This is really a simpler idea than its description may be.
Relative to the center of the downtown area closest to you, consider the main compass direction (NESW) from it where you live now. That’s the “side of town” part of the question.
Now consider the direction from your current town or city that your “home town” is situated. That’s the “Where you came from” part.
In my case I live on the South side of town and came from further South. I’m calling that “same direction” for purposes of this poll.
If I were living on the North side of town, that would be “opposite direction.”
In my case, East and West sides of town are the “neither direction” responses.
My wife hailed from West of the city and when I first met her she lived on the West side of town. Now she’s between East and South of town so the choice for her would have to be a toss-up between “opposite” and “neither.”
I was hoping to keep things as simple as possible in the OP but when the directions are more like NE, SE, SW and NW vs. N, E, S and W, fudge in favor of the “same” or “opposite” rather than “neither.”
I have a personal theory behind this nonsense, and I’m hoping for some data to support or refute it.
I’m guessing mine is neither, so that’s what I voted. I live on the north side of Sacramento, but I was raised in San Jose, CA, which is a couple hours south south west of Sacramento. I mean, it’s more south than west, but in no way would anyone consider San Jose to be “south” of Sacramento.
Thanks for the votes and comments, y’all. I suspect I wasn’t precise enough in trying to describe what I was trying to find out.
FWIW, my theory is that people tend to move to the portion of a town that is nearest the direction of their “home town” or birthplace or former community, however it’s best to say it. Of course, people still living in the same town they always have, are immune from this notion.
Another way of thinking about it is that if you want to be able to “go home” (to the old place) as quickly as possible then you will select to live on that side of town that gives you the quickest route out of town towards “home.”
If you could revote based on this expanded set of instructions, would you?
I’m not sure I understand the expanded version any better, but I suspect you’re overlooking something.
My wife grew up in Cleveland, which stretches east-west. She was born on the East side, later her family moved to the western suburbs.
Then she moved to St. Louis. St. Louis stretches north-south. She lived in the northern half before eventually moving to the southern half. But there’s no particular difference in travel time between north or south st. Louis and Cleveland for my wife.
Our sons now live in Chicago, on the North side, because the South Side has a bad reputation, and because public transit is better in the North. But when my sons want to come home, they are just as likely to fly out of O’Hare (north) or Midway (south) or take the train from Union Station (downtown.)
Same direction. In fact I am currently living in the same house my family moved to when I was 13 . . . 53 years ago (for over 30 of those years I lived hundreds of miles away).
Yes, kunilou, you’ve raised reasonable exceptions to a simplistic view of how those things may work. If I had said something like “all other things being equal” about my “theory,” then maybe it would be more universal.
Surely the shape and layout of the current town/city with plus and minus preferences of neighborhoods or sections will override speed of exit as reasons for selecting one part of town over another.
And pointing out that driving may not be the mode of travel to get “home” is another reason my theory may fail.
I’m a native of the East Side of Cleveland, and always lived on the East Side. The differences between East and West Sides in Clevelanders’ minds there can get like the Berlin Wall. One of the many arguments I’ve heard in favor of east side is that the sun is at your back when commuting downtown to work in the morning. I really enjoyed that while I was still there. But now I live to the west of Washington DC and have to get the sun in my eyes in the morning.
I’m not sure I understand the premise. I grew up on the northwest edge of my hometown in Texas. I’ve lived in central Albuquerque and north-central Honolulu. Now I’m on the other side of the world in what can only be described as central Bangkok.
Okay, I misunderstood the OP. I thought you were asking if people who grew up on the east side of their hometown were more likely to live on the east side of whatever town they moved to.
So to amend my previous answer, I currently live on the side of town that’s furthest away from my hometown. (Although it’s a trivial difference. My current town is less than three miles across and it’s over 300 miles to where I grew up.)
I’ve been in my current town for 13 years. For the first 6 of those, I did live, renting, on the side towards my home town. Since then, I bought a house on the opposite side from from my home town.
So, perhaps there is something to the theory. I rented on the side closer to home until the new town became more of a home.
Just out of curiosity (thanks for the support vote to the “theory”) how conscious was that first decision? In my case it wasn’t really a choice I made, but the idea did strike me some years later that that’s what I had done. Then I started to notice that pattern in other people I met who had moved here from elsewhere.