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Influence of place on who you are.

It wasn't even Big Blue...it was the other place........That must be really hard

You can't imagine!!

However, I would never have apologized if it had been "that school up north." I would have just crawled out of sight and hoped that no one would remember me.

I will NEVER apologize for attacking "Big Blue." That's what keeps my metabolism in track - hating them and never apologizing for it!!
 
You can't imagine!!

However, I would never have apologized if it had been "that school up north." I would have just crawled out of sight and hoped that no one would remember me.

I will NEVER apologize for attacking "Big Blue." That's what keeps my metabolism in track - hating them and never apologizing for it!!

While dear Ol'State did look like food processor remnants during and after the OSU game, the team could feel good about beating Big Blue. Beating the cheddar heads was a shock...

Things could have been worse...

BTW - my wife is from the land of Hot Dish and Lafsa. She has these comments about the King's English as spoken in central and western PA;

1) Where did the adjective "slippy" come from? As in .... "the sidewalk is slippy"......

2) How does one "take and do" something? Can't we just do it?

3) If I dust and vacuum, do I still need to read-up the room?

4) When is the beer all gone? When the bottle is empty.
 
Agreed on "where we are from shapes us."

Hence the classic "American by birth: southern by the grace of God."

But I think that more than place, it is family that shapes us before we have enough knowledge or judgement to shape ourselves -- or to move elsewhere.
 
I love the cultural and linguistic diversity of Atlantic Canada. Moved here from Maine just over 40 years ago (born in Canada and kidnapped to Maine by my parents). When I moved back here I had to learn to put an 'r' in my words. Cah became Car and I also learned that I seriously mispronounced words of French origin. I just came back from Key West and dang! if I didn't conclude that I could live there for a while as well. I am thinking that there must be some enticing parallels between the two places. Polite, hospitable and ready for a party seem most obvious.:laugh Having my old /5 in Key West could fit right in me thinks.:thumb Now, how to afford it. - Bob
 
My son is a Dalhousie graduate and as a result I spent some time in Halifax. I'll second the notion that it is polite and hospitable place.
 
Agreed on "where we are from shapes us."

Hence the classic "American by birth: southern by the grace of God."

But I think that more than place, it is family that shapes us before we have enough knowledge or judgement to shape ourselves -- or to move elsewhere.
You nailed it-family! Far exceeds place if talking character,etc., as e.g. amongst important qualities.
There are also a huge bunch of people out there that did it w/o "proper" family influence. I used to tell certain kids in my school, "on the hush", that they were my hero for their small or large achievements.Pat on the back sure isn't family but everything helps? I told my wife many times that our kids were going to make it to a happy & successful life in spite of factors such as a bad teacher here & there or other negative influences. It was the "other kids" that needed our help.
 
In my life I can remember many more people complaining about where they were, or worked (at the time) than those speaking positively in the same instance.

It also seems that when most folks are away from "home" they usually speak well of it.
 
In my life I can remember many more people complaining about where they were, or worked (at the time) than those speaking positively in the same instance.

During my career, I've worked with a number of companies around the country. In general, a few folks can be happy anywhere and a great town/area can make a mediocre job bearable. However, for most of us, a mediocre job in a soul-less town/area is just depressing. A happy conversation with the neighbor that watches your house while you're on vacation is a lot more valuable than a few more coins in your pocket or a stunning view.
 
In my life I can remember many more people complaining about where they were, or worked (at the time) than those speaking positively in the same instance.

It also seems that when most folks are away from "home" they usually speak well of it.

Having worked where you punch the clock in several environments & being a decent listener too, I can truthfully say that in my supermarket, meat packing, tire plant, construction, car garage, military & school day work places it was only the school where the positive majority ruled & a certain few in military that "really wanted to be there". Looking back, more money would have made the supermarket's rank rise IMO & some things you cannot change about some of the others. They all had an influence on me in a very profound personal way beyond geography & family.
 
You can't imagine!!

However, I would never have apologized if it had been "that school up north." I would have just crawled out of sight and hoped that no one would remember me.

I will NEVER apologize for attacking "Big Blue." That's what keeps my metabolism in track - hating them and never apologizing for it!!


You will need a high metabolism to keep up that level of hate on an ongoing basis. :laugh
 
In my life I can remember many more people complaining about where they were, or worked (at the time) than those speaking positively in the same instance.

It also seems that when most folks are away from "home" they usually speak well of it.

I enjoyed St Louis while I lived there. I really, really enjoyed southern California while I lived there.. and have been trying to get back.

a mediocre job in a soul-less town/area is just depressing.

Now you're just describing me!
 
While dear Ol'State did look like food processor remnants during and after the OSU game, the team could feel good about beating Big Blue. Beating the cheddar heads was a shock...

Things could have been worse...

BTW - my wife is from the land of Hot Dish and Lafsa. She has these comments about the King's English as spoken in central and western PA;

1) Where did the adjective "slippy" come from? As in .... "the sidewalk is slippy"......

