# Come Here v. Born Here **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382 "2025-04-23T01:26:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/21 "2025-04-23T16:15:27Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > That may be harmless in some communities, but it is generally viewed as a negative in Hawai’i - there is a real housing shortage. Although, if people want to buy a home and rent it out at fair market rates, that’s less objectionable. (Though still there is a fair bit of resentment over wealthy haole outsiders owning land that was basically stolen from the Native Hawaiians.) I meant I was all for being against people “coming here” if “coming here” just means buying a holiday home and visiting a few weeks a year. It’s bad for anywhere where all available homes for locals a brought up by people who don’t actually live in them ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/22 "2025-04-23T16:22:51Z")
In Alaska, newcomers are called “cheechakos”, while those born there are either “sourdoughs” or Native Alaskans (or Alaska Natives, in the case of indigenous folks). There is a sort of unspoken contest that takes place whenever meeting someone new. It involves determining whose family has been there longest. It can be amusing. I usually won those “contests”, as my family moved there in the 1930s. My response to someone telling me “Well, my father came here in 1951” was always “Oh, newcomer, huh?” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/23 "2025-04-23T16:28:36Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I meant I was all for being against people “coming here” if “coming here” just means buying a holiday home and visiting a few weeks a year. Oh, got it! I misunderstood your comment (obviously). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/24 "2025-04-23T17:42:26Z")
“Now where’s that Inuit woman I’m supposed to wrestle?” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/25 "2025-04-23T17:57:17Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > One of the weird things about San Francisco is it was a complete cosmopolitan world city where everyone seemed to be from somewhere else (and different country as likely as a different part of the US) but it still had a teeny bit of that. The few actual locals were very proud of being “born here” and that was required for membership of the true SF local club, no number of decades living there was good enough. Heh. For the other side of that, a friend of mine headed off to New York City in storybook fashion — brimming with ambition, and looking to work with the locals who thought the same way — and, well, she wasn’t disappointed. And, she helpfully spelled out for me, it wasn’t the folks who _happened to be born there_ that she was enthusiastic about working alongside; the ones who, like her, _decided to go to_ NYC were, y’know, the whole point. I mean, yeah, she was sensible enough to note that some Born There types might have the right mindset, and that some of the Come There types might not have the right idea. But the way to _bet,_ she figured… ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/26 "2025-04-23T18:28:16Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I’m totally all for it when “coming here” doesn’t actually mean moving to the community and being part of it but just buying a holiday home and staying their a few weeks a year. Mom’s in Blaine Wa..:there’s a lot of mostly empty housing and a dynamic where the Canadians would come over the border to provision. No clue what things are like given current events. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/27 "2025-04-23T18:56:33Z")
An oldie but a goodie. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/28 "2025-04-23T19:28:38Z")
I was born and raised in Chicago. In case you don’t know, there is a BIG difference between being raised in the city vs suburbs. In college at the U of Illinois it always bothered me to hear folk say they were from Chicago, only to learn they were from a burb. Flash forward 40 years. I have now lived in the Chicago suburbs twice as long as I lived in the city, but for whatever reason, a part of me still thinks of myself as a “city boy.” I have a buddy who moved to Chicago a few decades back. At this point, he has lived in Chicago much longer than I ever did, but I still somehow think of him as less of a Chicagoan than I. (Doesn’t help that he is from Ann Arbor and is a Michigan fan!) Tribalism and self identity are weird things. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/29 "2025-04-23T20:01:08Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > In college at the U of Illinois it always bothered me to hear folk say they were from Chicago, only to learn they were from a burb. I always tell people I grew up near Charlotte and now I live in the Sacramento area. I’ve never actually lived _in_ either city; I grew up in a smallish town ~20 miles outside of Charlotte and now I live in a suburb of Sacramento. But it’s easier to just say Charlotte and Sacramento because those are the closest places that the majority of people would have actually heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/30 "2025-04-23T20:12:10Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > But it’s easier to just say Charlotte and Sacramento because those are the closest places that the majority of people would have actually heard of. Yeah - I get that. If I said the name of the burb I live in, no one outside of the area would know what state it was in. But I could easily say “a suburb west of Chicago.” Or even “near Chicago.” It depends on the situation. If I’m not going to have any additional conversation/relationship with the person and don’t care what they think, I could just say “Chicago.” But if I care enough that the person has a somewhat meaningful idea of where I come from, I think the minimal qualifying language is worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/31 "2025-04-23T20:27:25Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > was born and raised in Chicago. In case you don’t know, there is a BIG difference between being raised in the city vs suburbs. In college at the U of Illinois it always bothered me to hear folk say they were from Chicago, only to learn they were from a burb Yeah I think this the equivalent of “Come Here v. Born Here” in big cities. They don’t tend to be snotty about whether you’re from there, they do about the exact border that being from inside of qualifies you as from “there”. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/32 "2025-04-23T20:30:46Z")
Yeah, similar to what @Dinsdale said about Chicago, I have heard Los Angelenos complain about people who say they’re from LA when they’re really just from somewhere else in LA County. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/33 "2025-04-23T21:43:38Z")
I’m like @Dinsdale in that where I’m originally from or am living now depends on the audience. I suppose I could adopt the “I’m from near [big city]” rather than “I’m from [big city]” formulation, but the people I’m using that degree of geographical specificity with are folks who wouldn’t know or care about that distinction either. ISTM the goal is to give the audience a pigeon hole they can use, given their area knowledge, not mine. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/34 "2025-04-23T21:49:17Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Yeah, similar to what @Dinsdale said about Chicago, I have heard Los Angelenos complain about people who say they’re from LA when they’re really just from somewhere else in LA County. I always used to say that I was “from L.A.” when I was talking to someone when I was out-of-state (especially if I was out of the country). Most people wouldn’t have known Culver City, even though it’s completely surrounded by Los Angeles. That’s where I lived from the age of 1 to 21. Now, I _do_ live in the city of Los Angeles, but it’s an area that was gobbled up in the 1920s and still goes by that earlier separate name. It’s also the official Postal Service name. If someone _in_ L.A. asks where I’m from I’ll mention that name. Far enough outside L.A.? I’ll just say L.A. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/35 "2025-04-23T21:51:26Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > It definitely happens in Canada. In Newfoundland, they talk about how people “Come from away”, but it’s the same thing. In Toronto, I occasionally hear immigrants talking about how Canada takes in too many immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/36 "2025-04-23T21:57:42Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > In Newfoundland, they talk about how people “Come from away”, I love the phrase “from away”. It’s what Mainers use too. I’m technically from away, even though I lived most of my life up until the end of college in Maine. I was born in Mass, and now I’m a damn New Yorker. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/37 "2025-04-23T22:06:06Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Far enough outside L.A.? I’ll just say L.A. 'Zactly. That was me growing up in SoCal, me now in the greater Miami metroblob, and me at various other locales along the way. It’s “L.A.” or “Miami” unless I expect they have near-encyclopedic knowledge of the hundred+ municipalities across multiple counties that make up the whole shebang. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/38 "2025-04-23T22:30:44Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > In Newfoundland, they talk about how people “Come from away”, but it’s the same thing. And don’t forget “Upper Canadian”. In a 20 year period, I, an “Upper Canadian” (their word for someone from Ontario) spent a total of 12 years in Halifax, where I heard that term enough times (I was born and raised in Ontario). Apparently, Upper Canadians are responsible for everything bad that’s ever happened in the east coast. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382/39 "2025-04-24T13:49:14Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Apparently, Upper Canadians are responsible for everything bad that’s ever happened in the east coast. From the prairies, let’s not forget “Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/come-here-v-born-here/1017382.md?page=1)