I apologize for being blunt: Cannot wait to get out of Seattle (Bellevue: restaurant, airports)
Seattle areaSeattle and King County Suburbs
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I've always thought that judging a city by the supposed attractiveness or unattractiveness of its people was pretty low, but since the topic came up, Seattle (for what it is worth), placed near the middle of Travel+Leisure magazine poll.
Ambassador: good insights, actually. I don't disagree with most of your observations.
Robert: Although I think, from a fitness standpoint, people in the NW could be called attractive. I think the "look" you're describing is more lack of traditional femininity in their appearance. Some people in the NW seem to strive for androgyny almost as a political statement.
However, there are still plenty of attactive women in the area -- some from other places and some native. I think that, rather than all women looking like the stereotype (sere, lumpy, rumpled, etc), it's just that you see more of that here than other places, so it stands out.
I think toughguy's just what they call a troll or something, I don't see any merit in his statements about Italians. I lived for a time in Northern Italy (near San Marino), and the U.S. stereotype that all Italians are Sicilian or Neopolitan in appearance and behavior is erroneous. Also, I can see people from Northern Italy, who grew up with the Alps close by, appreciating the Cascades aesthetic.
The English weather is much worse than Seattle's, however, the British people make living there much more bearable. I really like and admire how the British manage to be polite and also friendly and approachable. I had a lot of fun in that country.
I saw few attractive women in Seattle and neither did my friends who visited. And so does foul-mouthed abrasive Tom Leykis who blasts SEA and PDX for the shortage of attractive women and the abundance of Tony Harding types. As the area becomes more cosmopolitan, that is changing.
Since I was going to UW at night while living there, I used to look around while driving over the Montlake Bridge or in Fremont, Ravenna or Wallingford. What did I see? Too many (grayish) short-haired women with their Sedona- bought Indian jewelry driving Subarus with bumper stickers like "Keep Your Laws off my body" (as if somebody might physically impregnate you? doubtful) or "The Goddess is Alive." It was depressing. We can't deny that there is a huge lesbian population in the NW.
There's also a Seattle joke book someone brought to work. It said "What do you call an attractive person in Seattle?" Answer: "A visitor."
Look, whether its attractiveness or aloofness or political correctness or whatever, these debates rage on...with passion. Evidently you've got divided experiences here. It's such a hotly debated topic that the major newspapers print articles about it, so let's not forget that!
Tom Leykis is a fool who has a grudge against the Seattle area because he got his a$$ kicked badly during one of his neanderthal gatherings in Belltown, by a native Seattleite no less. Imagine that, a passive Seattleite kicked the SH** out of him for humilating him on air. I actually used to like him and listen to him daily, until his shtick grew old and he became a parody of himself. Have you ever seen Leykis? Talk about a made for radio face. He has some stones to call other people ugly, I will give him that.
Ambassador: good insights, actually. I don't disagree with most of your observations.
Robert: Although I think, from a fitness standpoint, people in the NW could be called attractive. I think the "look" you're describing is more lack of traditional femininity in their appearance. Some people in the NW seem to strive for androgyny almost as a political statement.
However, there are still plenty of attactive women in the area -- some from other places and some native. I think that, rather than all women looking like the stereotype (sere, lumpy, rumpled, etc), it's just that you see more of that here than other places, so it stands out.
I think toughguy's just what they call a troll or something, I don't see any merit in his statements about Italians. I lived for a time in Northern Italy (near San Marino), and the U.S. stereotype that all Italians are Sicilian or Neopolitan in appearance and behavior is erroneous. Also, I can see people from Northern Italy, who grew up with the Alps close by, appreciating the Cascades aesthetic.
The English weather is much worse than Seattle's, however, the British people make living there much more bearable. I really like and admire how the British manage to be polite and also friendly and approachable. I had a lot of fun in that country.
Well put, it's that non-traditional androgynous look that is so off-putting. Some men may overlook it, but I think that most would not.
Funny you say that about the stereotype but both of my parents are from Sicily. The island was owned by Normandy for 200 years and I probably came from that strain. I get treated like a "local" in Northern Italy and get the "where are you from?" in Southern Italy....from right here, dammit, and then they get REAL nice, telling me about all their relatives in the states in places they can't pronounce correctly.
Yes, I got "stuck" in London for 2 days because I changed a return plane ticket and had to layover a little too long. Rainy in the last week in July, I could NOT believe how nice everyone was under such *****ty weather. EVERYONE! I gained an incredible admiration for them. And crappy weather doesn't necessarily make for a crappy personality, though it does in some countries. I spent a week in Quebec in October. Maybe it was because I retained my H.S. French, but EVERY SINGLE person in this French speaking province was incredibly welcoming and engaging.
So, yes, when visiting, the NWer will be compliant, detailed and polite, but the exchange will never be like it might in the UK and Ireland which are gray year round. If they were, these threads wouldn't exist.
Last edited by robertpolyglot; 04-03-2008 at 11:08 AM..
Ambassador: good insights, actually. I don't disagree with most of your observations.
Robert: Although I think, from a fitness standpoint, people in the NW could be called attractive. I think the "look" you're describing is more lack of traditional femininity in their appearance. Some people in the NW seem to strive for androgyny almost as a political statement.
However, there are still plenty of attactive women in the area -- some from other places and some native. I think that, rather than all women looking like the stereotype (sere, lumpy, rumpled, etc), it's just that you see more of that here than other places, so it stands out.
I think toughguy's just what they call a troll or something, I don't see any merit in his statements about Italians. I lived for a time in Northern Italy (near San Marino), and the U.S. stereotype that all Italians are Sicilian or Neopolitan in appearance and behavior is erroneous. Also, I can see people from Northern Italy, who grew up with the Alps close by, appreciating the Cascades aesthetic.
The English weather is much worse than Seattle's, however, the British people make living there much more bearable. I really like and admire how the British manage to be polite and also friendly and approachable. I had a lot of fun in that country.
Call me a troll if you wish, I am just trying to give him a dose of his own medicine. I don't really feel that way about Italians, it was a toungue in cheek anecdote. My first girlfriend was a little Italian girl that I was smitten with - hair and all. I just don't take kindly to someone that insults my friends, family, and everyone I associate with by calling them unnattractive troglodytes. There is the popular sentiment that Northern Cal has cornered the market on smug, but as you can see our friend from SmelL-A is trying to take that title back.
There has been several posts in this thread mentioning Italians and Italian Americans, I wonder how many of you are aware that at one time Seattle had a fairly sizable Italian neighborhood nicknamed "Garlic Gulch" in what is now known as Rainier Valley.
The Italian immigrant population in Seattle wasn’t nearly as large as in some eastern cities or even San Francisco, but for Seattle at the time it was fairly large.
Many of the Italian immigrants did quite well. Among the more famous Italians in the city were Joe Desimone, one time owner of the Pike Place Market, Attilio Sbedico, professor of literature at the University of Washington, Henry Suzzallo former president of the University of Washington, and the first American Saint, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini
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