Seemingly every culture or region has something bad that they hold up with pride, or semi-pride. LA residents brag about how horrific the traffic is. Northerners of many nations like to brag about their alcoholism. Some regions even seem to brag about their crime rate and/or how violent a place is. Various city residents seem to take semi-pride in how expensive everything is.
What are some other bad-but-braggable things for regions/cultures?
Before I got to the end of this sentence, I thought it was going to be about the bitter cold winter weather.
For sure, that, too. Buffalo-ers bragging about how many feet of snow, etc.
On the topic of academics, I read one MIT dean talking about how some students even bragged morbidly about the suicide rate.
People like to brag about how little sleep they get.
From a health standpoint it’s not much better than stuffing your face with doughnuts all day, but somehow it proves how dedicated you are, not that you’re incapable of tending to your basic needs. That’s hustle culture for you.
In the IT industry: How much you work.
Nights, Weekends, Holidays, never offline. Bah…You have a six figure income, but are making $6/hr when you do the math.
I have heard a number of people brag that their weather is really difficult to forecast. Not just in the U.S., but also in Europe.
For the U.S. somebody crunched the numbers:
British Columbia would like a word:
Well, the unofficial motto of Michigan is, “if you don’t like the current weather, just wait a minute.”
Well, Syracuse can experience all four seasons in one day.
That’s pretty much the motto for a lot of places.
“Around here we have a saying…” Actually, folks say that around everywhere.
To the OP, I don’t think it’s so much bragging about the bad thing in itself. I think most of this sort of thing is bragging about how tough the people are, that they’re able to deal with the bad weather/bad traffic/high crime/whatever.
Spoiler for anyone unwilling or unable to read the linked article:
The US’s most unpredictable weather is in the north central U.S. (i.e. in and around the Dakotas).
The U.S. city with the most unpredictable weather is Rapid City, South Dakota.
The major U.S. city (among the 50 most populous metro areas) with the most unpredictable weather is Kansas City, Missouri.
One weird brag is how shitty their marriage/relationship/family life/child is. All that “boomer humor” stuff.
For such a beautiful and friendly country, people in Ireland seem awfully proud of their reputation as drunken bar scrappers.
Related but I remember when President Trump called Baltimore a dangerous crime ridden disaster and multiple people responded with “Well why don’t you come to downtown Baltimore and say that!??”
I’m an Angeleno, and I never brag about our traffic. That’s a weird way to phrase it.
A friend had his side of the wedding party wear kilts for the occasion. We went to a number of specialty stores looking for the right rental. I was shocked by the amount of ‘There’s no drunk like an Irish drunk!’ merchandise. It would be like walking into a Judaica store and seeing ‘Nobody pinches a penny like us!’
I have noticed that a lot of people from a lot of places like to post things on Facebook, etc about their shitty roads. Not so much traffic but number and depth of potholes is the usual thing. Constant states of road repair/construction tie-ups is another. I always found that sort of weird… “Hooray for my state’s inadequate and failing infrastructure!”
Hmmm…I’ve heard the same about Melbourne.
Also, some sports fans (Lions, pre-2016 Cubs, Browns) who liked to revel in how miserable their teams were.
Hmmm I never have.