# You're from ...? I'm sorry **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243 "2014-07-16T01:53:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/21 "2014-07-16T04:55:56Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m from _West_ Texas. I get that fairly frequently when they hear the name of my hometown. What can I say? Can’t hardly blame them. I’m from El Paso. I left but it still doesn’t mean I want to hear “sorry”. It might have a lot of negativity to it, but it also has really positive things, too. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/22 "2014-07-16T05:18:39Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Ask **Senegoid** about Modesto. Or ask me about Turlock. 😃 I’m outta here! See [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=728588) thread! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/23 "2014-07-16T07:57:23Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You’re from _Texas?_ > > Congratulations! > > For getting out! Oh yea this all the way, foreigners used to also come up with “oh wow where Bush is from??!” but that slowly faded during the Obama admin. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/24 "2014-07-16T12:35:38Z")
I kinda got the impression growing up that kids in my hometown were a bunch of snobbish, spoiled, self-entitled assholes. Somebody started a “You know you’re from \_\_\_\_\_ when…” group on Facebook, and yep. Assholes, the lot of them. So, to all those people who said the titular statement to me? Thank you, you were right all along. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/25 "2014-07-16T13:39:17Z")
My wife is from Detroit. She gets that a lot. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/26 "2014-07-16T13:45:16Z")
I’m from Salt Lake City, so I get that a lot. I happen to agree, so my response is usually “me, too.” ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/27 "2014-07-16T13:46:30Z")
[QUOTE=Bad News Baboon] Has this ever happened to you? What were your thoughts on it? [/QUOTE] I love it. I have a ton of funny stories about just how bad my hometown was and this gives me an opening to launch into them. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/28 "2014-07-16T13:46:47Z")
When you are from the armpit you hear it. Recruiters even tell people from here to lie on their resumes and say they are from one of the neighboring towns. Like they are any better. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/29 "2014-07-16T13:47:19Z")
Then there is the contest and the first place winner gets a free week in Philadelphia. Second place wins two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/30 "2014-07-16T14:03:40Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Well, I was going to say "I’m from Jersey. I’m used to it. 😛 > > I’m actually from LI, but I’ve been here 20 years. The jokes do get tired, but I laugh along with them–especially because the joke is on them. NJ is a great place to live. I lived in Jersey for 6 years. Funnily enough, when I told people I lived in New Jersey, it was usually me doing the apologizing. It’s pretty bad when you feel guilty for where you live. I think there are certain places in Jersey where living can be downright pleasant. Unfortunately the majority of my experience with it was heavy commuting on the NJ Turnpike/Garden State Parkway on roads choked with smog and accented by the melodious sound of air traffic coming in and out of Newark. In fact, if I could summarize the experience of living in New Jersey into one word, it would be ‘‘traffic.’’ I lived right off a major interstate so walking anywhere was out of the question. That lovely winter we had this year resulted in some 3 hour commutes (each way.) It was like living in a concrete prison and I didn’t truly realize how bad it was until I discovered there are other ways to live. Where I live now, there are, get this, _bike lanes_. And I can get to work in 25 minutes. It’s my ultimate trump card with my husband: ‘‘I lived in New Jersey for you.’’ [QUOTE=Lukeinva] Then there is the contest and the first place winner gets a free week in Philadelphia. [/QUOTE] Just goes to show that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. I would live in Philly in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/31 "2014-07-16T14:15:35Z")
I was at a winery in the Shenandoah Valley and about to buy a few bottles of wine, when the owner asked where I was from and gave me the “I’m sorry” line when I answered Washington, DC. I said, “I’m not buying shit here,” got in my car and drove off with my purchases still sitting by the register. Now THAT’S funny. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/32 "2014-07-16T14:18:50Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > It hasn’t happened to me about my hometown (Montreal,) but I’m in Toronto for a few days, and when a fellow doper found out, he said “My condolences.” That’s nothing compared to the reaction Torontonians give me when I tell them I’m from Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/33 "2014-07-16T14:21:40Z")
