# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/121 "2010-12-31T00:17:09Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 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. How did they get their mail? Did they have to go to town? Or was there a centralized rural crossroads with a bunch of mailboxes by it? Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/122 "2010-12-31T00:26:41Z")
And considering the hypothetical poster called him/her **self** a crackhead by the use of the word “other”… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/123 "2010-12-31T00:49:06Z")
Toon town only has 220k people. And it is a bunch of adobe huts squatting on the prairie. It’s no better than PA, only larger. Toronto’s not\* the city of light and magic, but I can’t say that I’m missing my in-building meth addicts. There’s absolutely nothing to do in Saskatoon except drink, and there is nothing to do in PA except get stabbed. Other funny place names where I have lived: Holbein, SK (pron: Hoe - Bean) Turtleford, SK (pron: turdle -ferd) Macklin, SK (pron: Mack - ling); herein we were so devoid of stimulus that we resorted to playing with horse bones. \*Vancouver is the city of light and magic. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/124 "2010-12-31T01:09:56Z")
> [@Enuma\_Elish](#): > > How did they get their mail? Did they have to go to town? Or was there a centralized rural crossroads with a bunch of mailboxes by it? Or something else? We still don’t get mail delivery where I live. Lots of the mountains of Colorado doesn’t. We have a PO box in town. It’s really best that way. There is no point in sombody driving up our road every day to do this. And frankly, I would rather they didn’t. Just another chance of somebody getting stuck on the road. Same with garbage/trash service. With an additional problem of animals getting into the trash. I’d rather take it to the transfer station 20 miles away. It’s really no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/125 "2010-12-31T03:40:26Z")
> [@Enuma\_Elish](#): > > How did they get their mail? Did they have to go to town? Or was there a centralized rural crossroads with a bunch of mailboxes by it? Or something else? They went to the post office. Home mail delivery didn’t start _anywhere_ until the U.S. Civil War, but some rural areas took a lot longer than that. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/126 "2010-12-31T03:50:27Z")
> [@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. > > Maybe Saskatoon needs a name change. Something French, perhaps. “La Vielle Peau De Castor” has a ring to it.] Considering the second and forth largest city/town in Saskatchewan are Regina (rhymes with “vagina,” and formerly known as Pile of Bones) and the aforementioned Moose Jaw (former vacation hangout of the Chicago mob, with escape tunnels to boot), I think Saskatoon is doing pretty well namewise. Prince Albert has a respectable name, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Maybe in a cabin at “the lake” but not in PA itself. Fun [list](http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/sask/skcities2.html) of the largest Saskatchewan communities with their mottos. North Battleford is “An Oasis on the Prairies.” _snicker_ Really??? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/127 "2010-12-31T04:21:02Z")
I’m from a place where every country crossroads has an Indian name, but I don’t really understand why Saskatoon sounds more backwoods than Nantucket or Massapequa. For that matter Chicago is not only from an Indian phrase but one that means “[place of] smelly onions” and nobody thinks of it as remote. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/128 "2010-12-31T04:28:20Z")
Didn’t read the whole thread so this may have been covered but I find it funny that the OP lives in a city of 300k and talks about it like it’s a “small town” or something. Dude, by a lot of peoples standards YOU live in “The City”. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/129 "2010-12-31T04:44:56Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Didn’t read the whole thread so this may have been covered but I find it funny that the OP lives in a city of 300k and talks about it like it’s a “small town” or something. Dude, by a lot of peoples standards YOU live in “The City”. Saskatoon is indeed “The City” for a radius of some 300km, except to the south where it would only be “The City” for about 150km. **Zipper** is correct that the population is only 220k, but is incorrect in saying that the only thing to do is drink. We also have berrypicking in the summertime. Mmmmmmmm, saskatoon berry pie. _drool_ ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/130 "2010-12-31T06:03:15Z")
I have skipped a few posts so perhaps someone has said this already, but it’s bugging me that people are generalizing life in both “small towns” and “big cities.” There are some big-ass cities that I would love to live in and some that I wouldn’t want to even pass through. The same with small towns. Places do vary, and size is just one factor in desireability. I’m a city girl. Born and raised in Atlanta. If I made a good salary, I wouldn’t mind living there again, perhaps in Virginia Highlands or Inman Park or maybe back in the old hood in the West End, in one of the genuine Victorians. Atlanta’s got a lot going on. Public transit in the city is pretty good. The city proper is generally pedestrian friendly. And it’s not lacking green space. I lived right across the river from NYC for five years. Loved it. Even though I was living in low-income housing in Newark, I could walk a couple of miles and enjoy the foothills of the Wachtung Mountains, and watch a million firework shows throughout the five boroughs and northern NJ on the 4th of July. I didn’t like the trashy streets and significant areas of neglect and open-air criminality, but the benefits of city life–diverse cultural outlets, street festivals, museums, and historical sites–made up for the bad. Miami is a ginormous city and I hated it. Didn’t care for the sprawl (and being from Atlanta, I’m used to sprawl), didn’t care for the traffic (again, very familiar with it), didn’t care for the mix of people down there, and found the public transportation lousy. I found the cultural attractions to be very unattractive, with a few exceptions. Overpriced waste of land, that’s my assessment. I was ready to get out of there the first moment I could. I’ve never lived in small towns. My dad is from a smallish town in IN and I’m glad he picked up and moved from out there, because it’s like a place frozen in time. It’s a place where the Golden Corral and The Cracker Barrel are the “places to be”…where’s there’s literally a railroad track that separates the good part of town from the bad. There really isn’t much to do but go to the movies, eat at the two above mentioned restaurants, or go to someone’s worship service. No museums. No spontaneous street festivals. No sushi, Indian, or good Chinese take-out. Good gossip, though. Everyone knows what everyone else is up to, whether if it’s any of their businesses or not. But I’ve driven through some lovely small towns in Virginia…rustic places where I could picture myself at least staying during the summer. Places with main streets straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, streams you can go wading in without worrying about hypodermic needles, and rickety farm houses on big spanses of land that seem to go on forever. Plenty of peace and quiet. I would initially miss the conveniences of the city if I lived out in such “boonies”, but I don’t think it would be hard for me to eventually get over them in favor of other benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/131 "2010-12-31T06:53:11Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > 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. \ I’m sure we’ve all heard the joke about the couple from the US who were vacationing in Saskatchewan and stopped to get gas outside of Saskatoon. When the man asked the gas station attendant where they were, the attendant replied, “Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.” The man went back to his car and told his wife, “They don’t speak English here.” 