Do strangers talk to you in your part of the country? How do you feel about it?
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All the time everywhere you go the South is extremely friendly and welcoming, Southern women are good looking and will talk to you about anything. Not like New England where I was born.
My only experience "up north" would be NJ and NY. Does that fit?
Of the two, I have only been in New York. My experience there was that people were friendly. I have known people who were from New Jersey and they were friendly. It all depends upon and individual's experiences I guess.
Also the region someone is in has something to do with it. I think New York friendly is a bit different from Chicago friendly.
It's like this in Rochester, NY and other parts of Western NY near urban centers. In the country it's not as pronounced.
Most people stay within their social circles of friends, family and co-workers. If somebody ventures outside of these circles, we often make the same presumptions - this person wants something or is up to something. Of course we have exceptions where you have contact, but a clear purpose exists. You are meeting because of church, school, college, gym, etc.
This depends on the person/people an hour or so to the east. Some people are more open than others or it may take a little while, but once they do, you are good.
I guess I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. I was raised Canadian and travelled a fair bit - and groups in various parts of Canada are very similar to those in various parts of the US most of you are discussing here. I am quite adaptable I suppose .. I think I intuitively note the atmosphere whatever it may be wherever I go and just fit in. So in some places, it quickly seems the norm to keep completely to myself and in others to smile and strike up a conversation with someone in a line or other circumstance that affords that possibility without collaring someone on the street as they walk by and forcing them to converse.
So, yes, there are occasional differences in how 'outgoing' people seem to be in some areas of the country but rarely do I find that, if I need to ask a question or discuss something, most won't be accommodating even if it is not their natural inclination. I can't say either that I find most in the northeast are 'that' self-contained nor that those in the 'south' are necessarily that effusive on the whole. I think there is much less difference and more similarity these days than most notice. I think if you hear that people in the south are going to be so 'friendly' and you go there from a culture that is perhaps a bit more reserved, you will see what you expect but it may not actually be that much different than 'back home'.
What I do think is the greatest influence on whether people are talking randomly in public these days is the accursed cellphone! I think people everywhere hide behind those as though they were shields from realities that they don't want to involve themselves in. And they do that all over the country so I think regional differences are much less now than many think.
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