Why would you & why would you not move to Pittsburgh? (Monroe: fit in, how much)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by user_id

I thought this was funny or hmm...odd. What does weather have to do with the size of a city!?

So it turns out there are lots of smaller cities and towns located in various places that have around as many cloudy days as Pittsburgh, and sometimes substantially more. The major "cloud belts" (if you will) are in places like upstate NY, southwestern Michigan, coastal Washington and Oregon, and Alaska. The thing is, there don't happen to be (or maybe it isn't a coincidence) a lot of bigger cities in these "cloud belts"--basically just Seattle and Portland, if you are looking for a city of Pittsburgh's size or larger.

Of course not a lot of people are cross-shopping Pittsburgh (203 cloudy days a year) and Cold Bay, Alaska (population around 88, 304 cloudy days a year). On the other hand, maybe some people would be interested to know that Buffalo (208), Rochester (200), and Syracuse (205) are all in the same cloudiness range as Pittsburgh.

But anyway, all this is why I included that caveat.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I just see the negative aspects of it such as people not able to speak English. I just don't feel it's that big of a deal, minus the food I love Italian, German, Irish, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese. I don't like how some think that you can't include Europeans in diversity at least that's how some I've seen on the city data forum feel.

Pittsburgh does not have a diverse group of Europeans either. It has, like the rest of the US, people with ancestors from many different European countries. I don't consider some 3rd+ generation "Italian" to be Italian. They are American. Most of the Italian food in Pittsburgh, is just American food.

Personally, I think the food in Pittsburgh is pretty bad. But everyone has their own tastes. I was not raised on the sorts of foods people in Pittsburgh tend to enjoy.

Anyhow, most diversity now comes from non-European countries. Europeans are not coming to the US by the boat load anymore.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by user_id

Pittsburgh does not have a diverse group of Europeans either. It has, like the rest of the US, people with ancestors from many different European countries. I don't consider some 3rd+ generation "Italian" to be Italian. They are American. Most of the Italian food in Pittsburgh, is just American food.

Personally, I think the food in Pittsburgh is pretty bad. But everyone has their own tastes. I was not raised on the sorts of foods people in Pittsburgh tend to enjoy.

Anyhow, most diversity now comes from non-European countries. Europeans are not coming to the US by the boat load anymore.

A lot of people here do keep their ethnic pride for generations though and I know many who continue to celebrate being Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Croatian, etc.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

A lot of people here do keep their ethnic pride for generations though and I know many who continue to celebrate being Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Croatian, etc.

We discussed this on General US a while back. The Europeans think Americans are nuts for calling themselves "German", "Italian", etc, when we are not, really. Most people don't realize how "Americanized" they've become until they take a visit to the "old country".

[Copanut]

I'm proud to be a Heinz 57.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by Katiana

We discussed this on General US a while back. The Europeans think Americans are nuts for calling themselves "German", "Italian", etc, when we are not, really. Most people don't realize how "Americanized" they've become until they take a visit to the "old country".

That is so true! I remember when my Italian American uncle and my Danish American aunt finally visited Europe. They loved it and reconnected with their extended families who they had never met. However, Italy and Denmark are nothing like Salt Lake City Utah where my aunt & uncle have spent most of their lives.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

A lot of people here do keep their ethnic pride for generations though and I know many who continue to celebrate being Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Croatian, etc.

Yes, I know. But having "ethnic pride" does not make you the ethnicity in question. But at the end of the day they are Americans.

Personally, I find it odd to celebrate being such and such when you can't speak the language and are generations removed from the "old country".

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by user_id

Yes, I know. But having "ethnic pride" does not make you the ethnicity in question. But at the end of the day they are Americans.

Personally, I find it odd to celebrate being such and such when you can't speak the language and are generations removed from the "old country".

Are we going to say the same thing to the children of the Hispanics and Asian immigrants in 40 50 years? Probably not since then it will be "racist" to say it to them.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Are we going to say the same thing to the children of the Hispanics and Asian immigrants in 40 50 years? Probably not since then it will be "racist" to say it to them.

I think the same thing regardless of race. Most of the non-white people that I know that have been here for multiple generations feel a bit out of place. They are fully American, yet other people do not always treat them that way.

Also, we are talking more like 80~100 years.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by user_id

I think the same thing regardless of race. Most of the non-white people that I know that have been here for multiple generations feel a bit out of place. They are fully American, yet other people do not always treat them that way.

Also, we are talking more like 80~100 years.

In some cases, way longer than that. Some of my mom's family was here before the Civil War (1861), and my dad's has been here since about that time. It's getting to be about 150 years. It's been at least 90 years since there has been large scale immigration from Europe.