# Little clues that tell you the writer isn't from where they're writing about **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740 "2003-01-24T23:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/21 "2003-01-25T02:57:08Z")
If a character says y’all too much, his or her author is probably not from the South. I’ve lived primarily in the South for about fifteen years now and have come to hate the way some people mangle “Southernese” when they try to immitate it. I hate prison stories. Almost every time somebody gets raped, the victim UNDER reacts. I think. I’m not an ex-con, nor have I been raped, but it seems to me a lot of fictional rape victims shrug their ordeal off a little too easily. Also, I don’t buy into how the younger con always meets an older guy who protects him out of strictly altruistic motives. I’m sort of thinking about _The Shawshank Redemption_ here, and some other stories I read years ago. I agree with **SandyHook** about Koontz. I’ve read all three of Dean’s novels and I believe that he has little first hand knowledge about most of the jobs his characters have or the cultures they supposedly inhabit. I understand that Koontz was once a teacher, though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/22 "2003-01-25T04:33:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panamajack \* > **Hey, there’s more in Renton than Jimi Hendrix’s body. (Sorry, I’m still a little annoyed from the time we went to my great-aunt’s grave, about 100 ft. from Hendrix’s, and somebody told us, “hey, you missed it, man, he’s right over there.” Okay, thanks.)** Oh, I definitely know that - it also has the only Ikea in the state. I only referred to it that way because the author referred to **Redmond** _as the place where Hendrix is buried_. Like I said, gave me a chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/23 "2003-01-25T04:52:04Z")
I think it was **The Street Lawyer** by Grisham. In the beginning he was careful to say that natives of Washington, DC always and only refer to it as “the District”. Huh? Yeah, we call it the District. Or DC, or the City, or occasionally Washington. More often we refer to whatever specific part of the city we’re talking about, like “Georgetown” or “Southeast”. Obligatory grits story: A family friend of ours was living up north somewhere (Ohio or Minnesota or someplace). One day she went to the store to get some grits, but couldn’t find them in the breakfast cereals. However, she ended up seeing them in the coffee section. The inventory people had no idea what grits were, so they must’ve figured they were chickahominy or something. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/24 "2003-01-25T05:48:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Unintentionally Blank \* > \*\*While Stephen King MAY have spent some time in Colorado, it’s obvious he’s never really LIVED here. \*\* Yeah, I know. He never gets the snow and winters right. His winters and snows always seem to be New England winters that he transplants to Colorado and they’re just not like that. I was reading a mystery one time and a fellow was coming directly into Denver by passenger train from the east via southern Nebraska (which is not possible since you can’t go directly that way - but I was willing to let that go). Then the guy jumped off the train and became lost in a forest in northeast Colorado. People in that area joke that eastern Colorado’s state tree is the telephone pole because there are so few trees there. Think western Kansas and Nebraska for eastern Colorado countryside. No forests. A movie that always got me from the reverse angle was _True Grit_. They filmed it in the High Country of Colorado so you see the majastic Rockies rising all around …Fort Smith, ARKANSAS. TV ---
**Author:** ![thi6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@thi6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thi6)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/25 "2003-01-25T06:07:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TV time \* > [A movie that always got me from the reverse angle was _True Grit_. They filmed it in the High Country of Colorado so you see the majastic Rockies rising all around …Fort Smith, ARKANSAS. > > TV \*\* That reminds me of Taken, where they showed the beautiful mountain country of central North Dakota. Please, this is a place where they had to plant trees for shelter belts to keep all the topsoil from blowing away. thi6 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/26 "2003-01-25T06:23:04Z")
Phony Southern accents are a dead give-a-way for me too. I opened and closed one book on the first page because of the male use of “honeychild.” Puuuuuuullleeeez! ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/27 "2003-01-25T06:28:28Z")
Elizabeth Goudge’s _Green Dolphin Country_. The descriptions of NZ are just wrong. The movie is even more wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/28 "2003-01-25T07:13:16Z")
A large number of authors seem to think that Baltimore and Washington D.C. are practically right next to each other…you always get dialogue like “I’m in D.C. right now. I’ll meet in you Baltimore in 10 minutes” when in fact the cities are about 40 miles apart and factoring in traffic it would take you at least 30 minutes if you were driving like hell. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/29 "2003-01-25T11:01:33Z")
The general rule for “y’all” is that non-Southerners misuse the word, while true Southerners misspell it (always write “ya’ll”). Sometimes I’ll catch myself using it in a misleading way around non-Southerners; I’ll be talking to a single person and say something like “When are y’all coming over?” referring to that person and any guests he would like to bring with him. But I know that subtlety will be lost, and he’s going to write a book and get it wrong, and I’m going to be partly to blame. As if I didn’t get _enough_ guilt for being from the south… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/30 "2003-01-25T11:11:35Z")