2) How does one "take and do" something? Can't we just do it?

3) If I dust and vacuum, do I still need to read-up the room?

4) When is the beer all gone? When the bottle is empty.

How 'bout:
Throw me down the stairs my shoes, and "dippy" eggs. Around here, when the beer is "all gone", it is simply "all"- as in
"the beer is all". Remember the state "motto" a while back, proudly proclaiming "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania"? Yeah- English and grammar? Definitely, here in PA, "they" make it their own.

First place I ever saw apostrophe's in ANY word ending in an "s".
I lived in many place's as an Army "brat"... Pennsylvania, by far, was the place where I had the absolute hardest time understanding what it was that people were saying, back when I first moved here. There are place's out along the mountain, between Shippensburg & Newville where "English" quite nearly become's a whole other language. Amish influence, maybe?

I love South Central PA for many reasons. Among them: excellent motorcycling!, inexpensive to live, mellow lifestyle, 2 hours travel time to either Washington, DC or Philadelphia, 1 & 1/2 hours to Baltimore, 3 hours to NYC. Of course, in the event of a Nuclear Attack, my house would likely be THE target of choice to wipe out most of the major cities in the Mid Atlantic Region...


But HEY! Isn't that what insurance is for? Oh wait- that's another thread! :brad
 
I've lived in the Boston area for 45 years (in some towns around here that would make me "the new guy" or "he's from away") and in that time I have noticed major changes in language. The well-known but badly imitated Boston accent still exists but is being diluted by the influx of out-of-towners (like me - I brought my Jersey accent). Then there are the local or regional words the exist in many parts of the country. Here we have terms like "frappe" (milk shake), "grinder" (sub sandwich, po'boy), "tonic" (soda), "rotary" (traffic circle), and "woods bike" (dirt bike, enduro) just to name a few. I'm sorry to see them going. Local terms and idioms add so much to the local color and culture.

Tell us a few of yours.

pete
 
I love South Central PA for many reasons. Among them: excellent motorcycling!, inexpensive to live, mellow lifestyle, 2 hours travel time to either Washington, DC or Philadelphia, 1 & 1/2 hours to Baltimore, 3 hours to NYC. Of course, in the event of a Nuclear Attack, my house would likely be THE target of choice to wipe out most of the major cities in the Mid Atlantic Region...


But HEY! Isn't that what insurance is for? Oh wait- that's another thread! :brad

I lived and worked in York for four years..... I wasn't impressed.
 
I've lived in the Boston area for 45 years (in some towns around here that would make me "the new guy" or "he's from away") and in that time I have noticed major changes in language. The well-known but badly imitated Boston accent still exists but is being diluted by the influx of out-of-towners (like me - I brought my Jersey accent). Then there are the local or regional words the exist in many parts of the country. Here we have terms like "frappe" (milk shake), "grinder" (sub sandwich, po'boy), "tonic" (soda), "rotary" (traffic circle), and "woods bike" (dirt bike, enduro) just to name a few. I'm sorry to see them going. Local terms and idioms add so much to the local color and culture.

Tell us a few of yours.

pete

I think the dilution of local dialects is largely the fault of TV and the mass media. Younger people want to sound like the people they hear on TV and in the movies. As a result, we get a generic American sound. I remember years ago when I would drive to Florida to work hurricane claims, I loved to listen to the local AM stations (before FM took over) and hear the local talking heads reflect the community I was passing through. I took the same routes a few years ago and the talking heads could have been from anywhere. I think the stations require or the applicants think that they must sound like the generic American to get a job.

When I was young here in the mountains, we said things a little differently (many of us still do). Tire sounded just like tar. Fire sounded just like far. Nobody had baby chicks, we had diddles. If you were smart and took advantage of it, you had gumption. A soft drink was pop. If you didn't know much, you didn't know fiddledy.
 
You got your degree, right? Try Solar Turbines / Caterpillar in San Diego. They make some neat stuff.
Join the Navy? One son lived on Coronado in LaLaLand when stationed there. i always liked certain parts of OK but it's sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not S CA!!! My meat packing employer flew me to Okmulgee,OK long ago & I didn't choose to take the bait there. Actually, I might like it better now.
MY three sons are engrs-do you need/have a headhunter to connect with? Theirs always served the purpose well & saved them much time.
 
I lived and worked in York for four years..... I wasn't impressed.

Agreed. York is coming around slowly, tho- there are a couple OK restaurants, a burgeoning art scene, and The Strand has an almost continuous run of shows. I work down there on occasion. I wouldn't go to York too often if I wasn't getting paid to be there. Tho I bought a lot of stuff off a couple guys who buy and sell great mid century furniture in York... we pop down to see what they have in their shop every now and then.
 
...some people choose to live where they do because of who they are. They find the place where they are the most comfortable.

A very insightful post, Bud.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized I wouldn't be able to live anywhere else except Alberta. My political philosophy doesn't flange up well with the prevailing ones in any other provinces.:D
 
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