With summer officially here, thoughts turn towards a vacation trip (my apologies to those in the southern hemisphere where it's now winter ... which sounds good right now as our temps here are in the upper 90s F!) Each country has areas full of charm and also idiosyncrasies. Today's iv highlights some of those "quaint aspects" of several parts of the USA.
If you get lost traveling, how can you tell where you are?
You might be in Arizona if...
1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found shade.
2. You've learned to open and drive your car without touching the car door or the steering wheel.
3. You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
4. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.
5 You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
6. The 4 seasons are tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!
7. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
You might be in California if...
1. You make over $250,000 a year, and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2 The high school quarterback calls a time-out to answer his cell phone.
3. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
4. You sleep through earthquakes.
5. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
6. You think that you're normal and everyone else is behind the times.
You might be in Michigan if...
1. Your definition of a small town is one that doesn't have a lake.
2. The word "thumb" brings to mind first a geographical rather than anatomical significance.
3. You learned to pilot a boat before the training wheels were off your bike.
4. You expect to receive Vernors when you order ginger ale.
5. Half the coins in your pocket are Canadian.
6. You drive 80 mph on the highway and pass on the right.
You might be in New York City if...
1. You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.
3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
4. You think Central Park is "nature,"
5. You've worn out a car horn.
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.
You might be in the Deep South if...
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2."Y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
3. After five years you still hear, "You ain't from 'round here, are ya?"
4. "He needed killin'" is a valid defense.
5. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, etc.
You might be in Maine if...
1. You have only three spices: salt, pepper, ketchup.
2. You design your Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.
3. You have more than one recipe for moose.
4. You have more miles on your snow blower than on your car.
5. Instead of referring to two or more people as "y'all" or "all y'all," you call them "you guys," even if both of them are women.
6. The four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and Black flies.
You might be in Colorado if...
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home, and he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.
You might be in the Midwest if...
1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition, for example "Where's my coat at?"
5. When asked how your trip was to any exotic place, you say, "It was different!"
You might be in Florida if....
1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind -- even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent dermatologist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you are often driven by headless people.
We hope to go north later this summer to see family and for a much-needed "Grandma and Grandpa fix" before the new school year begins. Do you have any travel plans?
If any of you want to make a list for your home state or country or if you can add to any of the above, comment away!
quotation...
"Belief affects behavior, and behavior reflects belief." - Dr. Bruce McAllister
=^..^= =^..^=
Rob
Should you trust a stockbroker who's married to a travel agent?
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on Jun 29th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Being an MK from NYC, it was great to read that. I’d have to agree with quite a few of those statements. The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Buildings are tourist attractions — you don’t visit if you’re a native (unless it’s on a elementary school field trip).
on Jun 29th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I was reminded of this today…
You’re from the South if turn signals are optional.
.-= Jkopp’s most recent blog post … Worst Job? =-.
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 6:53 am
You might be from the east coast if you think Indiana is “Out West.” (Jo, if you’re reading this, thanks for the inspiration!
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 9:42 am
You know you are a true Wisconsinite when:
You know several people who have hit deer more than once.
Your whole family wears green and gold to church on Sunday.
You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife (girlfriend) knows how to use them.
You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.
Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new machine shed.
You refer to the Packers as “we.”
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 10:20 am
I have to add one:
“You live in the Deep South if your front porch collapses and four dogs get killed”
Your collection of jokes (topics and amount for each topic) is staggering to say the least.
.-= Dave’s most recent blog post … Class with Professor Al Capone =-.
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Rob, being from the Midwest, I always wondered why ending my sentence with a preposition was such a hard habit to break and sounded so natural! Another thing about us midwesterns is that we think we are the only ones that speak normal and EVERYBODY else has the accents. Also, unlike the New England states who tend to drop “r’s” in words, we tend to add them. Some members of my family still insist what you do to your clothes (wash) includes an “r” (and becomes warsh).
on Jun 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Thanks for the laughs. I grew up in Michigan, and lived in the Deep South for 10 years. I was just wishing you had one on Alaska. It’s definitely a unique place, and we are loving it!
