People say they're from your city or state, when really they aren't?
I had been thinking of making a thread about this but couldn't find the wording...on a stroke of luck one of my friends broke it down in his livejournal, so I'll use it as my explanation:
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For those of you not from DC, let me try and explain.
Y'see. DC is not very... large. The original diamond of the city was 10 miles by 10 miles. That was before Virginia got all snippy and took its land back. But we're a really busy and lively and varied city. We also have taxation without representation in Congress. So, to be from DC is a unique and specific thing. Ten minutes from DC is not DC. That's 10 minutes from DC. That's off in... I dunno... representation country. Suburbia and such.
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I duno what it's like for people in other places, but most people from DC agree that it's irritating as hell when people even just over the border in Bethesda say they're from DC. If you live in Maryland, just say you live in Maryland or at least say DC area because we all know you live out in the boonies and just wanna sound all city-bred
Anyway really I wanted to know if anyone else feels this way in their respective cities?
i dont live in a place that anyone would want to be associated with so i dont really have this problem, but i find that when i talk to people outta state and they ask where i am from i have to say "oh it's like an hour east of san francisco" cause no one knows where in hell i am.
Yeah, I don't really have to worry about this either...Indy's an hour away, Louisville is a couple hours away, and I live in one big hick state, so the odds of finding meaningful civilization is really stacked against you.
I know what he's sayin. I'm originally from Maryland. I here people talk about they're hometown birthplace is DC when they were raised up in Bowie and Silver Spring and such. It's pretty much ok though, no biggy situation.
I know what you're saying... I live NEAR chicago, but not in chicago... but if I travel I might say I'm from chicago just because no one ever heard of my city...
Who freaking cares if someone claims to be from your hometown but actually lives 10 miles from that city?
The area of land dubbed 'Houston' stretches over 100 miles end-to-end, if you include Katy (West Houston), the Woodlands (north of Houston) and Clear Lake (southeast Houston, NASA area). Houston is almost like NY in that it has a dozen mini-cities / burroughs. Northwest Houston / Champions Forest, Southwest Houston / Stafford / Sugarland, Southeast Houston / Pasadena / Clear Lake, West Houston / Katy, East Houston / Baytown, I could go on and on.
I actually don't live in the city limits of Houston - I live in the city of Stafford, TX. Should I change my SN to staffordCivicEX? LOL.
Is there some sort of cred or prestige attached to being from a particular town? I mean - it's not as if someone is walking around falsely pretending to be an alumni of your alma mater or something. I'm betting that for 90% of the people on this site grew up in a particular city only because their parents happen to live/work there. If your mom and dad happened to work halfway across the country, you would call that city home.
totally agree with EManEX and htowncivicEX... i live 15km from Toronto... but i just tell ppl i'm from Toronto cuz they're gonna be scratchin' their head if i tell them different....
The thing about Houston is there are actually separate CITIES located within the Houston area. Like Stafford, Bellaire, and West University. In the case of West U - it's actually located inside the city limits of Houston! They have their own city council and everything. How weird is that?
If I tell out-of-towners that I live in Stafford, I usually get a blank expression. Only people from Houston will know that Stafford is the little municipality that connects Sugarland to the rest of Houston.
Houston is such a monstrously HUGE area that it's just not enough to say - "I live in Houston - come visit me." You have to add which area of Houston you live in. Because depending on which part of Houston you're traveling to, it can add up to an hour to your drive (no joke). And there's no public transportation system, either. Good thing gasoline is cheap over here.
In 2001, I lived/worked in San Francisco for about half a year. I had a bunch of friends in both San Fran and San Jose, and they always referred to San Francisco as "The City". As in - "Hey this weekend we're going up to The City to party. Wanna come?" LOL - all of my San Jose friends would immediately get offended if you refer to SF as The City.
