# What are the misconceptions of your hometown? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086 "2010-07-09T12:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/61 "2010-07-09T20:06:03Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Is it true that Bostonians are the worst drivers in America? Yes. To be fair, I blame the roads. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/62 "2010-07-09T20:12:35Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I originally read this as “Bosnians.” > > Around here, Illinois drivers are known as the terrible ones. I hear tell they say the same thing about Wisconsinites down there. Ah, well, I haven’t been to Boston, but I _have_ been to Bosnia. They’re all right drivers, I don’t remember anything particular. When I lived in Illinois, it seemed like the stereotypes about Wisconsinites was mostly that they’re dull and boring, and had nothing to do with driving. Of course, I lived in Chicago, and everything around Chicago (including everywhere else in the Midwest) was considered lame and boring in comparison. But that’s not a misconception. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/63 "2010-07-09T20:22:52Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Is it true that Bostonians are the worst drivers in America? That’s the first thing that pops into my head when I think about Boston stereotypes. But I’ve never been myself, and have no idea. In my opinion, undoubtedly. I’ve driven all over the country, and Boston drivers are easily the rudest and most rule-breaking. And the pedestrians are just as bad. California, despite its reputation as a place where other drivers will shoot at you, has much more courteous drivers. They’ll actually let you get on the freeway at an on-ramp. They’ll let you get out to an off-ramp. They brake for pedestrians. New Jersey has a rep as a bad driver state, too. but Pepper Mill will agree with me – Boston drivers are _far_ worse. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/64 "2010-07-09T20:24:00Z")
Misconceptions about where I’ve lived the past 20 years (Calgary) - nothing but rednecks here. No culture, no festivals, no music, no art, no tolerance, no nothing but working as a soulless drone in an oil & gas company. Also known as Texas North. Misconceptions about where I’m from (Saskatchewan) - nothing but stupid rednecks there. Also, the entire province is thought to be flat wheatfields (since that is what people see as they drive through it at 110 kph on the TransCanada highway). [This is what half the province looks like -](http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ought3/saskatchewan_gem_lakes.jpg)beautiful, unspoiled trees, lakes, and rivers. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/65 "2010-07-09T20:34:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And the pedestrians are just as bad. True, but once again, I blame the roads. I’m as bad an offender as anyone when it comes to jaywalking. But when I was in New York an San Francisco, I followed the rules to the letter. That’s because those cities are set up to encourage that. Boston is just chaos. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/66 "2010-07-09T20:46:55Z")
> [@](#): > > True, but once again, I blame the roads. “The roads” aren’t responsible when pedestrians walk briskly out without looking right in front of your car at the intersection _at a green light_. Or in the middle of a block from between two parked cars. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/67 "2010-07-09T20:49:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “The roads” aren’t responsible when pedestrians walk briskly out without looking right in front of your car at the intersection _at a green light_. Or in the middle of a block from between two parked cars. True, but transplant a New Yorker to here. I’d bet that in five years he’s picked up the new habit. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/68 "2010-07-09T22:03:15Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Nobody has ever heard of my hometown. (Even though it has the “world-famous Y-bridge.” Hmph.) > > As for Ohio in general, I think most people think we all live in Cleveland, which we in fact do not. Akron is where I’ve lived for 39 years. Seems like only 60. 😛 Our Y-bridge probably isn’t world famous, just a local conceit. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > People still think that Pittsburgh is dirty, because back in the day all of the smoke and dust from the steel mills was so heavy the street lamps would come on at _noon_. (My great-aunt told me about when she would go shopping and her coat would be pitch black) Men would have to have a separate suit at the office, etc. Yep. It was like that. As to MsWhatsit’s post, I’ve lived in Akron since 1971. When I moved to town, it was known as the “Rubber Capitol of the World.” Well, yeah it was since WWI. But the last passenger tires were made in Akron in the late 1970’s. When I moved to town, on a hot Summer’s evening, you might just get overcome from the stench of burning rubber. Seriously. The last 30 years, rubber has little to do with Akron OH. ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/69 "2010-07-09T23:34:34Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I always wonder what the hell is wrong with the people wandering around in shorts and t-shirts, freezing their asses off. Don’t you check the weather of the place you’re visiting to make sure you bring appropriate clothing? Because it was June! In California! It’s supposed to be _warm_, dammit! Fortunately jackets were cheap there. Nothing else certainly was. And if I sound snippy, it’s out of pure jealousy. I was only there for a week, and I fell madly in love with that city. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/70 "2010-07-10T00:14:44Z")
UncleRojelio - I’m sorry to hear Austin has gone down hill. When I was there for grad school, it truly was a magical place that I didn’t want to leave. But, given that we were leaving to go back to my hometown of San Diego, I can hardly complain. The stories you hear about San Diego are by and large true. It is a beautiful town that is fairly clean, perfect weather, without too much traffic, and with great beaches up and down the coast. One thing that most people don’t expect is the huge military presence. We have multiple Navy and Marine bases, a Coast Guard facility, and even a small Army facility. You see people in military fatigues almost everywhere you go. Another misconception that people sometimes have is that the ocean will be like the Caribbean to match the warm weather. Nope, it’s cold and blue/green year round. Still very refreshing on a hot day, but if you plan to go snorkeling, you’re going to be very disappointed. Sadly, I would also say the stories you’ve heard about Tijuana are true too. It really is a filthy shithole with drug cartels running the city. Thankfully, their gunfights and murders seem to stay on their side of the border. It’s sad, because the border cities were once very nice places where everyone went to get cheap booze, great food, and have a good time. Now it reminds me of the town from the movie ‘Desperado’. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/71 "2010-07-10T00:31:50Z")
