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You would think, but the average person is not nearly as geographically aware as the average City-Data poster. I’m a Rochester native now living in Atlanta. Whenever I tell people I’m from New York, everybody assumes NYC (usually Brooklyn for some strange reason). If I try to specify in any way, their eyes just glaze over. Nobody knows where Rochester is. I’ve had people think it’s a neighborhood in the five boroughs. Nobody knows what “Upstate” means. Even a city with high name recognition like Buffalo isn’t known other than the Bills. The only exception is people who are originally from the Northeast or have family there.
Exactly. When I told people I was moving to Rochester, NY, they glossed over the Rochester part and assumed I was going to NYC. Unless you’ve been here, it’s hard to imagine there’s more to NY than that awful place.
I thought of this thread today when I heard Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia".. The contrast between that sentiment and "Red-eye flight to Hartsfield" are planets and centuries apart.
I havwn't been out of my car in metro Atlanta since a Braves game in 1966 and the idea terrifies me. But I lived just outside Valdosta two years, and I'm happy to report there is still a Georgia. But I doubt if a train stops in any smaller town than Macon.
Even Americans have learned to think of America as a huge white space, gotted with a few skylines, connected by threads of identical off-rampd.
Yeah, NJ natives tend to identify more with the state as a whole than a specific city, as none of the cities are what I'd call 'magnet' cities like you have elsewhere in the northeast. If anything, people (at least in North Jersey) would identify more with their county than anything else. Like "yeah I'm from Bergen County". Growing up in MA, that concept seems so foreign to me that it's comical (nobody ever says "I'm from Middlesex County... I bet half of MA doesn't even know what county they live in as they are not actually official governing bodies).
I also lived in TX for 10 years, and there of course is a ton of state pride. It is interesting though, because they do have a handful of large magnet cities, with at least 2 of them having decent rivalries with each other (Dallas v. Houston). In TX though, the state pride superseded the city pride, and the TX flag is ubiquitous wherever you go. Couldn't tell you what either the NJ or MA flags looked like (or PA, which I lived in for 5 years).
You would think, but the average person is not nearly as geographically aware as the average City-Data poster. I’m a Rochester native now living in Atlanta. Whenever I tell people I’m from New York, everybody assumes NYC (usually Brooklyn for some strange reason). If I try to specify in any way, their eyes just glaze over. Nobody knows where Rochester is. I’ve had people think it’s a neighborhood in the five boroughs. Nobody knows what “Upstate” means. Even a city with high name recognition like Buffalo isn’t known other than the Bills. The only exception is people who are originally from the Northeast or have family there.
I understand, as this would happen when I was going to school in Michigan. This happens more than some may realize.
Even within the state, if people from NYC have never been Upstate, they think it is either farms, prisons, really small towns and/or lacks diversity.
But I lived just outside Valdosta two years, and I'm happy to report there is still a Georgia.
Funny you should mention that. I've been to Valdosta exactly once in my life, many years ago. I had a business meeting there with a friendly, attractive young lady who had the most ear-meltingly sweet Southern accent I've ever heard. So let everyone else think that Georgia is nothing but Atlanta. To me, Valdosta will always be the first place I think about when I think about the "real" Georgia. (I have to wonder, though, how many people away from the Southeast have ever even heard of it?)
Can you name a 3rd and 4th city in ANY state besides California or Texas? Or are you stumped after Omaha or Birmingham plus their capitals? Quid, name four cities in Kentucky.
Funny you should mention that. I've been to Valdosta exactly once in my life, many years ago. I had a business meeting there with a friendly, attractive young lady who had the most ear-meltingly sweet Southern accent I've ever heard. So let everyone else think that Georgia is nothing but Atlanta. To me, Valdosta will always be the first place I think about when I think about the "real" Georgia. (I have to wonder, though, how many people away from the Southeast have ever even heard of it?)
I've heard of Valdosta - and been there too! But I lived in Georgia for ten years so there's that. I didn't live in a big city either, though I lived between Atlanta and Columbus. I lived in Pine Mountain which is gorgeous! And yes, full of southern accents - and grits, which I love.
Can you name a 3rd and 4th city in ANY state besides California or Texas? Or are you stumped after Omaha or Birmingham plus their capitals? Quid, name four cities in Kentucky.
Louisville
Frankfort
Lexington
Covington
But then again, C-D geography nerds aren't really representative of the public at large.
EDIT to add, I do think that most people could name three or four cities in Florida without too much trouble.
Miami
Orlando
Fort Lauderdale
Tampa
Jacksonville
West Palm Beach
Key West
Pensacola
Tallahassee
And so on. But yeah, for most states, the average "man on the street" would get stuck after the first city, or maybe the second.
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