.-= Carrie’s most recent blog post … The Lemonade Sweater =-.
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 8:36 am
I just got back from a vacation in Maine and would like to add
You might be in Maine if the word “wicked” always has a positive connotation.
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:16 am
Having lived in many of these places, I had a hard time not laughing out loud here! How could you forget Michigan lefts? the only place where it “makes sense” that you have to turn right to make a left hand turn…
on Jul 1st, 2009 at 1:36 pm
You might be in Wisconsin if:
* you refer to the Packers as “we”
* you know what cowtipping is
* you know what a bubbler is
* you thought everyone drank from “bubblers”
* your school lost half their student body during deer season
* you go out for fish fry every Friday
* you’ve seen mosquitoes with landing lights
* you know someone who can use “ja, der hey” in a sentence
* you ever went to a wedding reception in a bowling alley
* you can visit Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Berlin, New London & Poland all in one afternoon
* you can make sense out the words upnort and Trivers
* you’ve seen a hodag
* you know where Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Kaukauna, Butte des Morts and Shawano are AND can pronounce and spell them
* you or someone you know was a “Dairy Princess” at a county fair
* you know how to polka
* your whole family wears green and gold to church on Sunday
Having been born and raised in Wisconsin I couldn’t resist!
on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
You might be in Scotland if…
1. 70 degrees is hot.
2. Cloudy is “lovely” weather.
3. Someone taking pictures of the sheep is an obvious tourist.
4. You can’t count the number of times you’ve taken Americans to Edinburgh Castle.
5. There’s a speed bump on every residential road.
6. There’s a roundabout at every intersection.
7. An old building is at least 400 years old.
8. The forests are all planted in straight rows.
9. It’s raining.
on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@Lynnette – That’s like my relatives who live in the suburbs of Paris who rarely go to any of the “must-sees” in Paris.
@JKopp – I have also found that to be true, sadly.
@LeAnne – That’s a funny insight.
@Bruce and Vikki – Interesting to compare your two lists. Both are funny. Thanks for posting them.
@Dave – Funny redneck joke, Dave. Thanks for noticing that I try to keep the subject matter varied on my blog. There are so many things in life that have a humorous side.
@Melissa – I think that it’s probably natural for any person to think that everyone who speaks differently from him as having “an accent.” I’ve had Southerners comment about my “Yankee accent.”
@Carrie – You need to write a list of Alaskan pecularities.
@Michael – That expression is more wide-spread than just in Maine. I have students from elsewhere in New England who use wicked in the way you’ve described. It always takes me off guard.
@b.j. – We really miss those Michigan left-hand turns. It’s annoying to us that in the South, those turning left go first. It just doesn’t seem right that 6 lanes of traffic have to sit and wait for two lanes to go first. Something not quite logical about that in our way of thinking.
@Kathleen – Funny list! Thanks for sharing.
on Jul 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I’ve just got to ask one question on my list above from Wisconsin. Does anyone know what a “hodag” is besides myself and possibly Bruce? No fair looking it up! My husband’s grandfather loved telling about them. He also whittled some to sell.
on Jul 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
@Vikki – I’m fighting the temptation to look the word up, but I will resist. I’ll wait to see if others attempt to tell what it is.
on Jul 4th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
You know you’re in Maine if you get in the “cah” to pick up a “pizzer.”
We can take one from CA too, actually:
When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
Also, my dad tells me Maine actually has 3 seasons: winter, almost winter, and mud season. But black flies should probably go in there too.
on Jul 6th, 2009 at 8:17 am
@Jessica – The confusion with ah and er seems to be more widespread than Maine. In fact, it seems to be all down the Eastern coast. In Boston they pahk the cah. Here in South Carolina I had a woman named Edna tell me she hated her name as a child because so many people pronounced it Edner … which to her was ugly.
on Jul 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hodag? hmmm, sounds like something my little brothers and sisters would have called “hot dogs” if they didn’t already call them “hocker-dogs.”
Don’t leave us in suspense!
on Jul 6th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
@b.j. – Vikki sent me the hodag story. Man was I way off in my imagining!
I may make it a whole blog post soon.