# Spotting locals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210 "2010-12-23T19:04:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/41 "2011-01-01T08:16:01Z")
Sniff! I don’t know, I’m a newbie, though I’ve become familiar with some on **EvilTOJ’s** list and a few others also count for my previous home state of Alaska. I had to chuckle over the one about the “only wimps use umbrellas”. When I first got here I thought FINALLY, I’ll be able to use that stupid umbrella (it came with a purse)! I think the second time I used it the wind turned it inside out, so now I do what the locals do and just pull my hood over if it’s a little too wet (same thing I did in Anchorage now that I think about it). One of the sillier sayings about the way to tell a local from a tourist (or newbie) was “real Alaskans don’t put foil on their windows”. (to keep out daylight at midnight during the summer). ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/42 "2011-01-01T15:32:19Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I’ve just got a couple — if you live in Louisville, Ky., you say “Louavull,” and you know where you’re going to be the first Saturday in May. I lived in Louavull as a child and moved to Minnesota at 12. A few times I’ll be talking to someone and say Louavull and get “I didn’t know you were from Kentucky.” I CANNOT - even after 35 years - bring myself to say Lou-ee-vill. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/43 "2011-01-01T17:56:47Z")
I pronounce it Louavull ever since I worked at a helpdesk that dealt with nationwide callers, and everyone from there said it like that. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/44 "2011-01-02T01:27:15Z")
> [@](#): > > One way to recognize someone not local to the Washington, DC area is to watch them as they attempt to ride the Metro. If they call it a subway, or “the” subway, they aren’t local. If they stand on the left hand side of an escalator, they aren’t local. There is a strong local tradition that when riding a Metro escalator, you stand to the right side. The left side is for people who want to WALK it as well, i.e. walking in the direction of travel so as to make their final velocity = velocity of escalator + their walking speed. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’ll add another one - people who try to get on the Metro when the doors open BEFORE everyone has gotten off at that stop. They are definitely not local. In regards to Denver, > [@](#): > > When I was there, I noticed everyone seemed happy all the time. As New Yorkers, my girlfriend and I found it weird and uncomfortible. I definitely agree. We’re from Virginia which is not the UNfriendliest place around but we’re close enough to Washington DC for us to be a bit jaded and distrustful when strangers are friendly to us. When Mr. Winnie and I were in Denver for 5 days we were taken aback at the people who struck up friendly conversations with us for no reason. We kept waiting for them to ask us to buy magazines, come to a “networking” meeting, or if we’d heard the good news of Jesus Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/45 "2011-01-02T01:57:27Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > In regards to Denver, I definitely agree. We’re from Virginia which is not the UNfriendliest place around but we’re close enough to Washington DC for us to be a bit jaded and distrustful when strangers are friendly to us. When Mr. Winnie and I were in Denver for 5 days we were taken aback at the people who struck up friendly conversations with us for no reason. We kept waiting for them to ask us to buy magazines, come to a “networking” meeting, or if we’d heard the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s the lack of oxygen. It makes us all loopy. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/46 "2011-01-02T07:36:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > This is taken from the ‘You Know You’e From Fairfield County (CT)’ Facebook group, but most of it seems accurate. Fairfield County, for those unfamiliar, is the relatively affluent south west region of Connecticut. > > A lot of these you won’t notice in someone on sight, but you’ll find out if you talk to them for five minutes: > > You have hiked up a golf course at least once to get to a keg party. > The fact that the Merritt and the Hutch were the same highway (Rt 15) but named differently just because they are in two different states makes perfect sense to you. > You thought no one could buy beer after 8 PM. > You think New Jersey is a toxic waste dump. > You have deer in your backyard. > Your family owns more than one house. > At least one parent works in New York City. They take the train. > In high school you drank outside, regularly. > You still don’t understand why people say that Connecticut is [one of] the richest states. > The diner is the only place open after midnight. > You have at least 10 friends who drive Jeeps. > Anybody asks, you’re from just outside of New York. > You’ve never looked at a public bus schedule. You would also never get on one. > You know girls and guys that have the same names. > You think Bridgeport is the worst ghetto you’ve ever seen. > You spend the summer on Cape Cod, in Nantucket or Marthas Vineyard. > You were pissed that your sixteenth birthday car was a new sedan instead of an SUV. > You never really went on a “real date” in high school. > You know what Okemo is (and you or a friend owns a house there). > You don’t have an accent. > You know how to play Beruit, and how it differs from Beer Pong. > You have more than one country club in your town. > You get pissed at anyone that doesnt know how to drive in the snow. > You consider Fairfield County and the rest of Connecticut two different states. > [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > Followed earnestly by: > > That’s surreal. Really? It seems sort of standard upper middle class to me, the things you’d find anywhere. I think the things that make it uniquely “Connecticut” instead of “upper middle class America” are beruit vs. beer pong, NYC closeness and the other regional things. But I grew up in a middle class southern town, and everyone had their own (new, nice) cars, there’s more than one country club, no one took the bus, etc. Also, I don’t consider going to a private school “rich people stuff.” And clubbing is DEFINITELY not a rich person thing. