Cultural Differences Between Pacific NW and South? (Seattle, Tacoma: lawyers, buy)

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

You should really watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

I don't get to the King County area that often, but I find the amount of trash left laying around, and the prevalence of bums taking over parts of the urban area to be pretty shocking. I have never seen that when traveling in southern cities.

agreed. Everyone head south.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

I don't get to the King County area that often, but I find the amount of trash left laying around, and the prevalence of bums taking over parts of the urban area to be pretty shocking. I have never seen that when traveling in southern cities.

Really? Ever been to Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, or New Orleans? I'll take living in Pioneer Square any day over living in North Memphis or Orange Mound (Memphis). You clearly have an anti-Seattle bug in your ear and haven't explored many of the places in Southern cities where actual people live.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Really? Ever been to Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, or New Orleans? I'll take living in Pioneer Square any day over living in North Memphis or Orange Mound (Memphis). You clearly have an anti-Seattle bug in your ear and haven't explored many of the places in Southern cities where actual people live.

I've been to NOLA, Atlanta (granted for a short time), Birmingham, Al, Columbus, MS, Tampa, Orlando, etc. I haven't seen any areas where bums are allowed to camp out on the sidewalks and crap in the streets, except Seattle and LA (I haven't been to SF in 25 years). Even Boston didn't have those issues.

[JOinGA]

Originally Posted by Montezia

Native Tennessean who currently lives in Seattle.

Food

The food in Tn and much of the south is obviously less healthier. The food in Seattle tastes fresher and there are much higher standards for food here in Seattle. The food is also pretty expensive in comparison to its cost of living. Seattle and Wa seems to like emphasizing whether or not things are local and they are big on it. There is much more organic and vegan/vegetarian food. Chain restaraunts aren't really big unless you go outside of Seattle proper (i.e. Lynnwood, Tacoma). There's also a lot of fusion foods here as well.

BBq? forget about it. Better learn to make it at home. To be honest the other non-southern city I'd trust to have good southern style food or bbq is nyc. Maybe Chicago. I really miss smoked bbq and pulled pork in those places you'd find out in the country. I don't care what anyone else here will try to say about the southern restaraunts they have here in Seattle. Seattle is concerned about making food waay too healthy and organic for it to even taste right.
People

People in Tn are very nosy. In Seattle people keep to themselves. Even odd behavior or dress isn't gonna be as gawked at or judged like it will in Tn. And from my standpoint, people's views are sometimes so liberal that it puzzles me. There's just some behaviors Seattleites have that I find weird (ie. The human composting facility coming out in 2021, people being specific about recycling (In Tn unless you are talking Nashville garbage all goes to the same place), using sand instead of salt for snowy weather). What Seattle and Tn have in common are that both groups of people are laid back as both places offer a slower pace of life. Both groups of people also tend to be polite and aren't always straight foward like someone up north would be. Passive aggressiveness in Tn (to me) doesn't really exist. Everyone will be hospitable but if they have something to say about you, it will always be well out of earshot and in the lowest possible voice.

There's also this sort of pretentiousness that Seattle has for having such high standards for everything. Higher food standards, higher education requirements of nursing programs and higher standards for businesses to operate.

I also don't see Tn (outside of Nashville) becoming progressive anytime soon, even if you have so many Californians and New Yorkers relocating there. Tn like much of the south's views are grounded in the bible. People there tend to marry young, even while they are in college. I also believe Tn has a much less educated populace than Seattle does. And there are fewer opportunities in the state outside of Nashville. A lot of folks I knew had factory jobs or fast food if they weren't in the military.

Weather

Humidity is non-existent in Seattle for those of us who grew up in the south. What a lot of people consider 'hot' here will likely be an average day in late August to early September (somewhere still in the 70s with humidity making it feel 10 degrees hotter). The summer here was very comfortable for me even on Seattle's 'hottest' days. The weather here is so mild you can sleep with a window open at night and let the cool air in. Ac really isn't needed a lot of the time here. That could never be said about Tennessee.

I also noticed that there are fewer roaches, bees and wasps even in the areas of town with more trees. I've spent some time outside here and a lot of the bugs or mosquitoes they would have back east aren't really present here. A big downside is that there seems to be more spiders (and bigger ones over here). The rain here is very light compared to Tn. The thunderstorms that happened this year were a freak occurence. People really made a big deal about them whereas in Tn it be just another storm.

The air quality also seems better here in Seattle. The allergies I had back at home don't exist here.

