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I'm not going argue about what New Yorkers are and are not, as I have not lived there, but, again, I will disagree with you about Chicagoans, as I do live here.
I personally find Chicagoans to be polite and out going. I understand the difference between the two, and, as I said before, I never would have made friends here if I didn't find Chicagoans to be outgoing in social situations.
You honestly make Chicago sound far more like some of the other smaller cities in the Midwest than it actually is, because you're honestly describing a city like St. Louis to the letter, but not Chicago, in my experience.
That's exactly my point. Living in Chicago you lack a point of reference. Chicagoans may seem to you as friendly, while to me, who experienced New York and quite a few other places, they merely appear polite while being rather reserved and cold. It's all about perspective.
Like I said before New York is much more wordly, has a larger foreign population and this is reflected in social norms. Chicago on the other hand has mostly transplants from other Midwestern cities and it shows as well.
i call b/s on this, i've lived abroad for nearly 20 years in 6 countries. I have encountered more chicagoans than new yorkers everywhere from coffeeshops in amsterdam, beaches in thailand, karaoke bars in tokyo etc. For such worldly types, it's astounding how few new yorkers one encounters outside the states. But with your attitude that you are so damn cosmo and sit in the center of everything, why bother?
My guess is your attitude while in chicago successfully repulsed the locals. And your social failure there left a permanent bitter scar on your nyc ego.
New Yorkers simply blend in better as more of them are foreign born and more of them already been abroad. They don't stand out as much.
I bet you could spot an all-American Chicagoan in Amsterdam from a mile
Born in Ohio, raised in Chicago lived worked or studied in Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and traveled extensively in the Dakotas, Missouri, and Nebraska (some day I'll explore Kansas)....... And am older than 90% of people on this board, so I think I chose my user name just as wisely as you chose the last four letters of yours.
I try to represent the folks from the Midwest just as do do for the Tards of the world.
I'm not going argue about what New Yorkers are and are not, as I have not lived there, but, again, I will disagree with you about Chicagoans, as I do live here.
I personally find Chicagoans to be polite and out going. I understand the difference between the two, and, as I said before, I never would have made friends here if I didn't find Chicagoans to be outgoing in social situations.
You honestly make Chicago sound far more like some of the other smaller cities in the Midwest than it actually is, because you're honestly describing a city like St. Louis to the letter, but not Chicago, in my experience.
Again I am going to disagree. Chicago is really not that dissimilar to other Midwest cities as so many of its residents tend to think it is. Chicago is Midwestern through and through, and socially is MUCH more like St. Louis, Cleveland, etc. than to coastal cities. Some people just don't want to admit that for some reason.
Again I am going to disagree. Chicago is really not that dissimilar to other Midwest cities as so many of its residents tend to think it is. Chicago is Midwestern through and through, and socially is MUCH more like St. Louis, Cleveland, etc. than to coastal cities. Some people just don't want to admit that for some reason.
Chicago has its Midwestern vibe, but it's more open to transplants than many other cities in the region. You're not going to be asked "So, where did you go to high school?" as a means of getting to know you (and to categorize you) in Chicago as you do in St. Louis and its suburbs. I do find people in the St. Louis area to be more polite though than Chicagoans, but that St. Louisans can be more cliquey in the end. I'm not saying Chicagoans can't be cliquey or anything, but they're definitely more open to transplants and immigrants alike up here.
New Yorkers simply blend in better as more of them are foreign born and more of them already been abroad. They don't stand out as much.
I bet you could spot an all-American Chicagoan in Amsterdam from a mile
Hey dementor. Time to quit siphoning off the neighbor's wifi and instead focus on your homework!
Again I am going to disagree. Chicago is really not that dissimilar to other Midwest cities as so many of its residents tend to think it is. Chicago is Midwestern through and through, and socially is MUCH more like St. Louis, Cleveland, etc. than to coastal cities. Some people just don't want to admit that for some reason.
That's what people from Cleveland, Omaha, Fargo, St. Louis and smaller Midwest towns like to hold on to, right? Of course there are affinities between Chicago and Midwest cities, many (most) of the people are from the same local region, matriculate through the same college, etc. So, to some extent, this is correct, naturally. However, as a global business center, and even on many cultural planes, Chicago has a LOT more in common with NYC than it does with St. Louis or Indianapolis or Grand Rapids. It just does. I'm sure you will believe what is most convenient for you, but from a business perspective, that i not the case.
While I tend to prefer New York for other reasons, I can say that Chicago is both MUCH cheaper, and at least when I was there this summer there were multiple times where complete strangers would make conversation on the El trains with you, so yeah, it seemed quite friendly.
That's what people from Cleveland, Omaha, Fargo, St. Louis and smaller Midwest towns like to hold on to, right? Of course there are affinities between Chicago and Midwest cities, many (most) of the people are from the same local region, matriculate through the same college, etc. So, to some extent, this is correct, naturally. However, as a global business center, and even on many cultural planes, Chicago has a LOT more in common with NYC than it does with St. Louis or Indianapolis or Grand Rapids. It just does. I'm sure you will believe what is most convenient for you, but from a business perspective, that i not the case.
Yet to anybody from the east coast, and New York in particular, Chicago with its pace and mentality of residents resembles St. Louis much more than New York. While New York is very cosmopolitan, Chicago is very Midwestern. Chicago's business connections don't change much.
New Yorkers simply blend in better as more of them are foreign born and more of them already been abroad. They don't stand out as much.
I bet you could spot an all-American Chicagoan in Amsterdam from a mile
Depends on how we're parsing that. If you mean "all-American Chicagoan" where the all-American is meant to be the most stereotypable as all-American then sure but that would be the case if you put that in front of any US city dweller. If you meant that somehow a city as large and diverse as Chicago is going to fall into a single "type" then that's obviously flawed.
Take this with the fact that anywhere from a fifth to a quarter of Chicagoans are foreign-born, a large population who are first or second generation Americans, a fairly large Puerto Rican population that are not counted as foreign-born but come from a not so stereotypical American background, and the general diversity of even the many generations American who are not going to fulfill the preconceived stereotypes you're talking about.
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