How can you possibly misuse _y’all_? You + All, it’s not complicated 😕. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/31 "2003-01-25T11:20:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keith Berry \* > \*\*A large number of authors seem to think that Baltimore and Washington D.C. are practically right next to each other…you always get dialogue like “I’m in D.C. right now. I’ll meet in you Baltimore in 10 minutes” when in fact the cities are about 40 miles apart and factoring in traffic it would take you at least 30 minutes if you were driving like hell. \*\* 30 minutes in the middle of the night! Hell, it’ll take damn near 25 minutes to get outta downtown DC to the DC beltway, and you still have to get to 95 or the Parkway to get to B-more. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/32 "2003-01-25T12:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Weirddave \* > \*\*30 minutes in the middle of the night! Hell, it’ll take damn near 25 minutes to get outta downtown DC to the DC beltway, and you still have to get to 95 or the Parkway to get to B-more. \*\* In the middle of the night you could always do NY Avenue/50 to 197 to the BW Parkway, and be assured of little traffic, but it’d take just as long. It’d be a good route in a book for someone who wanted to be sure that he wasn’t being followed, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/33 "2003-01-25T12:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Leaper \* > \*\*I was flipping through a mystery novel that takes place in Washington. I don’t know whether it was true ignorance, an editing error, or bad research, but the author apparently didn’t know the difference between Renton (where Jimi Hendrix is buried) and Redmond (30 minutes north of Renton, where Microsoft is headquartered). > > Gave me a chuckle, that. \*\* That could be the work of an overzealous copyeditor. Sometimes the errors are not the author’s. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/34 "2003-01-25T15:02:59Z")
Product names. There are certain regional (even a wide region, but still regional) products. You can’t get Hellmans Mayo, nor Edy’s Ice Cream on the west coast. Nor, from what I understand, are you ever going to find an east coast child carrying a Pee-Chee. You also cannot see the Pacific Ocean from Seattle. No matter how many people write about viewing it from outside their windows - it’s too far away. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/35 "2003-01-25T15:38:12Z")
Cooking grits over an open fire would be a hell of a trick, I should think. It is easy to cook BACON over an open fire – bacon being simply strips of meat – but since grits are, in fact, granulated, I’d think you’d have trouble with the stuff falling through the grille… ---
**Author:** ![snac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@snac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snac)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/36 "2003-01-25T15:49:43Z")
Overly specific place names are a good clue. Here in my community, for instance, is a place officially called Henry Snac Park. (It is named after Mr. Henry Snac, of course.) This is the name that appears on formal maps of the area. Locals always call it simply Snac Park; most of us have no idea that Mr. Snac even HAD a first name. A novel by Jonathan Kellerman refers to the park as Henry Snac Park–a clear tipoff that Mr. K got the name out of an atlas. Ah well! ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/37 "2003-01-25T19:47:14Z")
I know Orson Scott Card lives in Greensboro, NC, but you wouldn’t know it from reading **Homebody**. Whenever the main character goes somewhere across town, he’s there in fifteen minutes. Never happens. Never ever happens. ---
**Author:** ![SojournerSamson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SojournerSamson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SojournerSamson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/38 "2003-01-25T20:16:54Z")
As if North Kakalakee had no mandatory KrippyKreme stops! On the other hand Elmore Leonard gets all the details down pat, he has research assistants. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/39 "2003-01-25T21:15:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Weirddave \* > \*\* Hell, it’ll take damn near 25 minutes to get outta downtown DC to the DC beltway, and you still have to get to 95 or the Parkway to get to B-more. \*\* Then, you’d have to wonder why, exactly, anyone in DC would WANT to go to Baltimore. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740/40 "2003-01-25T21:19:08Z")
> [@](#): > > it’s not something I could run down to the grocery store and pick up At the risk of beating this hijack to death, I can assure you that you _can_ just run down to the grocery store in New Hamsphire and pick up a box of grits. I did just that less than a year ago. You’ll find them near the oatmeal at any Wal-Mart supercenter, and I think other stores as well. Try them one time, you might like them. They’re good with sausage gravy or grated cheese. But I think you’re right in saying they’re unsual in New England. I m the only person I know around here who actually eats the stuff regularly. Somebody else must buy them, since they keep them in stock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-clues-that-tell-you-the-writer-isnt-from-where-theyre-writing-about/150740.md?page=3)