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I've always been stingy with this. I think born is most important. I was born in Florida, and few others were. But many people love to be like "I moved here as a kid, so I'm a native", or they moved here as adults but hated where they were from so much that they consider themselves Floridians. There are a lot of these posers on city-data in fact who love to say they are Floridians when they are really not.
I've always been stingy with this. I think born is most important. I was born in Florida, and few others were. But many people love to be like "I moved here as a kid, so I'm a native", or they moved here as adults but hated where they were from so much that they consider themselves Floridians. There are a lot of these posers on city-data in fact who love to say they are Floridians when they are really not.
The United States is a free and United country and if someone is a legal resident of a state, such as Florida they certainly have every right to call themselves a Floridian, or whatever they want. For example, if a French resident moves to the USA legally, are they not then an American? In my book, they are absolutely Americans, just like if someone moved from New York to Florida, they would now be a Floridian.
My kids were born in Montana and my oldest especially takes great pride in being from MT so it does matter. However she's lived in Michigan since she was four. If we stay here until she graduates high school I'd have to assume Michigan would be her home.
Now me on the other hand, moved to another city in the same state when I was four. I consider the town I grew up in as my home town but I don't really care either way about the city I was born in. So when you ask "what counts" it depends on what you're asking. Being born in Montana seems to count for a lot to my oldest even if it won't be her "home" and she may also take great pride in growing up in Michigan.
I spent my first 10 Years in suburban Milwaukee before moving to Las Vegas and living there for 35 Years. The whole time I lived in Las Vegas I was told how nice I was. I think that Upper Midwestern niceness was instilled in me and stayed with me for life. I might have had a different personality type if I was born in Vegas. So I say it's where your born, as long as you live there at least a few years, start your education there etc. That being said on Facebook I list Vegas as my hometown because that's by far where I lived most of my life and have the most contacts from.
The United States is a free and United country and if someone is a legal resident of a state, such as Florida they certainly have every right to call themselves a Floridian, or whatever they want. For example, if a French resident moves to the USA legally, are they not then an American? In my book, they are absolutely Americans, just like if someone moved from New York to Florida, they would now be a Floridian.
Nah. Not in my book. Florida is full to the brim with NY transplants (my father is one of them in fact), and they aren't Floridians. Floridians are our own little nitch in America. No other state in the country is quite like us. Perhaps if the person was raised here from a very young that would qualify but not if they move away.
And I'm really only stingy with this because so many people who are definitely not Floridians love to try and dictate what Florida is culturally. None of those fakes know anything.
When I moved back to Virginia with my boyfriend (who is from PA) he asked me "how long before I can call myself a Virginian?". To which I replied "babe, you'll never be a Virginian".
I've become a bit more flexible on this issue (that was 20 years ago) but I do think that where you were born is where you are from.
You can say "I was born in _____ but spent most of my childhood in _____" if the two differ.
I consider the place where someone lived the longest time to be where he or she is "from." But I realize that when moving to a new place what people want to know is the LAST place you lived. So then you can say "I moved from _____ but lived a long time in _____." If they persist in wanting to know where you were BORN, they would then ask it that way.
On a different note, I hated that where-are-you-from question because, in my case, what they were really asking was what ETHNICITY I am. I am not Caucasian, and it surprised me how many people were surprised when I told them I was born in a US city. Only then would they ask, "Oh, then, where are your parents from?" Which is just as dumb a question, because some people's non-Caucasian parents might well have been born in the US also. This despite the fact that my language is American English and has been since I first started talking. No foreign accent whatsoever.
The United States is a free and United country and if someone is a legal resident of a state, such as Florida they certainly have every right to call themselves a Floridian, or whatever they want. For example, if a French resident moves to the USA legally, are they not then an American? In my book, they are absolutely Americans, just like if someone moved from New York to Florida, they would now be a Floridian.
Exactly. They don't have to be a native-born state resident to be a resident of that state. Where you are born determines your native state, nothing more.
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