> [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > I recently met a guy. When I told him what my hometown was, his response was a laughing, “I’m sorry”. > > My first thought was along the lines of “piss off”. I know very well that my hometown is considered dangerous and undesirable… But it’s still my hometown. I get that it was said jokingly, but I nevertheless found it quite rude. There are many cities I would not want to live in but I’d never say that to someone I just met! > > Has this ever happened to you? What were your thoughts on it? You’re from Detroit too, huh? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/34 "2014-07-16T14:23:11Z")
> [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > I’m from El Paso. I left but it still doesn’t mean I want to hear “sorry”. It might have a lot of negativity to it, but it also has really positive things, too. There’s a saying among New Mexicans: “Poor Las Cruces. So far from heaven, so close to El Paso.” During my Las Cruces years, whenever I traveled to ABQ and SF, I’d hear “Cruces isn’t _real_ New Mexico”, “It’s just a well-off suburb of El Paso”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/35 "2014-07-16T14:26:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > My hometown is Flint, MI. That’s all _anyone_ ever says to me upon hearing where I’m from. 😛 Thanks to the film Roger & Me, you even get this reaction internationally. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/36 "2014-07-16T14:30:52Z")
I don’t see it as a big deal. It doesn’t affect me or my hometown one way or another. Hell, when I interact with people from a rival town (or school district), I half-expect to hear some jab. It doesn’t mean that, if they go into specifics about why my hometown is pitiful, I won’t defend it, but I take the initial response as a joke. Now, that being said, I will say that I’ve been in a few situations where I’ve had to defend my current city because of negative stereotypes, but that’s more because the situation becomes a “Oh, you’re from [Insert City Name]? That must mean you’re snobby, pretentious, etc.” A few years ago, I went on a 4 hour roadtrip with my old roommate and we went to a bar. Met a group of people and hung out with them for the better part of an hour. Everyone was having a great time. But, as soon as we said where we were visiting from, the mood instantly changed. Conversation dried up and we practically got frostbite from the cold shoulders. **That** made me mad. Moreso because (despite the friendly / enjoyable interactions we’d had prior to this revelation) they instantly thought that we fit into their preconceived stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/37 "2014-07-16T15:57:10Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I was at a winery in the Shenandoah Valley and about to buy a few bottles of wine, when the owner asked where I was from and gave me the “I’m sorry” line when I answered Washington, DC. > > I said, “I’m not buying shit here,” got in my car and drove off with my purchases still sitting by the register. Now THAT’S funny. You should have smacked him with your purse before you stormed out. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/38 "2014-07-16T16:32:48Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Then there is the contest and the first place winner gets a free week in Philadelphia. > > Second place wins two weeks. I have the impression that this joke is a great favourite worldwide, concerning towns with a reputation – deserved or not – as less-than-delightful. It gets aired plentifully, re many towns in the UK. A variant over here, re towns with a reputation as dismal, worthless hell-holes: “The Royal Air Force made a mistake one day, and dropped an H-bomb on [Town X]. They did three pounds worth of damage.” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/39 "2014-07-16T16:40:58Z")
> [@bup](#): > > You should have smacked him with your purse before you stormed out. Funny implying I was being feminine and that is some how inferior. Classic dope misogyny. Some of their wines had Confederate generals on them and when he made his little joke, at first I was going to ask him if he had any other characters in his American Traitors series, maybe a Benedict Arnold red, or a John Walker Lindh reisling, but then I thought, “fuck that guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243/40 "2014-07-16T16:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=madmonk28] Some of their wines had Confederate generals on them and when he made his little joke, at first I was going to ask him if he had any other characters in his American Traitors series, maybe a Benedict Arnold red, or a John Walker Lindh reisling [/QUOTE] I am so going to steal this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-from-im-sorry/693243.md?page=3)