Altogether, I really like the way americans say "can I help you?" as a polite general one-size-fits-all stand-in for "who the fuck are you/what the fuck are you doing here/how the fuck did you get in here/what the fuck are you staring at/what is your fucking problem." Such a polite way of going "bitch what the fuck."
I am really enjoying the driving polls because my dream vacation is to get into my tiny yaris by myself in los angeles and drive to Maine over the course of like three days then stay at a campsite for a week and drive back.
It is a very bad thing that living in the US basically requires a car to function, but also I just genuinely love driving and find it relaxing and am good at it.
There's scenery! There's stuff to explore! You find weird bugs at rest stops! You turn off the highway for a second to take photos! You see lots of fun people! Truck stops have neat stuff!
That's a huge part of why I do the whole "get myself lost on purpose and find my way home" thing. Huh! Fun restaurant! I never would have found that if I hadn't gotten lost in Long Beach. Huh! nifty roadside art! Glad I took a wrong turn and ended up in ridgecrest! Wow! This is a really pretty drive! I have no idea what road we're on but we're going south so we'll get home eventually, and until then check out the dirt devils chasing the power pylons! Look! Horses!
East coast counties are so small because they were made so nobody in the county had to ride a horse for more than a day to get to do government business.
Midwest counties are often square because of the homesteading act. Everything was cut into square pieces of land for a while to make it easier to distribute.
Western counties are just big. Nobody in there. Had to draw lines somewhere. Trains exist now they’ll figure it out
Note to vacationing non-Americans: while it’s true that America doesn’t always have the best food culture, the food in our restaurants is really not representative of what most of us eat at home. The portions at Cheesecake Factory or IHOP are meant to be indulgent, not just “what Americans are used to.”
If you eat at a regular American household, during a regular meal where they’re not going out of their way to impress guests, you probably will not be served twelve pounds of chocolate-covered cream cheese. Please bear this in mind before writing yet another “omg I can’t believe American food” post.
Sometimes I go through a phase thinking I’m gonna move out of the US but then I look at all the countries I might like to move to in detail and they also have major issues so at the end of the day it’s like yes the US may be a garbage dump but it’s a garbage dump that I understand
The thing about a Midwestern politician calling people "weird," isn't just that "weird" means "anti-social" in Midwestern-ese, it's that commenting on behavior at all is a condemnation. Midwesterners turn the most neutral statements into scorching disapproval.
In Appalachia, they will come up with the more colorful, creative metaphor or simile imaginable. In the South, they will use some phrase that has 3-5 different meanings that it's legitimately used in so they have plausible deniability to tell someone else they just read the situation and usage wrong.
But Midwesterners are mostly "keep your eyes on your own paper" people. We can be helpful and kind, but for the most part, we are just not gonna comment on what you are doing for good or ill. Most of us do not take compliments any better than insults. There's a lot of tall poppy syndrome around.
So if Midwesterners comment, that comment means, "I am Noticing what you are doing, and I had damned well better Stop Noticing it right quick."
It's why "weird" means "anti-social." It means, "This stands out, and it stands out so much I'm going to have to say something despite everything in me telling me to mind my own business."
It's why you hear us say things like, "Well, that's different," and "Isn't that something," and "He's doing his best, isn't he?" and, "They're just weird." It is all said with the most skepticism possible.
“To think of the Midwest as a whole as anything other than beautiful is to ignore the extraordinary power of the land. The lushness of the grass and trees in August, the roll of the hills (far less of the Midwest is flat than outsiders seem to imagine), the rich smell of soil, the evening sunlight over a field of wheat, or the crickets chirping at dusk on a residential street: All of it, it has always made me feel at peace. There is room to breathe, there is a realness of place. The seasons are extreme, but they pass and return, pass and return, and the world seems far steadier than it does from the vantage point of a coastal city. Certainly picturesque towns can be found in New England or California or the Pacific Northwest, but I can't shake the sense that they're too picturesque. On the East Coast, especially, these places seem to me aggressively quaint, unbecomingly smug, and even xenophobic, downright paranoid in their wariness of those who might somehow infringe upon the local charm. I suspect this wariness is tied to the high cost of real estate, the fear that there might not be enough space or money and what there is of both must be clung to and defended. The West Coast, I think, has a similar self-regard...and a beauty that I can't help seeing as show-offy. But the Midwest: It is quietly lovely, not preening with the need to have its attributes remarked on. It is the place I am calmest and most myself.”
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Finally, someone gets it.
for my fellow southern/midwestern USAmericans: ain't it
the japanese “-ne?” particle and the british slang term “innit” serve the same function
Knut ♤ He/Him ♤ 2005
Profile picture is mine and header is creative commons
'White Americans don't have any culture, they're just [normal/boring/generic/empty]. 'Culture' is when you're quaint and exotic and have interesting ethnic foods and holidays." is such a grating bit of nonsense to have somehow become progressive commonsense in a lot of places.