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The teenagers I know on here aren't cocky at all, I'm not cocky and I've left my city many of times and actually prefer other cities over my own, believe it or not most teenagers on here are more mature than most of the "nut job" adults.
I didn't say all teenagers were cocky, I said it brings out the cocky teenagers. Big difference.
So I'm sitting here reading through all these city vs. city threads and how much of these "my city is better because of this and this..." ... This happens all the time. So I'm questioned, do other countries do this as much as we do?
If no or yes, what are some examples?
I am wondering if we Americans are really sort of cocky or if it is all pretty normal.
I think it's normal, Italy is a good example.
For hundreds of years, several centuries before the formation of the contemporary republic of Italy - utterly forgettable as a historical entity -, the territory, especially the central and north, was divided into dozens of city-states - certainly worth remembering for their many achievements, visible today mainly through architecture and art -, and still today many, many Italians identify themselves by their citizenship of a city, a source of pride, rather than by citizenship of the country, more of a nuisance.
I don't think we work together as much as we could, it seems as if we "semi-isolate" ourselves into the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. You are right that we come together and say to the World we're America but internally there's some isolation. I hope we all come together and un-isolate ourselves but I think location has a lot to do with it because there are "in-between" regions with ties to both (ex: The Mid-Atlantic has ties with New England & the South). I'm guessing Canada, the UK, China, Australia might have similar internal issues.
It's easy to feel isolated and different in a country the size of the U.S.
I think you're right about Canada, China and Australia. For the same reason as the U.S...Those countries are huge when compared to most of Europe and Asia.
IDK but the US has a lot of great cities, many of them are comparable to each other.
What other country has cities in the same class as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, etc. (China comes to mind and that's really it). We have Tropical, Subtropical, Temperate, Desert, Arctic, etc. the US is a really unique country. I don't think its cockiness because not every American is going to be cocky (including me).
US is the biggest economy in the world, so of course it will have the most cities. Next is Japan followed by China. Even when China becomes the #1 economy the gdp per capita will still be lower (because of the population is just so huge) I dont know how prestigous their cities will be. As for Japan some of the nice cities are tokyo (largest gdp in world and biggest city in the world), Osaka, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kobe etc.
Either way Chinas eastern cities are going to be huge in the coming years, eventually surpassing tokyo.
So I'm sitting here reading through all these city vs. city threads and how much of these "my city is better because of this and this..." yeah, yeah, yeah. This happens all the time. So I'm questioned, do other countries (maybe countries such as Brazil, China, Mexico, Australia, etc, with diversity in cities) do this as much as we do? If no or yes, what are some examples? I am wondering if we Americans are really sort of cocky of if it is all pretty normal.
Only as a joke. (In my experience, it's always best to point that out).
I'm from Småland, so I'll joke with my friends in say Skåne (loooong story about that place!) about how horrible their province is and how wonderful mine is (hey, we got IKEA, Husqvarna, the safety matches, zipper, Astrid Lindgren and everything, and they "ain't got nothing", hehe).
No. The vast majority of people (there are always exceptions) don't seperate by city vs. city or province vs. province other than when joking.
We're not that competitive when it comes to that.
Now, country living vs. city life THAT'S a whole other story. That we do. In our own way (meaning a little wussy if you look at it from the outside).
(My friends in Jönköping brag about the safety matches, and the ones in Huskvarna about the Husqvarna. I might be a country girl, but my village has got the zipper. I think country living won, don't you think?)
Those are some good analogies, Sweden.
My cousins argue who has the best sewing machine, one owns Husqvarna, the other Bernina. Their brother makes it a point to phone us From sunny Calgary whenever it is raining here in Vancouver. People back east, especially in Toronto, nickname our city 'lotusland' and its denizens 'beach bums'. But undeniably, Toronto is the only Canadian city that's truly cosmopolitan and on par with New York City and London.
But it does not bother me a bit because I too prefer the unique charm of smaller cities and towns.
Australia is very divided when it comes to their state and cities. The rivalry is possibly understandable in some cases, but I think a couple of cities really kid themselves with their big-noting (esp Sydney).
I dont know that I'd call it semi-isolationism really, just people being loyal - unreasonably or not - to their home or adopted home. Same in the U.S. It is striking how incredibly diverse the U.S is, and to me the regionalism is a way of maintaining the unique characters of those regions. My partner and I felt like we were in Europe, except everyone spoke English. Or a variation thereof.
I think if you live in the U.S you are bloody lucky; problems exist everywhere, and you guys have the most amazing scenery, incredible food, some wonderful folks, enjoy it and think about the problems tomorrow.
Definitely goes on in Australia. Not just city vs. city, but Australia vs. New Zealand and vs. the US. Constantly saying we're better than 'x'. When I lived in Canada it was the same.
So yes, it's pretty "normal" albeit quite silly.
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) about how horrible their province is and how wonderful mine is (hey, we got IKEA, Husqvarna, the safety matches, zipper, Astrid Lindgren and everything, and they "ain't got nothing", hehe). 
) don't seperate by city vs. city or province vs. province other than when joking. 
)
