I work in Dearborn. It’s rather disheartening how many people I encounter (both online and IRL, but mostly online) who’ve never been to this area at all but seem intent on telling me about all of the horrible things going on here.
I’m proud of my home town, so I say “Pacoima.” Senegoid would understand instantly. But most would not have the faintest idea where Pacoima is. So in fact I usually say “the Los Angeles area.” Anything they might say about “the Los Angeles area” is discarded. Pacoima may be a district within the city limits but Pacoima is not Los Angeles, it’s Pacoima. Bully for my hometown! It was a great place to grow up.
I say New York (since Queens is now sitcom territory, apparently) in temporary exile in the Bay Area.
No matter where I go, US or abroad,* everyone* says “Elvis!” Guess where I’m from. No, come on, guess. 
If I say it, people ask “How do you spell that?”
If I spell it, people ask “How do you say that?”
I’m from Chicago.
Gaspé Peninsula, June 1972 (for the eclipse): A person who spoke only French imitated a machine gun (with noises).
Someplace else in Canada, same time: English speaker said, “Oh, I thought you were from Toronto.”
England, May 1976: only one person said, “Oh, gangsters!”
San Francisco, 1980s: One person said, rather seriously, “They’re mostly blue-collar there.” Another said, laughing a bit, “They’re all farmers.”
Blue Hawaii?
In instances of racking of brains to think of some comment to make, on a person’s announcement that they come from a place which one regards as less than stellar; I find tempting, Bill Bryson’s addition to the information that he’s from Des Moines, Iowa: “somebody has to be”.
Tupelo?
Breck Brewery? Sure. There’s another one that’s real good ‘Broken Compass’.
When I tell someone I’m from Arkansas, the most common response is a bewildered, “Why?”
If the questioner is from the the US the response is likely a blank stare.
If the questioner is from the state of Louisiana it is a nervous twitch as they reach for their gun.
If the questioner is speaking Portuguese then I reply olá.
That is funny.
I’m surprised no one on here has had push-back because of racial issues. Like you say you’re from New York, and they say no, where are you REALLY from?
I’m from lots of places so now I just state where I live and sometimes say I grew up on the East Coast. If I tell them I’m from NJ I get dumb ass jokes about “Joisey” and nobody I knew ever talked like that. If I’m in foreign parts and say I’m from NY I do get asked “Oh do you know…” some random person.
People are just trying to make conversation and don’t know how. I don’t even ask where people are from now. Sometimes I ask where they grew up, and then ask them what it is like there. Partly to avoid making dumb remarks. Also if they had a hard life, refugee or something, then I find that out before making assumptions.
I’m from the south side of Chicago and most people have no clue so I just get a blank stare. Last year when I was in the UK and said I was from the States, everyone replied “I’m sorry about your president.”
I’m from Illinois. When I tell people that, the most common response is something along the lines of “Damn Yankee”, or sometimes “Fuckin Yankee.” Doesn’t bother me after living in Florida for over 30 years and in North Carolina for another 12.
I don’t ever remember getting “What exit.” I have been aske “Where’s the accent?” This is what you get. Most of the people in Jersey Shore were not from the state. James Gandolfini needed a dialect coach to play someone from Bergen County of Italian descent even though he was a guy from Bergen County of Italian descent. Most of us don’t sound like that.
Wait. Really? I think I’d laugh my ass off if someone said “Damn Yankee” or “Fuckin’ Yankee” to me. People still talk like that?
I’m from the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Invariably when traveling out-of-state, I mention where I’m from and someone chirps in with “I / my relative / my spouse is from north of Nashwauk (a tiny town on the Range).” Seriously, there isn’t enough space north of Nashwauk for all the people around the country I’ve met to have lived there.
Hey, don’t diss Camden! That’s the town where my 17-year-old self fell in love for the first time and I [blush] lost my virginity [/blush]–somewhere along Federal Street, as I recall.
It was a momentous, yet painful experience…until she removed her dentures, then it was smooth sailing.
Well as I recall from the historical documentaries like Futurama, New Jersey was voted the official joke state by the Founding Fathers and thus even in defending New Jersey, I must make fun of a few places at least like Camden, Elizabeth and lets say Lakewood.
Loach: I actually got asked *what exit? *at least twice, once memorably in bootcamp. Many more times online. I’ve had many people say I don’t sound like I’m from Joisey, to have to explain very few people outside of a small part of the state sound at all like that.