The major one that I think of when I think of Albuquerque is that it (along with the rest of the state) isn’t in the US. I did once have a tourist from somewhere back east come into the gas station and apparently wanted to try out his Spanish (that’d be the charitable interpretation, anyway). Oh, and that the weather is just like Phoenix or Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/72 "2010-07-10T00:39:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > …San Diego (which I’m given to understand is 72 degrees every frikkin’ day). San Diego’s legendary weather is hugely exaggerated. Lived there for the first 54 years of my life. I loved the place dearly until I was in my mid-forties; nine years later I was glad to escape. San Diego can now be summed up in one word: CROWDED. . Edit: I just saw Post #70. Apparently, mileages still vary. Or maybe it’s because I’m an angry old fart who remembers the beaches and weather and space from the 50’s through 70’s. Anyway, I’m glad someone still loves it. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/73 "2010-07-10T00:47:54Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Akron is where I’ve lived for 39 years. Seems like only 60. 😛 Our Y-bridge probably isn’t world famous, just a local conceit. Akron has a Y-bridge too?! I actually grew up in Zanesville, “home of the world-famous Y-bridge” and, um, not much else. Hail, fellow Buckeye. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/74 "2010-07-10T01:18:30Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Oh, and that the weather is just like Phoenix or Vegas. Ironically, the only time I’ve visited Albuquerque, it was in the 90s or maybe 100 every day. Of course at the time Phoenix and Vegas were probably hotter, but I didnt’ believe my brother when he claimed they weren’t usually that hot in the summer 🙂 Of course it was nothing compared to 90 and humid I am used to in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/75 "2010-07-10T01:29:38Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Akron has a Y-bridge too?! I actually grew up in Zanesville, “home of the world-famous Y-bridge” and, um, not much else. > > Hail, fellow Buckeye. 😉 Wow. It never occured to me that there was another “Y-bridge” out there. Shows you how provincial one becomes/is. I Googled “Zanesville/y-bridge” and found a Wikipedia page! Again–wow! Why would you have a page about this? Seems like your bridge goes back a bit before ours in Akron. Back to 1814! [Y-Bridge (Zanesville, Ohio) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-Bridge_(Zanesville,_Ohio)) I’ll slowly slink away. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/76 "2010-07-10T01:41:44Z")
The misconception in my town (not my hometown but where I am) is that the polls showing this to be the place with the lowest livability in the entire United States are incorrect. I had a discussion about this with a City Councilman yesterday, the one I thought might understand what a hit this would be on economic development efforts, since he didn’t grow up here and was almost middle aged when he arrived, but he didn’t care. Today Walmart announced they would downsize the SuperWalmart they have been promising to build. How bad is that when most places are fighting to keep Walmart out, we are trying to get them to come, and they decide to give us a mini-version? We are not even good enough to support a Walmart? Even though there is not really any other retail in town for them to destroy? Is the newish mini-Target really doing that well that they fended off Walmart all by themselves? Oh yeah, this might be the most homophobic place in California, and probably the US too. There is another misconception among the locals - that this is _good_ for the town in every imaginable way. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/77 "2010-07-10T02:39:05Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Slightly off-topic, but before I moved to Seattle I assumed that it would be really cold there and have snowy, icy winters. I mean, come on! Look how far north it is! > > I learned quickly. I’ve always thought so too, not true? What is a winter like in Seattle? And how are the summers? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/78 "2010-07-10T02:48:11Z")
Lots of people think NYC is super dangerous, like _Taxi Driver_. Actually, its the safest large city in America. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/79 "2010-07-10T02:55:06Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Is it true that Bostonians are the worst drivers in America? That’s the first thing that pops into my head when I think about Boston stereotypes. But I’ve never been myself, and have no idea. As noted, it most certainly is true by a large margin. I am a Boston area transplant from the South and driving in Boston is stressful x10. They really should require a special license for it. I can do it just fine, I just don’t like the person it makes me become. Boston has extra-strange driving conditions that people from other places would have no way to know about. The signage is terrible and it isn’t laid out in any sort of a grid pattern. The streets just branch off randomly at high speeds and the street names change on a whim. There are extra bonuses like it being legal to drive in the breakdown lane at 65 miles per hour on certain stretches of interstate highways and blind left turn signals that don’t have an arrow but you just have to know they are there and exactly how long they last. You also have to know how to do defensive and offensive blocking with your own car to get through traffic. I still don’t know my way around the city after all this time and never will. You have to be born here, know the history of the city back to the 1800’s block by block, and think like they do with decades of road education. Then, there is parking. I decided to do a driving tour of Manhattan once by myself on a whim with no map and it was a breeze compared to Boston. Almost all of Boston’s stereotypes are true except that hardly anyone talks like the Kennedy’s except for them and the Boston accent is frowned upon in the wealthier suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086/80 "2010-07-10T02:59:00Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Mary Tyler Moore would no longer recognize her “hometown,” my neighbor. Locals have taken to calling it Murderopolis. And prior to that, it was known as “Moneyapolis” to the denizens of Cabrini Green in Chicago. The women were bailing out of there to move up to MN for better schools and better welfare benefits. Unfortunately, they brought their dealers along for the ride. The schools are no longer so great and the welfare benefits have diminished somewhat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-misconceptions-of-your-hometown/546086.md?page=5)