😃 > [@Uzi](#): > > 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. Good point. We usually go to restaurants that aren’t 45 minutes away, either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/132 "2010-12-31T11:00:02Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Miami … public transportation With the glorious exception of Metrorail (and that one only applies if the routes happen to be convenient to you), “Miami public transportation” is not a city feature but an enormous oxymoron. I totally agree with the gist of your post, that the assumption that knowing a place’s population tells you everything there is to know about its “worldliness” or about how interesting it is constitutes a very stupid mental shorthand. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/133 "2010-12-31T12:55:49Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > My city (Rochester, NY) is a small city compared to the big cities I love. At 210,000 (not including surrounding counties that would bring it to over a million) it is probably moreso considered a midsize city. The surrounding _towns_ of Monroe County bring it to over a million. Monroe is also the second biggest metropolitan area in the state after New York City. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/134 "2010-12-31T13:46:53Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > 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.(snip)\* Oh, honey, I hope you’re not talking about the South Carolina Philharmonic, are you? Bless your heart, but calling them world class can only be done by someone whose definition of world is pretty limited. They’re a nice little orchestra, and I’ve heard worse, but Savannah, Charleston, and Charlotte are far superior, and Atlanta’s not 4 hours away if you want a real world class orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/135 "2010-12-31T13:49:32Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I have skipped a few posts so perhaps someone has said this already, but it’s bugging me that people are generalizing life in both “small towns” and “big cities.” There are some big-ass cities that I would love to live in and some that I wouldn’t want to even pass through. The same with small towns. Places do vary, and size is just one factor in desireability. Good point. I live 20 miles north of a cow town/ranching community. Fairplay Colorado. Wiki says 610 people. And it’s the largest town in the county of 14,523 folks (2000 census). North of me about 20 miles, in Summit county, is a world class ski resort. Breckenridge. 2,408 people in a county of 23,548. Both Fairplay and Breckenridge are the county seats. These two towns may be 40 or so miles apart on the ground, but they are a world apart in every thing else. ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/136 "2010-12-31T14:19:33Z")
> [@rivulus](#): > > Considering the second and forth largest city/town in Saskatchewan are Regina (rhymes with “vagina,” and formerly known as Pile of Bones) and the aforementioned Moose Jaw (former vacation hangout of the Chicago mob, with escape tunnels to boot), I think Saskatoon is doing pretty well namewise. Prince Albert has a respectable name, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Maybe in a cabin at “the lake” but not in PA itself. > > Fun [list](http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/sask/skcities2.html) of the largest Saskatchewan communities with their mottos. > > North Battleford is “An Oasis on the Prairies.” _snicker_ Really??? Tisdale: Land of Rape and Honey. :eek: ---
**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, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/137 "2010-12-31T15:03:19Z")
> [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](#): > > Tisdale: Land of Rape and Honey. :eek: Rape is Canola. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/138 "2010-12-31T15:06:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > 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. Time to fight a little more ignorance. [Bowlmor](http://www.bowlmor.com/location_promo.php?id=4), located in the marginal neighborhood known as Greenwich Village, offers $17 open lanes on Monday nights. Bowl all the hell you want from 9pm-1am. Shoes included. Suck it, small towns. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/139 "2010-12-31T15:45:39Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The surrounding _towns_ of Monroe County bring it to over a million. Monroe is also the second biggest metropolitan area in the state after New York City. Oh. What I meant to say is, compared to NYC (and all the other big cities I love) Rochester is a backwoods-eastbumbafuck-cornpone-podunk-hickass-sticksass-backwater town. I can remember when I was a kid, it struggled to be a bit more live. We used to have midnight fireworks for New Years Eve, for instance. Nowadays, they have the fucking fireworks at 8 pm. Rochester has given up trying to be a lively city. I visit several big cities a year, because I need that kind of energy in my system. Rochester just doesn’t have it, and never will. It’s just not a Big City™. All that said, I still have a sweet spot in my heart for Rochester. I was born and raised here. There is lot of art and culture and music and the ghettos are rich with good reggae and hip hop. True, the clubs close at 2:00am (in NYC, it is just heatin’ up at 2:00am), but the clubs are still good. My mom is never leaving this city and she lives right next door to me, and she is older and needing a bit of help these days. So, until my sister comes back to Rochester, I am not going to leave. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757/140 "2010-12-31T16:32:04Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The surrounding _towns_ of Monroe County bring it to over a million. Monroe is also the second biggest metropolitan area in the state after New York City. Just so’s ya know, [Rochester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_York) has a population of about 207,294, with a Metro Area of 1,098,201. [Monroe County](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_County,_New_York) has a population of 735,343. The Rochester MSA is considered to go all the way to the Pennsylvania border, which really renders a little useless for anything but census purposes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-think-living-outside-a-big-city-is-torture/565757.md?page=8)