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Old 06-13-2011, 04:51 AM
 
19,198 posts, read 31,471,463 times
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Thank the simple-minded, profit-driven media. Controversy sells. They have to manufacture controversy and then sensationalize what they have created. RoVA is a media word. It has not come into such existence as it has through actual people finding it useful for anything at all. Instead of adding meaning, RoVA strips it away and stands for something that no one actually recognizes.

 
Old 06-13-2011, 05:16 AM
 
5,125 posts, read 10,089,183 times
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Some of the Wasington Post musings on NoVa vs. RoVa were kind of funny:

"In RoVa "sprawl" is what you do on the couch after Sunday dinner.

In RoVa, people pick blackberries. In NoVa, people click BlackBerrys.
In NoVa, they listen to NPR. In RoVa, they listen to the NRA.

NoVa has Crate & Barrel. RoVa has Cracker Barrel.

NoVa: Chain Bridge. RoVa: Chain saw."

In real life, RoVa is a term I don't use, but insofar as we live in a state where some politicians (at their peril) refer to places outside NoVa as "the real Virginia," I don't mind the effort to find a bit of humor in the situation. Too bad it couldn't be left at that.

Last edited by JD984; 06-13-2011 at 05:26 AM..
 
Old 06-13-2011, 06:50 AM
 
Location: Tampa, FL
1,388 posts, read 2,386,492 times
Reputation: 993
nova has the money. rova has the beauty (the armpit known as danville excluded).
 
Old 06-13-2011, 06:51 AM
 
Location: Northern Virginia
223 posts, read 1,173,049 times
Reputation: 99
Truth be told, this thread is the first place I've heard of the term "RoVa". Where did this term come from? I don't remember it from a couple of years ago when I last lived in the area. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention!
 
Old 06-13-2011, 06:59 AM
 
Location: Brambleton, VA
2,136 posts, read 5,310,561 times
Reputation: 1303
Quote:
Originally Posted by yankee.peddler View Post
Truth be told, this thread is the first place I've heard of the term "RoVa". Where did this term come from? I don't remember it from a couple of years ago when I last lived in the area. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention!
I think I first saw it in this WaPo article from 2006:

NoVA and RoVA: Welcome to a State of Disagreement

and the subsequent analysis:

The NoVA vs. RoVA Storm
 
Old 06-13-2011, 08:06 AM
 
1,403 posts, read 2,150,468 times
Reputation: 452
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77 View Post
they listen to NPR. In RoVa, they listen to the NRA.
This is a typical NoVA misunderstanding. First of all, as most of us know, NRA is headquartered in the heart of NoVA in Fairfax. Second, many "rabid" gun rights advocates, including those in so-called RoVA, consider the NRA to be sellouts, moderates, etc., a part of the big Washington-centric world of access politics. They like more grassroots-based organizations like Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL). (Of course, both GOA and VCDL are based in NoVA as well, Springfield and Newington, respectively.)

Also, I thought what was particularly asinine was this:
Quote:
In RoVa, they like freshly killed venison. In NoVa, they like Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
I am probably as big a fan of the "The Charge of the Light Brigade" as any man alive (I once considered a career in military history), but the vast majority of people in NoVA wouldn't know Tennyson from Kipling. This is just unwarranted haughtiness by those (the writers on WaPo?) who fancy themselves as intellectuals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by user8 View Post
nova has the money. rova has the beauty (the armpit known as danville excluded).
Yeah, because there is nothing beautiful in NoVA like Great Falls Park or nothing affluent in "RoVA" like Williamsburg.

Last edited by IndiaLimaDelta; 06-13-2011 at 09:03 AM..
 
Old 06-13-2011, 08:12 AM
 
1,403 posts, read 2,150,468 times
Reputation: 452
Quote:
Originally Posted by saganista View Post
Thank the simple-minded, profit-driven media. Controversy sells.
That's right. It's all manufactured and pushed down the throats of people who don't want it. It's not like a large segment of the population enjoys and demands controversy.
Quote:
They have to manufacture controversy and then sensationalize what they have created.
Quite unlike some urban planning "consultants," fad-pushers, Tony Robbins or people who whisper "synergy" at every board meeting or city council meeting to separate other people's good money from them.
Quote:
Instead of adding meaning, RoVA strips it away and stands for something that no one actually recognizes.
Again I agree. Words have specific, discrete meanings especially in scientific contexts, and vague, sensationalist terms like "RoVA" add nothing to our understanding of the world except as a self-congratulation to those who think not living in "the rest of..." makes them so tolerant, smart, creative and special.
 
Old 06-13-2011, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Tampa, FL
1,388 posts, read 2,386,492 times
Reputation: 993
Quote:
Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta View Post
Yeah, because there is nothing beautiful in NoVA like Great Falls Park or nothing affluent in "RoVA" like Williamsburg.
exceptions to the rule.



oh but of course you knew that before opening your mouth, right?

 
Old 06-13-2011, 08:24 AM
 
1,403 posts, read 2,150,468 times
Reputation: 452
Quote:
Originally Posted by user8 View Post
exceptions to the rule.

oh but of course you knew that before opening your mouth, right?

There seem to be rather more exceptions such as the beautiful rolling hills and horse country of Loudoun County and the rather expensive and surprisingly plentiful waterfront mansions in Hampton Roads. Or the high concentration of undereducated illegal immigrants in some areas of NoVA vs. the highly (some might say overly) intellectual populations immediately near universities like UVA and William and Mary in "RoVA" and so on.

Of course, while I understand that NoVA is more urbanized than rural areas of "RoVA," the latter also has quite a few (in fact blighted or otherwise very low-income) urban areas (e.g. southern part of Newport News, Norfolk, etc. that in no way fit the stereotype of naturally beautiful "RoVA."

The point I am making is that both NoVA and "RoVA" are such large, variegated areas that generalizations of this sort ("money... beauty") are apt to fail to capture the wonderful variety of scenes in the areas.
 
Old 06-13-2011, 08:26 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,080,646 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77 View Post
Some of the Wasington Post musings on NoVa vs. RoVa were kind of funny:

"In RoVa "sprawl" is what you do on the couch after Sunday dinner.

In RoVa, people pick blackberries. In NoVa, people click BlackBerrys.
In NoVa, they listen to NPR. In RoVa, they listen to the NRA.

NoVa has Crate & Barrel. RoVa has Cracker Barrel.

NoVa: Chain Bridge. RoVa: Chain saw."

In real life, RoVa is a term I don't use, but insofar as we live in a state where some politicians (at their peril) refer to places outside NoVa as "the real Virginia," I don't mind the effort to find a bit of humor in the situation. Too bad it couldn't be left at that.
LOL LOL LOL LOL Yet again I suspect the Washington Post is getting their article ideas from reading city-data. I'll bet one they saw this thread and it inspired the above.

ps. I think WaPo's list is funny. A bunch of stereotypes, to be sure, but this whole Nova v. Rova thing is so dumb we might as well chuckle at it.
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