Are many Chicagoans utterly clueless compared to folks on this forum? (Cicero: transplants, neighborhoods)

[urza216]

Hey everybody, I'm back.

But anyway, I was pondering something and am curious about your inquiries. Is there a signicant number of people in Chicago who are utterly clueless about a lot of the stuff we like to talk about on here? More specifically - the names and boundaries of neighorhoods?

Recently,I asked a co-worker who commutes to the far south suburbs: "Do you live in Roseland?" She replied, "No, I live in Chicago." I asked what neighorhood and she said "63rd Street". She's an older lady who has lived there for decades.

I have a friend who before recently going into the air force, he lived in Hyde Park for about 6 years (not because of the UofC). He actually refers to the area between I-94 and the park as "the bad part of Hyde Park". Even though anyone on City Data worth his or her salt knows that's Washington Park and definitely a completely different neighorhood.

So tell me, fellow posters - Am I surrounded by idiots? Or is it NOT just me?

[marothisu]

It depends. There are many clueless people (and there are clueless people IMO on this forum), but I have friends (who are not on this forum) who know more than anyone on here about Chicago. I have an acquaintance who's lived here for probably 20 years and this summer was the first time she'd ever been in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area. She only knows about Lakeview, Uptown, Lincoln Park, Near North Side, Loop, West Loop, North Center, Roscoe Village and South Loop. I remember saying how I went bowling at Waveland Bowl this one time and she just had this huge puzzled look on her face and asked me "WHY were you all the way over there?" L-O-L

But yeah, there are tons of people out there who are in both camps..

[Jandur]

Probably. I'm pretty clueless and I waste far too much time reading this board.

[oakparkdude]

As a rule of thumb, the clueless vastly outnumber the clued in.

To quote from a favorite passage of mine from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, " Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by urza216

Hey everybody, I'm back.

But anyway, I was pondering something and am curious about your inquiries. Is there a signicant number of people in Chicago who are utterly clueless about a lot of the stuff we like to talk about on here? More specifically - the names and boundaries of neighorhoods?

Recently, i asked a co-worker who commutes to the far south suburbs: "Do you live in Roseland?" She replied, "No, I live in Chicago." I asked what neighorhood and she said "63rd Street". She's an older lady who has lived there for decades.

I have a friend who before recently going into the air force, he's lived in Hyde Park for about 6 years (not because of the UofC). He actually refers to the area between I-94 and the park as "the bad part of Hyde Park". Even though anyone on City Data worth his or her salt knows that's Washington Park and definitely a completely different neighorhood.

So tell me fellow posters - Am I surrounded by idiots? Or is it NOT just me?

It's not just you. I know a lifelong Chicagoan (born and raised in Hegewisch) around my age who tried to tell me that the area around Midway Airport is known as "Brighton Park".

Even I knew better than that, and I'm just an Ohio transplant who's been living on the North Side for the past 17 years.

[nightlysparrow]

There are at least 200 neighborhoods in Chicago, and many areas were named or renamed after 1985. Very few people know them all anymore, except maybe cabdrivers.

Neighborhoods in Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Irishtom29]

Lots of native Chicago people refer to their neighborhoods by names other than the official community area names. Many people will tell you they come from 63rd and Halsted, Madison and Cicero, Midway, Six Corners, Taylor St., LaFollette Park, Chicago and Lawndale and so on. Many old timers still go by parish name; Resurrection, Blessed Sacrament, Lady of Sorrows, St. Lucy's and so forth.

[ChiNaan]

There are definitely generational differences between how people refer to different areas, plus differences between how natives refer to them vs. transplants, and of course a lot of areas overlap or have fuzzy/disputed boundaries.

This forum by its nature is going to attract a disproportionate percentage of people who are nerdy about geography, urbanism, etc. compared to the general population. I mean, it's called "City Data." Even those words aren't likely to appeal to the average person, and even the fact that we're having this conversation makes us probably not exactly normal. So yes, I think folks on this forum are probably on average more informed about these things than the average person, even though there are still plenty of clueless people here, too.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

There are definitely generational differences between how people refer to different areas.......

Yeah, ask my 88 year old father where he's from and he might say "The Milkys".

[jonnynonos]

I've heard natives mostly use intersections. But you would still expect them to know which neighborhood they live in.