One thing Seattle does have in common with Tn is that winters don't get too cold and snow isn't too common. The major difference is Tn doesn't rain as much as Seattle does. And the Seattle winters so far seem a lot 'darker' than in Tn.

Homeless

I grew up 45 minutes away from Nashville. I never saw any homeless living on the streets or wheeling their stuff around until I got to nyc. And in Seattle they are visible too. It's not really the case in Tn. I can't speak for Nashville. I don't think Tn is a popular place for homeless to congregate.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I'd reply if I can think of anything else.

I moved to Knoxville 2 years ago and reading your post, what comes to mind is how everyone's experience with a place is individual and that no state is a monolith.

[Montezia]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

You should really watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

I don't get to the King County area that often, but I find the amount of trash left laying around, and the prevalence of bums taking over parts of the urban area to be pretty shocking. I have never seen that when traveling in southern cities.

Nashville has some homeless but yes you're right. The homeless problem seems to be out of control on either coast. That's the good thing about the south. I could be wrong but that's just the tendency of highly liberal cities attracting so many homeless.

The south can be dirty in places because we aren't as big on recycling or green living like places up north on either coast. Growing up I never knew anyone who recycled. Trash all went to the same place. Don't forget there are cigarette butts and beer bottles everywhere down there because alcohol and cigs are very cheap down south.

I'm also embarrassed about the homeless strip show conference in Seattle. But just goes to show that anything flies here it seems.

Knoxville is a different animal than my hometown near Nashville. I believe that area leans more rural than my hometown but maybe I'm thinking Chattanooga?

I also really miss Waffle House. Now THAT'S some unhealthy breakfast food if you ever saw it. Everything is cooked in butter from what I remember.

[Taz22]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

I've been to NOLA, Atlanta (granted for a short time), Birmingham, Al, Columbus, MS, Tampa, Orlando, etc. I haven't seen any areas where bums are allowed to camp out on the sidewalks and crap in the streets, except Seattle and LA (I haven't been to SF in 25 years). Even Boston didn't have those issues.

There are a lot of places in the south that don’t have the homeless issues the west coast has. Everyone who has been to San Francisco knows what it’s become. Like the Seattle Is Dying documentary pointed out, people keep electing the same politicians, and keep getting the same results.

People in the south don’t dump nearly the amount of trash in yards as you see in Washington and Oregon. Last year while visiting southern relatives, I was amazed at the lack of front yard trash. Even in rural areas, you just don’t see it. I grew up this way, but you can get used to seeing trash in yards and homeless campsites in Washington. It’s hard to know why the big difference, but spouse says it’s because of a lack of personal responsibility. That explains it as well as anything, I guess.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Taz22

There are a lot of places in the south that don’t have the homeless issues the west coast has. Everyone who has been to San Francisco knows what it’s become. Like the Seattle Is Dying documentary pointed out, people keep electing the same politicians, and keep getting the same results.

People in the south don’t dump nearly the amount of trash in yards as you see in Washington and Oregon. Last year while visiting southern relatives, I was amazed at the lack of front yard trash. Even in rural areas, you just don’t see it. I grew up this way, but you can get used to seeing trash in yards and homeless campsites in Washington. It’s hard to know why the big difference, but spouse says it’s because of a lack of personal responsibility. That explains it as well as anything, I guess.

Why not move back to the South?

[Taz22]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Why not move back to the South?

The south has good and bad issues, just like the PNW does. Anyway, until otherwise decided, I’ll be here. Thanks btw. I made a bet with my spouse that locals would take umbrage at actually mentioning the trash problem here and the first reply would be defensive. Thanks for the dough.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Taz22

The south has good and bad issues, just like the PNW does. Anyway, until otherwise decided, I’ll be here. Thanks btw. I made a bet with my spouse that locals would take umbrage at actually mentioning the trash problem here and the first reply would be defensive. Thanks for the dough.

Happy to help. Whenever someone makes a point to complain and talk about how much better someplace is, one can’t help but wonder why they don’t just go to the other place.

[Montezia]

Originally Posted by Taz22

The south has good and bad issues, just like the PNW does. Anyway, until otherwise decided, I’ll be here. Thanks btw. I made a bet with my spouse that locals would take umbrage at actually mentioning the trash problem here and the first reply would be defensive. Thanks for the dough.

Same here. Plus I'm making far more money here than I ever would in the south. The south also has fewer opportunities. That's the biggest downside about living there.

Sure I get homesick for it every once in awhile but not enough to move back. There are a few places in the south that are good for young people but anything outside the cities is nil. My hometown is only decent because it has a huge military base squished between 2 states. Otherwise I'm pretty sure it would be worse off.