Why do yuppies sit in the backyard and pofolks sit in the front yard?

[Becky2844]

Our front porch has a porch swing, a plank bench and a rocker.

I guess we're the ones watching you get out of your car.

[GreenElf]

Originally Posted by Becky2844

Our front porch has a porch swing, a plank bench and a rocker.

I guess we're the ones watching you get out of your car.

Watching me? The squatters across the street don't have such luxury. They either stand or sit on a very low porch step, usually alone at night. I helped clean up the place after the last squatters finally left (the landlord had been trying to get them to leave for some time), and the place was a mess. The couch had only springs with no cushions and a year's supply of garbage covering the springs. I figured so that's how the other half lives although I'm low income myself.

[Son of a Rich]

I'd kind of like to live in a world where having a couch on the front porch was a common thing, and no one thought twice about it. I've never had a porch with a couch, but it sounds damn comfy.

[Sudden Kestrel]

Originally Posted by GreenElf

Originally Posted by GreenElf
It seems low-income people are "street-level" in their mentality so instead of sitting inside and reading a book or watching TV, or relaxing in the seclusion of a backyard like suburbanites, they like to case the neighborhood.

Originally Posted By SuddenlyKestrel
You are kidding, right? C'mon, you have to be kidding. Please?

What's your angle? How is being more entertained by watching neighbors walk to and fro their cars not more street-level than being entertained by reading a book or anything else? Are you an upper-crust snob who enjoys sitting outside your front door and staring people down as they carry groceries from their car?

I'm sorry, street-level doesn't mean to me what it seems to mean to you. I interpret it as "on the same level as the adjacent driving surface."

What makes you think that when you're not watching them watch you they're not sitting upstairs reading a book or watching TV or performing physics experiments? Why do you think people with "street-level mentality" (whatever that is) are "casing" the neighborhood and not just idly looking at things and people within their visual fields. Maybe they're saying to each other:

"Hey, there goes that paranoid guy from across the street with another bag of groceries."
"That's the third bag of groceries this week, and I never see him with anybody else. Every time I see him he's watching us over here. It's creepy."
"Yeah, you're right! I wonder if he's holding someone captive in there. Y'know, paranoid guys living alone are just the type to do that sort of thing."
"We should call the police. That's what people do on CSI."

Originally Posted by Son of a Rich

I'd kind of like to live in a world where having a couch on the front porch was a common thing, and no one thought twice about it. I've never had a porch with a couch, but it sounds damn comfy.

See, po' folks put couches in their garages or driveways or on their porches. Yuppies buy entire living room suites (including carpeting and outdoor flat-screens) and put them in the back yard. It's completely different.

We had our first cool night last night after a spate of oppressive heat, and I found myself considering putting up a cot or a roll-away on the deck and sleeping out there to take advantage of the fresh air, but we're not po' enough to do that yet.

[An Gadaí]

I've noticed it here. In middle class areas people aren't in their front gardens unless doing something like washing their car or more often doing a spot of gardening. There seems to be a social taboo on just lounging around in your front garden, you might be seen. In more working class areas people sitting drinking tea, chatting, reading, drinking booze etc. is far more common in front gardens. One person explained to me that in a lot of working class areas homes either don't have back gardens, or have tiny ones that aren't pleasant to sit out in. I don't know if this fully explains the phenomenon, I mean why aren't there more middle class people enjoying their front gardens? Either way it's something I've always found fascinating.

[enipla]

Originally Posted by An Gadaí

I mean why aren't there more middle class people enjoying their front gardens? Either way it's something I've always found fascinating.

Well, often all their 'stuff' is going to be in the fenced in back yard. Pets, children, BBQ, vegi garden. The typical middle class back yard that I see is much larger than the front yard too.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by tdn

I can beat that.

I spent the weekend in a neighborhood where people set up lawn chairs in the street. Others set them up on the sidewalk, and it's one big old-people party. I hope the street sitters were at least feeding the parking meter!

Only chairs? I used to live in a small town where it was impossible to park at the curb after work, as people would take out the chairs, armchairs, sofa, TV and a couple of tables (one to put the TV on, one to put dinner on) and sit it all at the curb. Furniture and people would all head in around midnight; when I left for work, the curb would be looking sad and lonely and all the cars would be (illegally) parked along the row of mangy-looking trees in the middle of the street.

Guess I should'a taken pics.

[An Gadaí]

Originally Posted by enipla

Well, often all their 'stuff' is going to be in the fenced in back yard. Pets, children, BBQ, vegi garden. The typical middle class back yard that I see is much larger than the front yard too.

