THIS IS MY FAVORITE DUMB AMERICAN THING??? it captures the entire experience of being an American. it seems super dumb and self-centered to anyone who isn’t from here but it is completely comprehensible to any other American and also NECESSARY because most states are size of European nations and we have the same weird hateful feelings towards one another??? so I need to explain to you why you shouldn’t hate me like, bitch, you better not think I live in Texas bc fuck those guys MY STATE DIDN’T VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH

yesterday, @freekicks accidentally referred to California as a country and I launched into a spiel about how we’re big enough and have the fifth largest economy in the world (SUCK OUR DICK) and she told me to go fuck myself and that’s how you know I’m a Californian (and she is a New Yorker)

but ALSO we are intensely competitive about how authentically whatever we are so you can’t just say you’re from New York when you really grew up in MINNESOTA and just moved to New York as an adult so I need to tell you that my FAMily is from SoCal and I spent a bunch of my childhood there bc I can’t say I’m Californian just bc I’ve lived here for four years DOESN’T COUNT

but I am Californian bc I’m a snotty asshole and also I say “the 5” when I’m talking about freeways and I eat too many avocados and I know how to pronounce Vallejo and La Jolla

Other Americans may find the distinctions important, but it still absolutely comes across as dumb and self-centred to the rest of us xD

I mean, it’s been over six years since it happened, but I still distinctly remember the first time I heard an American answer that question with “the USA”. It was his first time hanging out with my friendship group, and there were maybe a dozen of us there from as many different countries – and every single one of us was like wait, what??!?

Literally before any more introductions could happen, the entire conversation devolved into the rest of us bitching about how Americans always expect the rest of the world to know and care about the differences between their states and cities. (As if other countries don’t have deeply entrenched local identities and rivalries. And the size argument falls a bit flat when you’ve got people from China, Australia and Brazil in the room.)

In this case it turned out our new American friend had spent quite a few years living in Europe, where he’d picked up on the fact that this is something that the rest of the world finds slightly exasperating.

On the flip side, as an American who intensely identifies as being from her home state, Delaware, and who intensely feels a deep loathing for New Jersey, and when asked where I am from will say Delaware but more importantly, southern Delaware since there is a deep cultural divide in my home state… it’s always weird to me people don’t say like province/area/city and just say the country. 

A lot of Americans honestly think of themselves as their state/home city before we think of ourselves as Americans.

It gets easier if you view the US as kinda like the EU - a bunch of separate city states waffling towards a common goal and global front.    The US isn’t like most countries in that all the little sub-areas (states, territories, regions, whatevs) are minorly important, each state in the US is like its own little country, so they absolutely do get as nationalistic about them as everyone else does.

That’s exactly it. The government structure is similar to that also. And admittedly my thing is when I would tell people I’m from America, they assumed LA or NYC. And that’s definitely not true.

Culturally, many states and many cities are so distinctly different from one another that it’s literally not fucking useful to just say you are from the USA, that statement means absolutely nothing because you might as well say you are from Africa ok? There’s too much going on. You learn absolutely nothing about someone if they just say they’re from the USA.

to prove the point even further, Batman’s last paragraph (above) specifically refers to SOUTHERN California even, not even Northern California. “The 5” is the linguistic distinction. Lol

yessssss, you passed the secret test, although I did include Vallejo as my token NorCal shoutout.

also, Superman, who is from the Bay Area (BECAUSE OF COURSE HE IS), makes fun of me for saying “the 5″ and it’s super disrespectful. what an asshole.

My problem is being from NorCal but having SoCal parents and exended family so I still say THE 5 but all other freeways are 101, 39, etc.

@willtherealmadridpleasestandup: It’s really annoying when Americans expect everyone else in the world to know and care about the minutiae of their local regional differences

Americans: THIS POST LOOKS LIKE A GREAT PLACE TO TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANT MINUTIAE OF OUR LOCAL REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

It’s also worth noting that different cities and states are going to have had vastly different immigrant populations from different countries, which influence the local culture even if a given individual is not actually descended from people of that ethnicity.

huh

See and I’m currently living in Texas, but I’m not FROM Texas and to me that is an important distinction, as Texans have a certain reputation. If I’m asked where I’m from I generally say Washington State (if you say just Washington most people assume you mean D.C.).

Or if I’m pressed I’ll say something about spending my childhood in Minnesota and I graduated high school in Washington.

Also you can tell if someone is from Western Washington if they pronounce Puyallup or Sequim correctly.

I like how people outside of the US think this is annoying, but all that shows is that they ALSO know fuck all about us. You think it sounds pretentious, but if you actually understood cultural norms of the United States (you know, that thing you bitch about us not knowing about you), you would understand why this is so important. 

If I say The USA, that could either mean I’m from some backwater red state that voted for Fucktrumpet, is trying to do away with Roe Vs. Wade (the right to an abortion for all of those who don’t care enough to learn - only enough to bitch), and could possibly currently be under investigation for voter discrimination.

OR I could be from a liberal blue state that fights for wellfare and medicare, voted for Hillary (and Obama), and believes in government reform that helps all people. Not just some white asshole who thinks privilege is normal and everyone else is just lazy.

