People who hate Pa and think EVERYONE is rude... (place to live, to move)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Duderino

I suppose I'm among those to be referred to as a "PA Booster," but I'm hardly old. I'm a young adult in college who left my home state, but I can't wait to get back, because I took for granted exactly the same thing you're criticizing -- the people. Not because Pennsylvanians can't be rude, not because Pennsylvanians won't cut you off in traffic, not because Pennsylvanians won't **** and moan 'til they're blue in the face, but because Pennsylvanians some of the most GENUINE people you will ever meet. What you see is what you get, and you don't find that in many places - and when you're friends with a Pennsylvanian, you've got a friend for life, and I firmly believe that (Don't you miss that motto on the old license plate? ). I've done my fair share of traveling and met people from all over the country and the world (especially attending a university from which students around the world matriculate), and it's funny - I can always tell when someone is from PA. They have this down-to-earth, open up to you in a second attitude that you can't mistake. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and I agree - PA'ns are a different breed, except I think it's a GOOD kind of different.

That's what people say on just about every state forum. My daughters both went to college out of state (out of Colorado) and couldn't wait to come home again. One even transferred to CU as an undergrad. It comes from being familiar with the ways of one's state, not because there is some superior race of people living there.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

That's what people say on just about every state forum. My daughters both went to college out of state (out of Colorado) and couldn't wait to come home again. One even transferred to CU as an undergrad. It comes from being familiar with the ways of one's state, not because there is some superior race of people living there.

I never really implied anything to the contrary. I've met plenty of really friendly, down-to-earth people from other states, and I completely understand that people from other states can probably say similar things about those around whom they grew up, but that doesn't mean there aren't subtle differences between natives of different states. It's all about perspective, and I'm simply adding mine.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Duderino

I never really implied anything to the contrary.

RE:

not because there is some superior race of people living there.

From pittnurse70

Here is what you said:

Pennsylvanians some of the most GENUINE people you will ever meet. What you see is what you get, and you don't find that in many places - and when you're friends with a Pennsylvanian, you've got a friend for life, and I firmly believe that (Don't you miss that motto on the old license plate? ). it's funny - I can always tell when someone is from PA. They have this down-to-earth, open up to you in a second attitude that you can't mistake.

If that isn't saying Pennsylvanians are superior, I don't know what is. BTW, I am from Pennsylvania. Most of my friends from there are long gone; haven't heard from them in yrs. In most cases, I was the last one to communicate, and they never communicated back. It's just like everywhere else.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

RE: From pittnurse70

Here is what you said:

If that isn't saying Pennsylvanians are superior, I don't know what is. BTW, I am from Pennsylvania. Most of my friends from there are long gone; haven't heard from them in yrs. In most cases, I was the last one to communicate, and they never communicated back. It's just like everywhere else.

Saying people are really genuine doesn't mean I'm implying they're "superior," nor does that mean people from other states can't be genuine. What I said is they're some of the most genuine people you will meet. Also, just because I can discern certain people are from PA based on their personality also doesn't mean they're somehow "better" -- I just simply mean there are many PA'ns that have a certain kind of distinct personality, as do people from other states I have met. I apologize if I seemed to imply otherwise.

Also, about people who have cut friendship ties: I might have been a little pretentious in saying "when you're friends with a PA'n you have a friend for life," but you also have to keep in mind that you moved across the country, which makes keeping in touch a lot harder.

[Katarina Witt]

Also, about people who have cut friendship ties: I might have been a little pretentious in saying "when you're friends with a PA'n you have a friend for life," but you also have to keep in mind that you moved across the country, which makes keeping in touch a lot harder.

I am aware of that, but in most cases, I made the last effort, and they are the ones still in PA.

I was trying to make a point that most people feel most comfortable in their home setting, even after decades away. My mom was a case in point. She was from Wisconsin, always referred to it as home, after decades in PA.

My kids missed Colorado when they went to college out of state, just like you miss Pennsylvania. It's human nature.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

My kids missed Colorado when they went to college out of state, just like you miss Pennsylvania. It's human nature.

