I had a recent to-and-fro with Scott in Raye's comments, regarding my misunderstanding of what sort of housing units are in the Bronx. I'd somehow thought that all of NYC consisted of high-rise apartment buildings; Scott said "not so!" It got me to wondering, just how many misconceptions do people have about where I live? For starters:
And so on. What misconceptions do all of us who don't live there have about your home?
Hey, what about that grass shack in the watercress field next to Pearlridge? I love that thing.
Another thing that's surprised friends who've come to visit us here for the first time: they think everybody's going to be really and truly Hawaiian-Hawaiian, not Hawaiian-and-ten-other-things, and aren't expecting all the Asian-influenced food, style and so on.
What, you mean I won't see grass-skirted women everywhere? I'm shocked, I tell you -- shocked!
Kim mentioned we need to take some photos of our neighborhood, so we can really show you what Da Bronx looks like. :)
Posted by: Scott at December 4, 2003 03:33 AMpeople have the idea that NJ is loaded with traffic and people and smog..
and they are right...I hate it here...
I wanna move to a mountain top in Hawaii....
well, but of course we ALL live in igloos in Alaska . . . and there are penguins here, too.
NOT ;-))
>..
Posted by: barbara at December 4, 2003 09:45 PMFolks think we all wear cowboy hats and boots all the time, that we all name our children "J.R." or "J.D" or "J-something." They think everyone has a cow in the backyard.
Y'all think we all walk around saying "y'all" all the time and that Dallas women all wear too much makeup and we all drive these monstrous gas-sucking trucks and SUVs.... wait... never mind. Oops.
Posted by: Skatemom at December 5, 2003 05:33 AMNot everyone here in Amish Country (Lancaster County, PA) is actually Amish, for starters... ;) Hordes of non-Amish live here with electricity, broadband, cars, blah blah blah. That some people don't know that before they come here amazes me almost as much as the breadth of tourist ignorance about the Amish in the first place.
There's an apocryphal joke about the New York tourists who tried to stop a farmer in the middle of plowing his fields so they could take his picture. He refused, and they were offended beyond measure. They promptly filed a complaint with the local tourism board... they thought that the Amish were actually hired actors, a la Williamsburg. ;)
Posted by: Fox at December 5, 2003 06:09 AMFox -- heheh!
Steve, we're going to prepare a special post, just for you, about Da Bronx. :)
Posted by: Scott at December 6, 2003 05:37 AMScott, I look forward to it!
Fox, that's absolutely priceless, and it's very similar to what we see out here ("Ooh, traffic! We thought...").
Posted by: Linkmeister at December 6, 2003 07:32 AMContrary to popular belief, there are in fact lots and lots of Mormons in Utah.
Posted by: Scott at December 6, 2003 02:43 PMNo matter what your image of Washington, you're about half-wrong.
Think it's rain and water and evergreens and squishy liberals? Hie thee to Moses Lake or Walla Walla or Spokane. Think it's high desert, wheat fields, the Grand Coulee and conservative farmers? Check out Seattle or Bellingham or Olympia.
Posted by: N in Seattle at December 6, 2003 06:58 PMHeh! There's no snow in Hawai'i--oh, yes, there is!
Posted by: ali at December 7, 2003 04:25 PMOakland is dangerous, and you are at constant risk of being murdered.
Which is totally untrue. There is no risk of being murdered if we like you.
That's good to know, Jill, since I might want to go home again sometime. ;)
Posted by: Linkmeister at December 9, 2003 08:23 PM