But many front gardens here are fenced in too. Mine doesn't have a gate anymore but it used to. Most of my neighbours have a front gate. I'm not talking about anything as elaborate as bbqing or what not. I just mean people taking in a bit of sun or reading a book or whatnot. I've seen it precisely once and it was an old man who probably no longer gives a fuck about anything anyway.

[Vinyl Turnip]

Yuppies sit in the backyard so they don't get shot in drive-bys. Pofolks sit in the front so they can return fire.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by njtt

Because "pofolks" don't have a back yard (not in the American sense of a pleasant garden, with a lawn, intended for recreational use - what the British would call a back garden*). They can't afford it. If they have land behind their dwelling, it is put to more practical use.

Unless you're implying that my childhood downstairs neighbors would have used a backyard to grow pot, I can't imagine what more practical use you're thinking of. Most city-dwellers probably wouldn't be growing much food, least gaging by the ones I knew until we left the city.

But it probably is a money thing. When we lived in the poorer end of a poor city, the "yard" was a 6' wide strip of land along one side of the building separating the 3 story apartment from the one next door.

[GreenElf]

Originally Posted by Sudden Kestrel

I'm sorry, street-level doesn't mean to me what it seems to mean to you. I interpret it as "on the same level as the adjacent driving surface."

What makes you think that when you're not watching them watch you they're not sitting upstairs reading a book or watching TV or performing physics experiments? Why do you think people with "street-level mentality" (whatever that is) are "casing" the neighborhood and not just idly looking at things and people within their visual fields.

Hey angleshooter, I placed "street-level" in quotations to denote lingo, but you're taking it literally. They're sitting on their front doorstep most of the time so they have no opportunity to do anything inside. You apparently aren't stared at every day as you walk to your car or you'd know what I mean by "casing" which isn't to be taken precisely literally either as you're prone to do. Get lost.

[MaltLiquor]

Originally Posted by tdn

I can beat that.

I spent the weekend in a neighborhood where people set up lawn chairs in the street. Others set them up on the sidewalk, and it's one big old-people party. I hope the street sitters were at least feeding the parking meter!

This would be ideal for me. Having all the wisdom of all those years lining up, ok a few wouldn't talk but most would.

[MaltLiquor]

Originally Posted by GreenElf

Hey angleshooter, I placed "street-level" in quotations to denote lingo, but you're taking it literally. They're sitting on their front doorstep most of the time so they have no opportunity to do anything inside. You apparently aren't stared at every day as you walk to your car or you'd know what I mean by "casing" which isn't to be taken precisely literally either as you're prone to do. Get lost.

If they are "casing" you, shit man do something about it. I suggest saying HI...damn thing works wonders.

[kiz]

Heh, I've noticed a reversal of sorts in my middle-upper middle neighborhood these last couple of summers.

Not everyone has a front porch or a a stoop large enough for a chair or two, but nearly everybody has either a backyard deck or patio. Sure, a lot of people use the latter, but increasingly many people seem to be moving things back to the porch or stoop -- definitely not a full blow-out party, but having a few people over. I've seen people reading, eating, brushing their dogs out in front. My next door neighbor (who has a gorgeous back deck, btw), sits on the stoop with her girlfriends while their kids play in the driveway.

There's a family on the next block who eats dinner on their stoop. It's large enough for a table and a couple of chairs, and it's neat when it's dusk and they light candles. They wave to everyone walking past.

I think that's exactly what it is. Sure, you have all the privacy you want in your backyard, but if you want company or just want to be around others, you have better luck hanging out front.

[GreenElf]

Originally Posted by MaltLiquor

If they are "casing" you, shit man do something about it. I suggest saying HI...damn thing works wonders.

No thanks. I suggest you say hi to him. Enjoy.

[RedBloom]

I live in an average middle class neighborhood, and most people sit in the backyards, where the porch/fire pit, swings, and grill are. I had a screened in porch built on last year for privacy as well. My home is my sanctuary, and I enjoy unwinding without having to socialize sometimes. Plus I can smoke my cigarettes in peace without getting arrested or getting resentful/dirty looks from neighbors. I can only shoot the shit for so long before I start to become resentful if I can't step outside without having to make conversation. I grew up out in the country, perhaps I still have this mentality of wanting to be alone and have quiet when at home. (of course, we have noisy kids who play with the neighbor kids, and that works very well). Lower income = stronger social ties/bonds born from necessity I'm guessing. From there, I guess we turn into a bunch of misogynists. *shrugs*