But you don’t know that. It would be like saying ‘I’m from the EU’ where you could be from either Germany or France, both of whom have current kick-ass leaders, or you could be from the UK (for now at least) who has an obnoxious twat currently holding the highest seat.

So next time you want to piss on us for caring about where we’re from over here, because we know how much that represents us, maybe do your OWN goddamn research and learn about why that is before you shit on something you clearly do not understand.

oh my god I can’t believe the USA invented political diversity

I joked with friends earlier today that I was going to start having a drink every time a new American completely missed the point of this post. Thankfully said friends advised against the idea because if I’d followed through with it I’m pretty sure I’d already be dead from alcohol poisoning.

Please. Stop. Amerisplaining the USA’s cultural diversity to us. We GET IT. We UNDERSTAND the importance of local identity, of intranational diversity, of local allegiances and cultures and political views. We get it because literally every country in the world has deeply complex and important and diverse local divisions and identities. 

This. Is. Not. A. Uniquely. American. Experience.

Which is the whole point of the OP. Do you really not think that other countries have regions divided along political lines? Do you really think Germany and France are homogeneous entities whose entire populations are represented by their “kick-ass leaders”? Do you really think that the entire population of the UK can be represented by Theresa May?

The egocentrism that frustrates us here is that Americans assume their social, political and cultural diversity is unique, while assuming that other countries can be summed up in a single cultural or political shortcut or stereotype.

For the love of god, please leave your exceptionality complex at the door. We KNOW how much you obsess about your state and city identities because god knows we’ve been drowning in the media of your cultural imperialism our entire goddamn lives. What exacerbates us is that you fail to recognise that our complexity and diversity and local identities are ALSO A THING.

Context should also be important, here. If I’m in a different city in my home province and someone asks where I’m from, I name the city. Because that information has meaning to the person I’m talking to. If I’m in a different province in my home country and someone asks where I’m from, I name the province. Because that information has meaning to the person I’m talking to. If I’m in a different country and someone asks where I’m from, I name the country. Because that information has meaning to the person I’m talking to. If you’re from Texas and in Delaware- sure, mention it. If you’re from Texas and in France, you’re from the US.

I don’t totally understand why this is an expected/demanded thing. Like if you name the specific province of Canada, and I don’t know where that is, I will look it up and learn more about you/the person. When people come to the US from somewhere else I *am* going to be interested if you’re from Normandy and not Nice. I may not know what it means culturally, but I think it’s interesting.

(Point: most Texans still talk about when Texas was its own country. California is some of the same.)

I don’t understand why this is annoying? And I don’t think people expect you to know every single US city they’re just answering a question the way they feel makes the most sense? Like as a Puerto Rican I’m pretty sensitive about American exceptionalism bullshit but someone just saying what city they’re from is not American exceptionalism lmao. Like yea if someone asks me where I’m from I usually say originally from Puerto Rico but right now I live in Upstate NY because that’s more specific. If I say I live in the US it usually leads to the next question of what part and if I say New York they’ll ask if I mean NYC so I go straight to the point to avoid follow up questions. And actually Americans usually ask these questions even if you’re not American, I’ve been asked several times what part of Puerto Rico I’m from from people who don’t know shit about PR but they still want to know and they usually go on to ask questions about what it’s like etc. Are European people just terrible conversationalists? Is this from the same people who get mad if someone says GB or UK in the wrong contexts?

Why do European people want to act like you’re not just as insufferable as obnoxious US-Americans?

^^^^^^^

If this is the worst thing an American does to you all, count yourselves blessed.

I don’t know why you feel so upset about having to hear that someone’s from Ohio, but seriously, could you accept this as a cultural difference and move on? 

When I went to England, people who knew I was from the US asked me what part I was from.  I said, “Manhattan, Kansas,” because, at the time, that’s where I was attending university.  I never met anyone who knew where that was.  The closest I got was, “Oh!  Kansas City!  I’ve heard of that.”  Or, “Is that west of New York City?”  It does no good to try to explain that the state of Kansas - just one of 50+ portions of our country, is the size of the Country of England, and it isn’t just all bare land.  It’s like thinking you could go on a day trip to New York City from Miami, or to San Francisco from Miami, because you could do a day trip to anywhere in England.  People from Europe have no idea how large this country is unless they’ve been here and explored a bit.

If you were asked where you’re from, would it be sufficient to say that you’re from the European Union?  Wouldn’t you want to specify which country?  That’s all we’re doing.  EACH state is the size of a small country.  Some are the size of two countries.  My “country” of Kansas has several medium-sized cities in it, Many small towns, and one or two good-sized cities.  Yes, there’s a lot of farmland, too.  Even that - it’s not the small nicely bordered patchwork fields north of London, it’s vast lands that have mini forests and wild borders and huge sections that lie fallow.  That’s EVERY state.  And, the cultural differences within a single state can be breathtaking, but go across country and you might as well be on another continent, somewhere else in the world.  Often, we don’t even have a language in common - even if they claim to be speaking English.

So, yes, count me as another Amerisplainer, but think about this.  If you said you were from Spain and I said, “Oh, I’ve heard of Madrid!” would you feel satisfied?  Wouldn’t you want to at least tell me which direction from Madrid your home actually is (unless it really is Madrid, of course)?