I will definitely agree with you there. I think through all of the petty squabbling that goes on here on these boards between people from different places making generalizations about people from other cities or states, or forcusing too much on our differences (myself included), we often forget that. We are all human beings with the same wants and desires, the strongest of which is a sense of home.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Duderino

I will definitely agree with you there. I think through all of the petty squabbling that goes on here on these boards between people from different places making generalizations about people from other cities or states, or forcusing too much on our differences (myself included), we often forget that. We are all human beings with the same wants and desires, the strongest of which is a sense of home.

I agree entirely.

[M TYPE X]

Maybe it's "you've got a friend in WESTERN Pennsylvania." The east has too many New Jersey Mini-Me types.
I probably said that earlier in this thread, but I'm not in the mood to scroll through 14 pages.

My parents just rolled out of Erie and are driving through Fall foliage to State College. It's more colorful than my weekend here. As much as I like State College, though, it feels too remote. I like the freeways and cities of Illinois. The flat cornfields, not bad, but where are my hills and trees! pfft.

Back to research projects. The order of the world will be restored if UM beats MSU today and when I am finally able to go back up to Michigan for Thanksgiving.

[IHATEPA!!!]

I just want to clarify something here. I don't think there's anything wrong with putting in an honest days work with your hands. I myself had worked in factories and plants in the past, and I'm not trying to demean those who do that kind of work for a living.

My beef is that people in PA who work in industry related fields performing "grunt" labor tend to reinforce alot of bad stereotypes that I feel PA residents reinforce i.e. acting all tough, macho, starting trouble after getting a "shot and a beer" in them, constant dirty jokes, saying the "F" word almost literally in every other breath, among other things. A woman I know that is in Personnel at the local Wal-Mart had to tell the construction workers remodeling the bathrooms next door to "Please lay off the F words!!! People are trying to work in here, and not everybody wants to hear that besides!". Plus, the construction workers, with their hammers, busted a few holes in the walls of the bathroom that went through and cracked the walls of the Personnel office.

That's an example of what I was referring to earlier. I'm not saying EVERYONE who works in blue collar industrial labor is like that. It just ties in with what I said earlier about PA being a crappy place to live. It's like an "Island of Misfit Toys".

[Autobot032]

Originally Posted by IHATEPA!!!

I just want to clarify something here. I don't think there's anything wrong with putting in an honest days work with your hands. I myself had worked in factories and plants in the past, and I'm not trying to demean those who do that kind of work for a living.

My beef is that people in PA who work in industry related fields performing "grunt" labor tend to reinforce alot of bad stereotypes that I feel PA residents reinforce i.e. acting all tough, macho, starting trouble after getting a "shot and a beer" in them, constant dirty jokes, saying the "F" word almost literally in every other breath, among other things. A woman I know that is in Personnel at the local Wal-Mart had to tell the construction workers remodeling the bathrooms next door to "Please lay off the F words!!! People are trying to work in here, and not everybody wants to hear that besides!". Plus, the construction workers, with their hammers, busted a few holes in the walls of the bathroom that went through and cracked the walls of the Personnel office.

That's an example of what I was referring to earlier. I'm not saying EVERYONE who works in blue collar industrial labor is like that. It just ties in with what I said earlier about PA being a crappy place to live. It's like an "Island of Misfit Toys".

Exactly. I worked in a Car Wash, and the local police departments were given free washes (once per week, per cruiser) and just sitting there, talking to them or listening to them...the filth that came out of their mouths. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" comes to mind.

And you're right. Roughneck, beer swillers, foul mouthed jerks, etc. There are good people here and there, not everyone is bad, but it's so hard to find those that aren't.

Sure, these roughnecks will give you the shirt off their backs, but you have to take all the bad that comes with the good. There's a reason there's so many bars, pubs, clubs, etc...there's a market for drinking your braincells to death. You have to drink to survive here, apparently.

Crawford County (Meadville, specifically) had one of the highest rates of DUI in the WORLD. (IN THE WORLD, PEOPLE!) That's not just overzealous cops, that's excessive drunk driving and drunk drivers. A friend of my dad's is facing his fifth (FIFTH!) DUI and looking at about five years in jail. He's been drinking since he was twelve...and there's no sign he'll stop anytime soon. Factory work is necessary to keep the economy and the world going, and it's great that anyone can find work there if they want it, but must they all be foulmouthed, ignorant, violent drunks? No. They don't.

They also don't have to be Pennsylvanians, but that just happens to be the case.

Oh lucky us.