if he surfed. He said “No. Do you rodeo?” The boys looked at each other and said Yep. We do. I nearly busted a gut laughing.</p>
<p>I win the prize with this one. I grew up and lived for 26 years of my life in Mississippi. Please take a moment to imagine all the stereotypes that I have endured over the years. I know. You all know me. I’m a racist, uneducated person who lives in a trailer where I refrain from wearing shoes. We look forward to the day when we get indoor plumbing and get off of the farm. The reality? I’m the child of two college professors who has never been on an actual farm. Oh and wait, I’m white but the high school I attended was 70% African American. You laugh, but you would not believe the things people ask you when they find out you’re from Mississippi. My friend went to camp in North Carolina (and might I point out that North Carolina is still the south) one summer and was asked if she had running water at her house. My father went to a conference in San Diego many years okay. When my father said he was from Mississippi, the man said “Oh, I guess this is the first time you’ve been on a plane.” And people think we’re the ignorant ones…</p>
<p>Well, you may be determined to roast me but I know where I live VERY well and I know my daughter needed a warmer (friendlier ) environment for college.How dare she suffer like I did.</p>
<p>I was born in the midwest, grew up in the northeast and did two years of college there, and finished my education in California, where I have now now spent most of my life. I actually am a dowdy, snooty, wine-sipping nut case, so maybe there’s something to these stereotypes after all.</p>
<p>I was always taught, being a Northeast girl, that Southern boys look down on women - sure, they’ll open a door, but tough luck getting them to believe that you have a brain. Now that I’m south of the Mason-Dixon, I’ve met a lot of charming, chivalrous boys who… aren’t intimidated by smart women!</p>
<p>Wow, you think those are bad. Try explaining why you live in Canada. People have asked me and members of my family if we ever miss getting the opportunity to wear shorts and sandals; if we’ve ever seen polar bears; if we have outdoor skating rinks year round; if everyone says <em>eh</em> and <em>aboot</em>; doesn’t everyone speak French?; oh and the best one of all, a woman upon learning that I lived in Toronto asked ‘oh, I met someone from Toronto once. His name was <em>such and such</em>, do you know him?’ When I told her there were 3 million people in Toronto, she looked at me like I was pulling her leg. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Not surprisingly, Canadians know far more about Americans than Americans do about Canadians. :)</p>
<p>Backhandgrip: don’t you live in the Phila area? If that’s right, yes, indeed, your D does need a friendlier place to go to college. I hate(d) the Phila snootiness–was glad to get out for the warmth and friendliness of New England.</p>
<p>Of course, then I moved to the Seattle area, and found out what genuine friendliness is all about. Of course, it might have something to do with all the rain ;-)</p>
<p>i live in florida, by the kennedy space center…it is not the “south” but a mixture of transplanted engineers from calif, alabama etc and retirees from jersey, ny and philly…the public schools are very good in our county but when it comes to applying to colleges there are 2 factors which are important: football and finances!!..so many kids grow up in gator(univ of fl) or seminole(fl state) pajamas that they are totally “brainwashed” to go there, mainly due to the great success of the football programs during the last 2 decades…their parents are thrilled because of the states success with lottery program, the students get an almost free ride… what they overlook is that these state schools have 40,000 students!!..the parents have no clue the difference in education with a student body of only 4000-6000 makes…
to know your professor, to have a maximum class size of 5o kids, to be around students that party hard yet study hard…
the bright students that went to the state schools, struggled with their 1st year, dropping classes …floundering…
many of the parents said they would save their financial help for the kids law school or med school…
so the reason i sent my son north was to surround him in an atmosphere of learning…so the next four years will be the time of his life… so far i am happy to report we made the right choice</p>
<p>bhg - I really meant this thread to be a light-hearted one; no intention to “roast” anyone. Well, to let each of us roast our own stereotypes if we so chose ;). </p>
<p>Having grown up in Washington, DC a part of the “Northeast” corridor with a Southern sensibility (at least for us natives; can’t speak for the Beltway Bandits) and lived in Boston,California, NYC, now back to NE and (you’re right) shipping a S off to New Orleans, I’ve never noticed a lick of difference, regionally, in who’s friendly and who’s not.</p>
<p>AlwaysAMom:
“Canadians know far more about Americans than Americans do about Canadians.”</p>
<p>That’s SO not true. We know a lot about Canadians here in the Midwest. They’re an ice-hockey team from Mun… ah, Mint… um…</p>
<p>…look, my kid can beat up your college-going nerd, all right? :)</p>
<p>So there.</p>
<p>Actually, optimizerdad, that would be Les Canadiens. ;)</p>
<p>
Don’t tell me… The City of Brotherly Love is just a marketing ploy?</p>
<p>Then there’s Texas… Seriously. My son, who was a freshman at Tulane asked his friends what part of the country they thought Texas belonged to. As you all know, Tulane’s student body is mixed with students from all over the country. He figured that the students from the Northeast would say Texas was in the South. He figured that the students from the Deep South would say it’s in the Southwest. They looked at him and said, “Neither. It’s Texas!”</p>
<p>Along:</p>
<p>Well, isn’t it? A law unto itself, a state (of mind) as much as the land of fruits and nuts to the West? :)</p>
<p>I live in a corner of Virginia that does not have much in the way of turnover and newcomers. First thing I noticed is that no one asks where you are from or cares much…unlike in Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville and places that are full of people from all over the USA where I feel perfectly at home. Now I have been here so long, they “forgot” I am not a native and say things like: "I am so relieved Johnny won’t be looking at College X…he might marry a YANKEE he would meet there! or worse, he might have to go to school with people from New Jersey!! The fact that my husband was born and raised in New Jersey just never registers, nor does the possibility that people from the North would actually add to the quality of life. I am a military brat and it is strange being around so many neighbors who are unaware of how mobile our society is today and who don’t consider screening these remarks and assume you agree with these hairbrained points of view.</p>
<p>jmmom-I wonder if dmd77 is talking about Phila or the burbs. Very different. Philadelphia, as a city, is very friendly. The father out you go, the more you experience something different. I think it has to do with New Jersey being so close ;)</p>
<p>(kididng about NJ, but not about the City pf Philadelphia. I find it to be VERY friendly. I do have a new neighbor who moved here from NYC, and she says Philly is too clique-y…maybe that’s where the problems arise for transplants)</p>
<p>Momsdream, I grew up and went to school on the Main Line (of Phila), then moved to Center City Phila at the age of 13. The very friendly kids in the neighborhood stole my bicycle the first night we were there, then sold it back to me and collected protection the next day. So please don’t try to persuade me that Phila is a friendly city.</p>
<p>I’ve been back a few times since I left at 17, and sure haven’t found it welcoming, with the stunning exception of friends in the black community, who have been wonderful. (I am white.)</p>