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/47 "2011-01-02T10:21:51Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > What. The. Fuck??? > > I read that article and looked at the pictures and still can’t get a hold of how that thing is better. It seems to me that they are merely pushing the left turn lane at an intersection forward a few hundred feet, into an area where cars are going to be moving faster since it’s not the intersection, jamming up the road further on, and then additionally, forcing people into a U-turn in traffic without the benefit of traffic lights > > How is this better or safe? The article says it reduced congestion and accidents but I’m having a hard time figuring out how. 1. most of the turnarounds immediately adjacent to the intersection are signaled, unless it’s in a lightly-traveled road. 2. it’s one of those things that works well for a certain amount of traffic. less than that amount, michigan lefts are overly fussy. more than that amount, and they do plug up. ETA: me, I prefer roundabouts. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/48 "2011-01-02T15:35:28Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > One way to recognize someone not local to the Washington, DC area is to watch them as they attempt to ride the Metro. If they call it a subway, or “the” subway, they aren’t local. If they stand on the left hand side of an escalator, they aren’t local. There is a strong local tradition that when riding a Metro escalator, you stand to the right side. The left side is for people who want to WALK it as well, i.e. walking in the direction of travel so as to make their final velocity = velocity of escalator + their walking speed. I always thought that was universal. Well, with my sample space being the London Underground and Stockholm Tunnelbana. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/49 "2011-01-02T15:36:34Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > Yes. Yes. Yes. I’ll add another one - people who try to get on the Metro when the doors open BEFORE everyone has gotten off at that stop. They are definitely not local. Trying to get on before people get off defines you as a local in Stockholm. As an ever-so-polite Brit, it really gets on my tits. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/50 "2011-01-03T18:02:18Z")
If you do not slow down on Quinto Centenario Bridge… you’re not a Seville local, and you’re in for a lot of pain in the wallet. If you’re surprised by the showers of cheap bubbly when the rocket flies, or by the size of the bulls… you’re not a Pamplona local, and you should have done more research before coming over :smack: Hopefully, the second surprise won’t have caught you just as one of the Horned Ones bears down on you. If you think that Pimientos del Piquillo are the same as any other variety of pepper, not only are you not a local from either Navarra, la Rioja or Euskadi: you’re at risk of getting a bath in the nearest irrigation ditch. We assume that people who grow other specialty varieties feel the same about their own, thus making the insult double (to our peppers and theirs). I’m not from Kennicky but I say Louavil 🙂 since I worked for a company that had a factory there. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/51 "2011-01-03T19:24:20Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > Yes. Yes. Yes. I’ll add another one - people who try to get on the Metro when the doors open BEFORE everyone has gotten off at that stop. They are definitely not local. Unfortunately they shouldn’t be local, but way too often they are. My one to contribute is not slowing down when driving past monuments - I cross the mall on 14th street every night, and the number of times I have almost rear-ended someone because they slow down to about 3 mph to look at the Washington Monument is beyond calculation. And they are always out of state (i.e not DC/VA/MD) plates. I think you can count as a Northern Virginia local if you would rather live in North Carolina and still commute to DC than live in Maryland. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Hazel\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ms.Hazel\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Hazel_Ice)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210/52 "2011-01-03T23:59:58Z")
Signs that you’re a Finnish American from central Massachusetts or southern New Hampshire: 1. You drink can drink coffee at all hours–including after 6 PM–without side bothersome effects. 2. You’ve been to the Tori at Saima Park. 3. You enjoy _pulla_ (Finnish bread flavored with cardamom). 4. Your picture has been published in the Raivaaja. 5. During the summer, you sauna whenever you can. 6. You don’t think competitively taking a sauna is bad thing. 7. You heat your house with firewood. 8. You’re thankful that you have a logsplitter to speed up the process of cutting wood. 9. You’ve been drinking coffee since you were a small child. 10. When meeting a fellow Finn, your immediate questions revolve around how Finnish the other is and how much he or she speaks. 11. You know where all of the local hardware stores are, and perhaps which ones carry better products. 12. You own a sauna or have been to a sauna that includes some form of nude art (carved in wood, punched in copper, etc.), but you think nothing of it. 13. Coffee time is at 3 PM. 14. Guests must be overfed, or you’re not hosting very well. (“Food is love,” as one of my aunt sarcastically notes). 15. You prefer a sauna temperature above 180 F degrees. 16. You have a family member who works in construction or has worked in construction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-locals/565210.md?page=2)