# I pit people who think living outside a big city is 'torture' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 29, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757 "2010-12-29T22:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/21 "2010-12-30T00:16:32Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Las Vegas? Las Vegas is held up as a shining example of cosmopolitan city life? LV does have ALOT going for it in that regard, its tough to beat the nightlife and range of activities available. Plenty of world class food, art, music, museums, misc entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/22 "2010-12-30T00:17:28Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It cuts both ways. I was at a vineyard in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia and the woman asked me where I was from. I said DC and she said “oh, I’m sorry,” with one of those passive aggresive smiles that says “can’t you take a joke?” > > It seems like small town people think they should just get a pass on making shitty comments about big city folk right to their face. Chicken/Egg - Big City folk have been damned insulting for quite awhile as well. I buried my accent and smiled while people made “flyover states” comments when I went to college and worked in LA and New York. I never heard “Okie” used as an insult until I took a job in LA working for a New York firm. I don’t know when the countryside decided to start their rounds of insults, but I have heard it from the big city residents my entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/23 "2010-12-30T00:21:30Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > Because it’s such a condescending attitude to have. You’ve seen heard anyone from a really large city look down on a small one? Residents of Toronto often think of anyone from Saskatchewan as an inbred hick worthy of Cletus from The Simpsons. I think that’s BS. How is his attitude any different from yours? He’s saying that small town life isn’t for him and you’re saying city life isn’t for you. Seems to me these [rodents](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Town_Mouse_and_the_Country_Mouse) covered it best. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/24 "2010-12-30T00:23:08Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > There will still be 8 other sushi restaurants within walking distance. Sounds like there’s a plague of fucking sushi places in L.A. If I lived there I think I’d move to Saskabuttfuckwhatever just to get away from them. Mmmm, mooseburgers. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/25 "2010-12-30T00:24:15Z")
I didn’t see anything in the OP about having flush toilets. I wonder if that was an oversight? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/26 "2010-12-30T00:26:29Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > Okay, hick question. 😃 If my friend moves to the other side of the city, it’s 10-15 minutes max to get to them. What happens if your friend moves to the other side of LA? It would be just like one of your friends moving to another city. > [@](#): > > LA is a really car-oriented city. Yes and no. Many parts of L.A. function as dense, self-contained, walkable villages. So, yeah, it would take me over an hour to drive to the east side of town. But there’s almost no reason for me to do so. Almost every place I need to go is 5-10 minutes away by car. And a substantial fraction are close enough to walk to. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/27 "2010-12-30T00:37:26Z")
I lived for three decades in Sacramento CA and I’ve lived fifteen years in Portland OR. They’re about the same size and population, but Portland is wonderful, vibrant, livable, clean, fun and a joy to experience while Sacramento is a cultural and social wasteland full of tweakers and lawyers. It’s not necessarily the size of the city that makes the most compelling argument for or against itself. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/28 "2010-12-30T00:55:32Z")
Who cares what other people think. Sticks and stones. Anyway, they best revenge is to feign agreement, whilst thinking to yourself what shmucks they are for summarily rejecting that which you yourself know to be good. Do you really want them spoiling your smaller, quieter neighbourhood by coming to live with you? Leave 'em be, and let 'em stew. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/29 "2010-12-30T01:08:11Z")
Ooh, check out the bigshot living in Saskatoon. You have a sushi restaurant in your town? Lucky dog, if I want sushi, I can get it from the grocery store, yum. I fucking hate small towns and I’ve lived all my life in one so there. I cannot wait until I can move somewhere with some substance to it. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/30 "2010-12-30T01:23:12Z")
Living in a small city WAS torture. For me. At the same time, I know that there are a lot of people who live in small towns and cities that love it. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/31 "2010-12-30T01:30:46Z")
Living in a small city is like being tortured on the moon. When you finally get fed up with your prospects of not being tortured by an hour long (both ways) trip to buy condoms, you can’t actually leave because you’re acclimatised to small city gravity (traffic). Seriously, I only rarely drive on a four lane highway. How the fuck am I supposed to move to a city with _EIGHT FRIGGIN LANES_. Also, I don’t know how to cross a street. I’d be paralyzed with fear in the median. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/32 "2010-12-30T02:25:27Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > …snip…Also, I don’t know how to cross a street. I’d be paralyzed with fear in the median. FEAR NOT the sanctity of the pedestrian crosswalk! 😃 That’s one thing I adore about downtown Seattle, they have these crosswalks all over the place (at least in the part of town I work in), and they’re just not at the intersections, and cars MUST stop for you when you enter one and dare to cross the street. The power is AWESOME. Halt! I am a pedestrian, bow to my will, stop at my every ever-so-small move toward a crosswalk, mwaaahaha!!! Puny autos. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/33 "2010-12-30T02:29:27Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Also, I don’t know how to cross a street. Nor do most people in Chicago. You’d fit right in. As for the car thing, that’s easy. Don’t bother owning one. Just take a bus or a train. