# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/101 "2010-12-30T20:51:19Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It does really drive me nuts when people come in and are all “OMG I live in a bathroom with three other crackheads and I don’t think I’ll be able to come up with the extra three grand for rent this month!” and people say “You know, you don’t HAVE to live in NYC. My mortgage on a real house is six times cheaper than your crackhead bathroom!” and they say “Oh, yeah, RIGHT. What am I going to do there, go to the _mall_ on a Friday night?” True dat. I wouldn’t mind having all of the amenities of living in a major city, but honestly I don’t want for things to do, and here I can afford my own house in a nice area with a commute that’s under 5 minutes. Money goes a long way here, and it’s not because we think a glamorous evening is wearing our best overalls to Old Country Buffet. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/102 "2010-12-30T20:52:12Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, the thing is that they think all there is to do anywhere but New York is go to the mall. In other words, they’re actively wrong (and sort of bigoted against any city the Rat Pack didn’t sing about.) And every time you or any other small town extoller show up talking about how stupid New Yorkers are I show up to explain that for your mortgage to be 1/6th of my rent payment you would have to have a $220 mortgage and that all the money you spend on car payments, gas, insurance, traffic tickets, etc. adds up to significantly more than the $89 a month I pay for all of my transportation costs. You’ve taken a very, very tiny subset of New Yorkers and spun them to be every single person in this city and that is just as bigoted as anyone who thinks you don’t have anything to do other than go to the mall. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/103 "2010-12-30T20:59:25Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > And every time you or any other small town extoller show up talking about how stupid New Yorkers are I show up to explain that for your mortgage to be 1/6th of my rent payment you would have to have a $220 mortgage and that all the money you spend on car payments, gas, insurance, traffic tickets, etc. adds up to significantly more than the $89 a month I pay for all of my transportation costs. You’ve taken a very, very tiny subset of New Yorkers and spun them to be every single person in this city and that is just as bigoted as anyone who thinks you don’t have anything to do other than go to the mall. Except that **Zsofia** did absolutely nothing of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/104 "2010-12-30T21:17:41Z")
By the way, I’m not a small towner. I live in a university town and state capital with the largest basic training facility in the world. We have a world class symphony orchestra and ballet company. Oh, and some malls. But I didn’t say anything about you, I said something about people who bitch about stuff that don’t need to be. Although I’m pretty sure you’re the one who told me in all seriousness in another thread, quite snottily, that you wouldn’t live elsewhere because what are you gonna do, go to the _mall?_ ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/105 "2010-12-30T21:32:17Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Except that **Zsofia** did absolutely nothing of the sort. [Except](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12709607&postcount=60) [that](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12601090&postcount=5) [Zofia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12926292&postcount=27) [does](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12603192&postcount=17) [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11042772&postcount=24) all the time. I was really surprised not to see her in the first 10 posts on this thread, actually. And no, Zofia, I didn’t say it seriously. It was a sarcastic response to your second quote listed here. I don’t mean to pick on you because you aren’t the only one who does this kind of thing and I honestly don’t think it is a huge deal because it is cool that you are happy where you live, I just wish you wouldn’t harsh on New Yorkers the way you do sometimes, especially after seeing you comment elsewhere that you wish John Steinbeck hadn’t made negative comments about the south after one incident there because he is smearing the reputation of a place you love based on almost no information. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/106 "2010-12-30T21:33:40Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Next thing you’ll be telling me is Lake Titicaca isn’t a joke. Fun fact: I came across a reference to it in the book I was reading a couple of days ago and made sure to elbow my boyfriend and snicker about it. And then proceed to refer to it as “Lake Boobypoop.” > [@Wilson](#): > > /ot, but I’ve always like the place names you have up near Milwaukee. Waukeesha! Wauwatosa! Mukwonago! And my favorite Oconomowoc! Waukesha, with one e, for the record. But I like our place names, too. 😃 Don’t forget Pewaukee! How about Waukegan? Kewaskum? Lomira? Manitowoc? Minocqua? Baraboo? > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’m sorry your brain doesn’t work. Oh go split a plate of Jalepeno Poppers with some fucking call center temps. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/107 "2010-12-30T21:37:51Z")
I think the Big City people are jealous because they can’t do the things we can. I just canvassed a co-worker about New Year’s Eve plans, and he and the family are going out to an all-you-can-bowl event at the local alley. Try finding a convenient bowling alley with a deal like that in Manhattan, culture snobs!! Betcha have to go to New Jersey to even find an open lane. And we’ve got drive-through liquor stores. Seriously :dubious: I think those posters who brag about living in the big metroplex and going to all the shows are really spending weekend nights holed up in their crackhead bathroom apartments surfing the web\*, or text messaging other people about what they’re posting on message boards. \*and eating takeout Chinese food, not even sushi. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/108 "2010-12-30T21:38:12Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > …because what are you gonna do, go to the _mall?_ The ‘mall’ is 100 miles from me. One way. So for myself, I would say no. 😃 😉 ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/109 "2010-12-30T21:39:36Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Oh go split a plate of Jalepeno Poppers with some fucking call center temps. You understand that **Inner Stickler** doesn’t actually like grocery store sushi, right? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/110 "2010-12-30T21:48:43Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > You understand that **Inner Stickler** doesn’t actually like grocery store sushi, right? If he doesn’t, woosh on me. I’ve encountered people who rave about grocery store sushi with no irony whatsoever, though. And, if you want to get really technical, I merely stated that anyone who thought grocery store sushi was delicious was an idiot. So if it was a woosh that he meant it seriously, then it didn’t apply to him, anyway! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/111 "2010-12-30T21:49:43Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > …and that all the money you spend on car payments, gas, insurance, traffic tickets, etc. adds up to significantly more than the $89 a month I pay for all of my transportation costs. Umm - $104, actually… 🙂 -Wallet, **still** not plowed in Brooklyn, unlike you high-falutin’ city-folk in Manhattan- ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/112 "2010-12-30T21:50:54Z")
