# Bad things that people like to brag about
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 24, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031 "2022-12-24T05:32:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/141 "2023-01-10T23:09:15Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> Yeah, growing up on the westside of Los Angeles it was Mountains in the East and Ocean in the West.
After I moved to California from the East it took me years to stop getting east and west mixed up, because the ocean and the mountains are reversed from what I grew up with.
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> The only stereotype of rude New Yorkers I’ve found to be true is the incessantly beeping taxis.
Supposedly that might be because so many of the cab drivers in NYC are immigrants, who learned different driving rules in their home countries. In India (and I’m guessing probably other South Asian countries), it’s the norm to honk your horn when you’re overtaking someone, to alert the other driver of your presence. If you’ve been to an Indian city it’s all car horns all the time.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2023, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/142 "2023-01-17T16:54:55Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> . If you’ve been to an Indian city it’s all car horns all the time.
Indeed. It’s like a form of sonar. Took me a couple days to get used to it and stop interpreting it as impatience or aggression, but rather as a courtesy.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/143 "2023-01-17T21:31:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> My wife kinda sorta has this. She _knows_ which side is left and which is right, but if I’m asking to give me directions, she will about a quarter of the time get it wrong when doing it on the fly.
My wife and little sister are like this. We had quite a few “No I meant the other right” statements after I should have turned left. Now when giving me directions she simply says wedding ring side for left.
Both my wife and sister are very ambidextrous, I think they were natural lefties who were retrained at school. I’ve always thought that was connected.
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### Author:  [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/144 "2023-01-22T19:58:59Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> > [@Riemann](#):
> >
> > And some people don’t grasp what it can mean. They will say, for example, that you can hold up your hand with the index finger and thumb sticking out, then those two fingers make an L on your left hand. But that only works if you just get mildly confused about L/R. If you have full L/R “blindness”, you cannot distinguish an L from its mirror image.
>
> I have a really terrible time with left and right, and it has nothing to do with having trouble with letter reversals. I _never_ had problems with b/d g/q, J/L or any of the other problems some children have-- in fact, I knew my letters very early-- I knew the Roman alphabet so early, I don’t remember ever not knowing it, and knew the Hebrew and Cyrillic alphabets by the time I was 4.
>
> I read very early, and have some old paperwork from my elementary school where I am referred to as “hyperlexic.” I don’t know if that was a formal diagnosis I had, though.
>
> I can certainly see which L on the fingers orients the same way as the L on paper-- but who has time to hold up your hands and check when someone is giving you directions in real time?
>
> I do pretty well with north, south, east and west, though.
>
> But left and right are almost meaningless for me.
Oh, me too! I had a harder time with it when I was young, I had difficulty learning to drive. It’s gotten better over the years but I still find myself thinking “right hand over heart” to orient myself,and I still frequently get it wrong in yoga class.
I learned to read easily and always found it effortless. But right and left, not so much.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/145 "2023-01-23T00:25:00Z")
That’s interesting. North, South, East and West are what I struggle with.
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### Author:  [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/146 "2023-02-01T18:47:03Z")
nice to put a face to one of the people trying to get my friends hurt or killed through hate crimes or self harm. sure hope nothing bad happens to him. but it something does, at least he’ll be stoic about it.
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/147 "2023-02-09T21:15:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> > [@Velocity](#):
> >
> > LA residents brag about how horrific the traffic is.
>
> I live in Indianapolis. My brother lives in LA. The first time I visited him there, and drove a rental car, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to drive there, and how pleasant other drivers were compared to Indianapolis, where everyone seems to be pretending they’re Michael Andretti.
This. I’ve never been to Indianapolis, but if you want a really terrifying experience behind the wheel, check out Houston or Dallas. Texas driver’s are the worst. LA traffic isn’t even as bad (in the sense of not being as scary) as a mid-size Texas city like Corpus Christi. And yes, I’m bragging about how bad things are where I live 😜.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2023, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/148 "2023-02-10T01:31:53Z")
Drive a few hundred miles in the Colorado mountains every month.
I’ve been doing it for decades. Everything from tourists in rental cars that have never driven in snow, to invincible idiots that drive way too fast for conditions.
See an upside down pickup truck that is completely flattened a few times. Or something that looks like a big ball of crumpled aluminum foil. That will REALLY prevent you from being careless.
These people scare the shit out of me.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2023, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/149 "2023-02-10T03:35:07Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> These people scare the shit out of me.
My Mom moved to Colorado and I visited her once. For a person that’s afraid of heights it’s a horrifying place, and her boyfriend conducted the tour through areas with no guardrail while driving on the left side of the road to get closer to the edge, standing on the gas pedal of his truck and sticking his head through a window. Then he offered me a ride on his bike. No thanks. I keep expecting them to die, but as far as I know they are still alive.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/150 "2023-02-17T16:32:09Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> Then, I visited Hawaii for the first time, and it was Mountains in the Middle and the Ocean All Around. I was a bit confused my first couple of days about my compass point directions.
Mauka (towards the mountains), Makai (towards the ocean), Diamondhead (towards or past Diamondhead), and Ewa[(pronounced ehh-va] (away from Diamondhead). I think the default reference point is Waikiki. There are also windward and leeward. This is just for Oahu, of course.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/151 "2023-02-17T19:01:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Took me a couple days to get used to it and stop interpreting it as impatience or aggression, but rather as a courtesy.
I remember a few decades back driving with my mother for the first time right after she had moved to California (where I was a longer term resident). She honked her horn as she approached an intersection where two people were waiting to cross the street. I was confused and asked her why she had honked her horn. “Oh, I was just warning them that I was coming.” I was then appalled and told her I don’t know where she had picked that habit up, but that was not done in California unless you wanted to tempt someone to take a shot at you 😀.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2023, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/152 "2023-02-18T10:10:33Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> I remember a few decades back driving with my mother for the first time right after she had moved to California (where I was a longer term resident). She honked her horn as she approached an intersection where two people were waiting to cross the street. I was confused and asked her why she had honked her horn. “Oh, I was just warning them that I was coming.” I was then appalled and told her I don’t know where she had picked that habit up, but that was not done in California unless you wanted to tempt someone to take a shot at you 😀.
Shot for not letting pedestrians cross, or shot for honking?
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2023, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/153 "2023-02-18T11:57:35Z")
For honking. The “warning honk” is not a thing here unless you’re about to hit someone.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2023, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/154 "2023-02-18T12:53:50Z")
My first visit to St Martin, I was freaking out about people honking their horns at me. My gf explained that they were all “thank you beeps”.
Drivers here (we are here now) are all courteous. There are no stop signs or red lights, every intersection is a traffic circle and there is congestion around the towns. When you let someone cut in front of you, or pull onto the road from a store, it is customary for the person to “beep” a thank you.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/155 "2023-02-25T20:36:48Z")
Try army basic training. The drill sergeant says “face left,” and you turn right. The DS gets in tour face and says “Your AMERICAN left!” Everyone else laughs.
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### Author:  [@Bonzo58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonzo58)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-things-that-people-like-to-brag-about/977031/156 "2023-02-26T14:37:54Z")
I’m in western Washington. We have what’s called microclimates. The weather can vary drastically in just a few miles. The saying here is “Don’t like the weather? Drive a half hour.”.
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