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/34 "2010-12-30T02:30:38Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Saskatoon is probably the most crime-ridden city in Canada. Either Regina or various Northern communities usually beat out Saskatoon in terms of crime level. I will admit that Saskatoon frequently comes up high on those MacLeans-type lists crime hotspots in Canada, but in my experience the vast majority of the crime problems are confined to a smallish area of town. If you live on the East side of the river you are pretty much fine. It would be interesting to see East Saskatoon and West Saskatoon listed separately in those rankings. Now, I haven’t lived there in a few years, but I’d be surprised if, say, Grosvener Park was beset by crime. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/35 "2010-12-30T02:33:12Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > There will still be 8 other sushi restaurants within walking distance. And more people to be friends with. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/36 "2010-12-30T02:34:52Z")
Let’s not just focus on availability of a sushi restaurant to dine in. How about I can have it _delivered to my doorstep_ from any of 27 restaurants _right now._ Expand the search to any type of food, and I can get **anything** delivered to my door from more than 200 restaurants _right now_. Small town life has it’s pluses, I guess. But I’ll take city life over it any day. It takes me 20 minutes to get to work, by the way, and I have no car. Think about how much money that saves! Plus, I can be smug and “green” by not having a car. That doubles toward other people in the city who do have cars. When I do use a vehicle, it’s an iGo Prius, which I can use to park in “alternate fuel vehicle” parking right up front at Whole Foods. Which I can afford to shop at, because I don’t have a car. [/smug city-dweller] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/37 "2010-12-30T02:35:37Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > Either Regina or various Northern communities usually beat out Saskatoon in terms of crime level. I will admit that Saskatoon frequently comes up high on those MacLeans-type lists crime hotspots in Canada, but in my experience the vast majority of the crime problems are confined to a smallish area of town. All cities of substantive size have crime concentrated in some areas and away from others. I just always find it interesting that Toronto - which I don’t actually live in so I have no dog in the fight - is for some weird reason assumed to have a lot of crime, as opposed to the Canadian average. In fact, it’s quite a safe city as opposed to most big Canadian cities, and all major cities in the West have much higher crime rates (a phenomenon I don’t totally understand, but it’s true.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/38 "2010-12-30T02:38:48Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It cuts both ways. I was at a vineyard in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia and the woman asked me where I was from. I said DC and she said “oh, I’m sorry,” with one of those passive aggresive smiles that says “can’t you take a joke?” > > It seems like small town people think they should just get a pass on making shitty comments about big city folk right to their face. The DC thing is probably more because of the politicians. Also, can I join the pissing contest? The “city” nearby has 12,000 people, and I live out of town. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/39 "2010-12-30T02:50:25Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Let’s not just focus on availability of a sushi restaurant to dine in. How about I can have it _delivered to my doorstep_ from any of 27 restaurants _right now._ Expand the search to any type of food, and I can get **anything** delivered to my door from more than 200 restaurants _right now_. > > Small town life has it’s pluses, I guess. But I’ll take city life over it any day. It takes me 20 minutes to get to work, by the way, and I have no car. Think about how much money that saves! Plus, I can be smug and “green” by not having a car. That doubles toward other people in the city who do have cars. When I do use a vehicle, it’s an iGo Prius, which I can use to park in “alternate fuel vehicle” parking right up front at Whole Foods. Which I can afford to shop at, because I don’t have a car. > > [/smug city-dweller] I grew up in the massive suburbiaplex that is the Pinellas County, Florida, and as such, I was well-conditioned to regard car ownership as a necessity, something that makes life a living hell if you don’t have one. Dense as I am, it took me a couple years after moving to Chicago (complete with car) to realize what an expensive, obnoxious pain in the ass a car is. Once I turned 21, I promptly sold the infernal contraption (as I could join I-Go) and saved myself immeasurable time and worry, to say nothing of all the money I’m not spending. I don’t have a problem with small towns or suburbs. They’re not for me, though. I enjoy being able to walk down the street to my favorite Indian restaurant and get some takeout curry without driving five miles. And being able to read on my way to work. And the bicycle trail. And the museums. I must confess I’m puzzled by the constant “Why’d you move up here?!” questions I get when I reveal that I’m a native Floridian; St. Pete’s a good place to be from, but I couldn’t imagine living there again. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/40 "2010-12-30T03:19:32Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#): > > I must confess I’m puzzled by the constant “Why’d you move up here?!” questions I get when I reveal that I’m a native Floridian; St. Pete’s a good place to be from, but I couldn’t imagine living there again. Oh, that’s easy! It’s not a city question but a weather question. People can’t imagine someone would move from a warm year-round climate to Chicago, where it’s cold for several months of the year! I tell people I stay in Chicago BECAUSE it’s only hot for 3 months of the year, and would be even happier if that didn’t even happen. I get tired of people complaining about Chicago weather. I tell 'em to go ahead and get out already. Who needs 'em? I love my city. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=3)