I love visiting big cities but think of them as “great place to visit/wouldn’t want to live there” places, at least on my current income. If you’re well off I can see how they’d be wonderful, but then if you’re rich enough I’m sure Calcutta can be lovely. I grew up on a farm that wasn’t in a town- the nearest neighbor not of my lineage was two miles away when I was a kid- and while I’d never want to be _that_ isolated again I think that today with high speed internet and satellite television it would be a LOT more bearable. I prefer to live in small cities (100,000 or less) that are convenient (an hour or less) to big cities (1 million plus). I’ve just applied for a position at a very small college town (under 10,000) that’s an hour from a 1 million+ but there are bedroom communities of the big city much closer than the big city so all the malls/movie theaters/etc. are available and Netflix delivers anywhere. The house my great-grandparents built on the farm where I grew up had what’s called a “shed room”- it’s a tiny bedroom big enough for a bed and nightstand and made by closing off one end of a porch. This was for the convenience of long-time guests (you often visited for several days at a stretch then, even if it was somebody who just lived 30 miles or less from you, because travel was so slow and unpleasant) or even for passersby who needed a place to spend the night. At this time the farms were so remote that total strangers in your home were welcome, and I can understand why. The postman didn’t even deliver to the area until well after the automobile revolution so the hard work of running a farm was probably good for taking your mind off the boredom. ---
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/113 "2010-12-30T21:51:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It has been indirectly alluded to, but it’ll be hard for Saskatoonites to garner much respect in the outside world for their city’s cosmopolitan qualities, given that the very name suggests Extreme Hicksville\*, much as Walla Walla, Washington and Kalamazoo, Michigan do\*\*. Before this thread was started I was vaguely aware that such a place as Saskatoon existed, but I couldn’t have told you where it was or what it might be renowned for, apart from beaver pelts and ice fishing. Well, to be fair it probably sounds funnier to you because you’re (I think) an American. While Saskatoon is the butt of jokes in Canada sometimes, it seems like Americans find it way more funny sounding because they don’t hear it very often. It’s really no stranger as a name than most places named after First Nations words. In any case, I usually find that Canadians and Americans alike think Regina is a far funnier name than Saskatoon. If you’re looking for names synonymous with Extreme Hicksville in Canada, you’d be better off looking to Moose Jaw or Flin Flon or Medicine Hat or Dildo. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/114 "2010-12-30T21:57:59Z")
I’m generally aware of where Saskatoon is and that it’s a mid-sized city on the Canadian prairie, but mainly I know it as being the hometown of Shelley on _Nothern Exposure_ (though Shelley’s accent was strangely southern [the actress being from Mississippi]). [_A chick in a trailer in Saskatoon/I partied with Tammy and I prayed to the moon_…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVym4fx22Zs) ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/115 "2010-12-30T22:42:05Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > If he doesn’t, woosh on me. I’ve encountered people who rave about grocery store sushi with no irony whatsoever, though. And, if you want to get really technical, I merely stated that anyone who thought grocery store sushi was delicious was an idiot. So if it was a woosh that he meant it seriously, then it didn’t apply to him, anyway! 😃 Grocery store sushi is a gateway drug. I never thought I’d see the day my mom would eat sushi. Now I can use this as bait to get her to eat _real_ sushi. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/116 "2010-12-30T22:47:36Z")
Man, I don’t even care if I can see a little Japanese man chained up behind the counter. I am \*not \*touching that shit. Anything with fish in it, anyway. In college, the coffeeshop where I worked stocked that crap in our aircurtains, and if there was a veggie roll package left at the end of the day, I sometimes snagged that instead of pitching it. But that was as a broke-ass college student. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/117 "2010-12-30T22:51:38Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Man, I don’t even care if I can see a little Japanese man chained up behind the counter. I am \*not \*touching that shit. Anything with fish in it, anyway. In college, the coffeeshop where I worked stocked that crap in our aircurtains, and if there was a veggie roll package left at the end of the day, I sometimes snagged that instead of pitching it. But that was as a broke-ass college student. Oh, I’m with you on that. But the grocery stores here use imitation crab anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/118 "2010-12-30T22:58:25Z")
Fake crab [is still fish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imitation_crab). Cooked, sure, but still. I ain’t trustin’ it out of a package that was prepared god knows how many hours ago. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/119 "2010-12-30T23:32:41Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Regarding the sushi/multitude of wonderful restaurants debate, I live in a city of over a million people with some world-class restaurants here (certainly there are plenty of places to eat, and lots of variety), and go to the same four places all the time (and I suspect there are a lot of people living in large cities just like me). I can’t speak to other cities, but in Calgary most of those world-class restaurants are downtown. Calgary has some of the highest parking fees in North America. When parking your car costs as much or more than an entree, I’ll stick with the restaurants that I have easy access to. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/120 "2010-12-31T00:15:40Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > Fuck that, y’all. I lived in Saskatoon, 300k population, … I’ve been in Saskatoon, and it ain’t got no 300k population. Hit a deer and totalled my car there on my way to The Pas through the Carrot Valley. Nice place though. Far more interesting topography nearby than what goes on further south. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=7)