Former Wisconsinites...where did you move to and how do you like it in comparison to WI? (Milwaukee: employment, school)

[Tunky]

Originally Posted by applesoranges

Not like there are in Wisconsin by a long shot. I love the friendliness of the South and people come over and ring your doorbell. It's the way life should be.

There are friendly people in the south, and plenty of fake people too.

When I lived in Germany I learned that one of their strong customs is that the newcomers are the one to make the first contact with new neighbors, not the other way around like we tend to do here. When I moved to WI I was not surprised to see a lot of German customs have continued to be practiced throughout the years. When I moved to TN I was told by Lifelong Southerners that southern hospitality comes in MANY different degrees of warmth and some of it is VERY thin on the surface. Fine with me...I really don't need to have that much approval. Some of the strict conservative Christians are the most judgmental people I've ever met down here. And I go to church! When they ask you where, and you don't give the "right" answer...they are done learning about you.

Arguing back and forth with strangers is not my idea of productive time, so...I hope you're thrilled and 100% happy with each and every citizen of the area you choose to make your home.

[applesoranges]

Originally Posted by Drover

This is nonsense. Some of the cattiest people I've met were southerners. It only seems like they don't hold grudges because they're polite to each other's faces even if they hate each other, in the name of "southern manners." But the minute you're not face to face, they'll put a knife in your back if they don't like you.

While northern "manners" where people aren't automatically nice to each other seems alien to southerners, I'd rather people make it clear where they stand with each other (and it's possible to do so without being rude or abrasive about it) than to pretend to get along just for appearances.

This could be nonsense to you because you more than likely have not lived in the South. We lived in wis. most of our lives and then Texas, which we LOVED, the nicest people ever, and then Florida another super friendly place. You will never understand this UNTIL you live in another place. In Wisconsin nobody talks to anybody when you're in line at a store, they never come up to you and tell you their life story, within minutes of meeting, you like they do in the south, they never ring your doorbell and walk in. They are not friendly in the upper midwest and heaven forbid if you do something they don't like, you're RARELY forgiven. I guess that's what makes Wisconsinites such unhappy people, which I've been told they look like by other folks in other states, it's not just me, lol. I've been told over and over about how rude the people in Wisconsin are and it's 100% true, unfortunately!

[applesoranges]

Another happy thing about the South, there's NO CLIQUES! We were invited to a party in Dallas that a wealthy couple were giving by their pool, had Peter Dutchin playing the grand piano out there and there were carpet cleaners, doctors, factory workers, it was like heaven on earth no discrimination whatsoever. In Wis, whoa, you have to be in the same class, no low-lifers with the almighty ones. It's a raging bore.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by applesoranges

This could be nonsense to you because you more than likely have not lived in the South. We lived in wis. most of our lives and then Texas, which we LOVED, the nicest people ever, and then Florida another super friendly place. You will never understand this UNTIL you live in another place. In Wisconsin nobody talks to anybody when you're in line at a store, they never come up to you and tell you their life story, within minutes of meeting, you like they do in the south, they never ring your doorbell and walk in. They are not friendly in the upper midwest and heaven forbid if you do something they don't like, you're RARELY forgiven. I guess that's what makes Wisconsinites such unhappy people, which I've been told they look like by other folks in other states, it's not just me, lol. I've been told over and over about how rude the people in Wisconsin are and it's 100% true, unfortunately!

Here's the thing: I don't want people talking to me in the line at the store (though unlike you I have had this happen in Wisconsin). I don't want people telling me their life story within 5 minutes of meeting. If I want to know the life story of a complete stranger, I'll ask them to tell it to me. Your presumption that people don't pester complete strangers with details of their ordinary lives means they're "unhappy" is false. It means they have enough humility to understand they're not so special that everyone everywhere wants to know everything about them. Pretending like we, as complete strangers, give a crap about the details of each other's lives strikes me as superficial. It must be a cultural difference, because what you consider rude I consider normal interaction; meanwhile I consider it rude to bend someone's ear whether they've shown any interest or not.

[KateDaum]

Funny when we moved to WI we couldn't get over how friendly the people are. We have lived all over the US and found people in our small community to be great. We have been to many parties with all types of people. Don't really care to know strangers life stories though.

[Tunky]

Exactly, Kate. I've lived in the South, the Upper Midwest (including WI), the West Coast and in Europe. There are all kinds everywhere. Find it extremely hard to believe there are NO cliques in the south. Someone has obviously never come upon a nest of hardcore bible belters.

[freetohope]

What happened to my original post question? It seems like it went in a completely different direction. Also, I don't understand why some people instead of addressing the original post (directed to FORMER Wisconsinites) are here just to defend WI...I started this as a way to hear from people who have left the state because they found a place they like more, not to engage in debates on whether WI is friendly or boring or whatever else. (I also have a sneaking suspicion that some of these people work for WI's board of tourism or something and are on this forum as part of their job to boost the image of the state).

If you have useful insight on the main question, please do share. If you love WI and are happy living here...good for you, but this thread is not meant for you!

Thank you to those who responded to my question! I really appreciate your comments!

[Drover]

When people say stupid asinine things about where someone lives, on their own forum no less, expect the people who live there to step up and say "that's stupid and asinine."

[freetohope]

Man, you just don't give up, do you? well, suit yourself...you must have a lot of time on your hands....have fun insulting people who are looking for help and answers...that's very nice of you.

[Drover]

You asked a question. I gave you an answer. Cope.

You started a provocative thread. I'm just trying to help you understand why you got provocative responses. If you still don't get it, I don't know how to help you. But I suspect you got exactly the reactions you were looking for, so I'm not exactly buying your "I'm so put out" routine.