Why so serious Iowa? (Sioux City, Decorah: live, move, retire)

[ION1010]

"One thing I inherited from my mother (who lived her first 45 years in Iowa) was her wicked cynical, sense of humor, but I've realized now thinking about it that her and I may not have shared that with the rest of our own family, let alone the majority of Iowa. I do feel my sense of humor is crucial to my survival of the day to day. "

I moved here 16 years ago with the same acerbic and necessary sense of humor. I think Iowans are, as a whole, a bit defensive and my way of joking seems to be a put-down to them. Or, as I told one person, the first thing you find out about Iowans is that they're always nice. That gets old after a while.

[jeffersonborn51]

Thanks nobody, I grew up in rural Iowa , one of those towns is my tentative destination. I've lived in Lexington Park Maryland, I've lived in San Diego suburbs, and I've lived in the Seattle suburbs for the past 25 years. I've lived four blocks from the space needle and I've lived up in the Cascades near a small reclusive tight knit tar-heal logging community for a decade. I question whether I'll be shocked or not, I have a fairly good sense of the culture differences in rural vs. small town vs. city.

I am not current with "Iowa trends" and only talk to a small handful. And so my sense of one particular old friend's idea of funny and my own are strikingly different. It led me down a path of thinking Iowa might be the home of lame memes and "corny" jokes. I'm sure to some degree that could be true and on the other hand I'm sure there are sarcastic irreverent clowns thinking we are all about wit, like myself, here and there.
The big shocks I expect: shoveling snow (again), and the discomfort of being invited to church gatherings.
The luxury of being retired is that my interaction in the community, and time spent with the snow/humid heat can be minimal if I choose.

[jeffersonborn51]

ION1010, that makes perfect sense, and offending is a concern of mine, my filters are faulty.

[Dewey59]

Originally Posted by jeffersonborn51

ION1010, that makes perfect sense, and offending is a concern of mine, my filters are faulty.

That is one thing I noticed in Iowa, you do have to have working filters. I can see now where you had some trouble. I suggest either getting your filters fixed, or finding another place to live... That could be an issue.

For me, I just found harmless topics to joke about - tried to stay away from the hot potato topics.

[jeffersonborn51]

Dewey59 the jokes that have failed recently have mostly been with one particular person, and not the sort of sarcastic thing that would generally get me in to trouble. And in fact, the most recent was a slightly racy innuendo sort of thing I would expect to be on her radar, judging by her face book memes and our past experiences. Sailed right over. I am sorry to say she seems to just not be very alert in general. The concern with my filters would be after I am back actually living there gettin' comfortable, let my guard down and make fun of their permanent governor or unwillingness to think out of the box. I do see that coming, hopefully they won't refuse to sell me groceries or turn my heat off for being a wise guy.

My plan is to keep my left-coast liberal leanings on the down low and avoid any and all political, religious, and musical discussions unless I have found a bond of trust with someone. I believe that should minimize the casualties.

[Dewey59]

Originally Posted by jeffersonborn51

My plan is to keep my left-coast liberal leanings on the down low and avoid any and all political, religious, and musical discussions unless I have found a bond of trust with someone. I believe that should minimize the casualties.

Great plan.... I wish more people would keep their religious and political opinions (whichever direction they may lean) to themselves!!! You are not going to convince anyone to switch sides anyway, so all you do is start an argument and potentially create an enemy. Not worth it.

Good luck on your move!

[Nobodybody]

Originally Posted by jeffersonborn51

Thanks nobody, I grew up in rural Iowa , one of those towns is my tentative destination. I've lived in Lexington Park Maryland, I've lived in San Diego suburbs, and I've lived in the Seattle suburbs for the past 25 years. I've lived four blocks from the space needle and I've lived up in the Cascades near a small reclusive tight knit tar-heal logging community for a decade. I question whether I'll be shocked or not, I have a fairly good sense of the culture differences in rural vs. small town vs. city.

I am not current with "Iowa trends" and only talk to a small handful. And so my sense of one particular old friend's idea of funny and my own are strikingly different. It led me down a path of thinking Iowa might be the home of lame memes and "corny" jokes. I'm sure to some degree that could be true and on the other hand I'm sure there are sarcastic irreverent clowns thinking we are all about wit, like myself, here and there.
The big shocks I expect: shoveling snow (again), and the discomfort of being invited to church gatherings.
The luxury of being retired is that my interaction in the community, and time spent with the snow/humid heat can be minimal if I choose.

Best of luck. I've been in a similar scenario, going to a very rural place from a very dense place. Sounds like you're retired, so can leave your options open, have the freedom to travel when you want to step away from the rural setting, etc.

[Vitae]

A lot of Iowans do have a weird sense of humor. It can be an odd culture. Somehow this unjustifiably smug douchebag is popular:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZZ6JD0g9Y

[Vitae]

Cedar Rapids in particular seems to have experienced some kind of culture freeze in the late 90s. When I go back there I still see underbody lighting on cars and Insane Clown Posse stickers. Last time I was there I took my family to a restaurant that had a kid's menu so I assumed it was family friendly but they had a song playing that was something about "stealing my *****'s car keys and crashing her f***ing car" and there was some obese guy wandering around with his shirt off. When I stopped for gas the guy at the pump next to me was talking on his phone about how he got beat up at a strip club the night before. Weird place.

[jeffersonborn51]

^ If Iowans find this "unjustifiably smug douchebag" funny, we'll get along just fine. The not getting this guys schtick, for example, is the sort of thing that concerns me.