[RedBloom]

Originally Posted by RedBloom

I live in an average middle class neighborhood, and most people sit in the backyards, where the porch/fire pit, swings, and grill are. I had a screened in porch built on last year for privacy as well. My home is my sanctuary, and I enjoy unwinding without having to socialize sometimes. Plus I can smoke my cigarettes in peace without getting arrested or getting resentful/dirty looks from neighbors. I can only shoot the shit for so long before I start to become resentful if I can't step outside without having to make conversation. I grew up out in the country, perhaps I still have this mentality of wanting to be alone and have quiet when at home. (of course, we have noisy kids who play with the neighbor kids, and that works very well). Lower income = stronger social ties/bonds born from necessity I'm guessing. From there, I guess we turn into a bunch of misogynists. *shrugs*

OOPS - I meant 'misanthrope', not 'misogynists.

[jasg]

Originally Posted by badger5149

The OP is correct. In depressed areas all over the US you will see people hanging on the front porch. More well off folks with the exception of lonely seniors will hang out at the rear because the backyard has the gardens, bird bathes, ponds etc and is usually a nice place to hang out.

I think that the shift from front to back started happening with indoor plumbing...

No privy in the back made it nicer to sit out back - now, the only folks who still sit out front are the ones guarding the cars on cinder blocks

[Vinyl Turnip]

Originally Posted by RedBloom

Plus I can smoke my cigarettes in peace without getting arrested or getting resentful/dirty looks from neighbors.

Assuming you're talking about plain tobacco, where do you live that smoking cigarettes on your front porch is an arrestable offense?

[RedBloom]

Originally Posted by Vinyl Turnip

Assuming you're talking about plain tobacco, where do you live that smoking cigarettes on your front porch is an arrestable offense?

Just being dramatic here..... we all know that smoking cigarettes is incredibly antisocial behavior now.

[Sudden Kestrel]

Originally Posted by GreenElf

Hey angleshooter, I placed "street-level" in quotations to denote lingo, but you're taking it literally. They're sitting on their front doorstep most of the time so they have no opportunity to do anything inside. You apparently aren't stared at every day as you walk to your car or you'd know what I mean by "casing" which isn't to be taken precisely literally either as you're prone to do. Get lost.

"Angleshooter?" I'm not quite sure if I should report that as an insult or not. [Checks UrbanDictionary.] Ah, apparently it means that I am "an unpleasant poker opponent (sometimes used to bust balls)." I guess I can't argue with that but I don't play poker and have no proof to the contrary, so I'll let it pass. Since you didn't "place it in quotations (sic) to denote lingo," I have no choice but to take it literally.

How do you know your neighbors are sitting on their doorstep most of the time unless you are staring out from behind your miniblinds most of the time watching them? Did you ever think that when you're not looking at them they might be doing something different? Maybe they think you are casing them. "Casing," by the way, can either be taken as what you call lingo, meaning observing with the intent to commit a crime, or literally (my favorite!) to mean putting into or covering with a case. This means that you are saying your neighbors are either planning to victimize you (lingo) or encase you in a container of some sort (literal—my favorite!). Which one is it?

I get stared at quite frequently (or looked at, rather, which is what most people call it) as I'm going about my business. My neighbors drive by all the time and I wave and they wave. Sometimes they even stop by for a chat. Sometimes strangers stop by and ask silly questions. Every once in a while this guy carrying a bag of groceries goes by really, really slow and glares at us sitting outside on our front deck. I have no idea what's up with him.

[Kolga]

Originally Posted by Son of a Rich

I used to live in a house where the people across the street would, all the time, be sitting in lawn chairs in the driveway. Used to drive me crazy- every time I stepped out the front door it was like I was stepping out on a stage.

Michael? Is that you? You should have warned us about that when we bought your house

Yea, our new place has neighbors like that. It's not that bad - they wave, we wave, they mow our lawn (we haven't bought a lawnmower yet), we chat about sports...

The new house has no front porch. It does have an absolutely gorgeous, flower and fruit tree-filled backyard that backs up to a green strip, so that's where we spend our time.

I agree with what others have posted about the relationship of back yard availability and socio-economic status.

[Dangerosa]

When we use our yard (we are indoors people) it tends to be the front yard. Its the convenient yard. We are pretty well off, but our house has a walkout basement (that we don't use) and so the backyard is down steps - so the front yard has a patio with a bench. It isn't uncommon here to use the front yard instead of the back for that reason.