Quote:
Originally Posted by montsnmags
I've heard that before, yes (most often from Texans, FWIW). When I visited the US in 2000, what struck me was the variation in geography (Australia has vast swathes of similarity), but also that, whereas Australia is made up of states, with regional differences such that few could distinguish whether someone is from South Australia or Queensland (including Australians...Strine doesn't vary all that much from state to state), the US was what it said on the label: a whole lot of separate states that had united. This may seem blindingly obvious to you, but to me it was...enlightening. It changed my viewpoint of the US (I'm not talking qualitative at all...just the way I saw it). It was quite fascinating, seeing the states almost as sub-nations, with their own separate ways and powers. It shot down forever any simplistic notion of seriously starting a sentence with "Americans are..." (again, not qualitative...just those times where generalizations, useful or likely otherwise, might occur). One might as well say "Europeans/Africans/et cetera are...". There might be some generalization (useful or likely otherwise) that may cross your individual state borders, but the differences that got in the way of that...wonderful!
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That *is* very much what the US is like. It can be even worse. Are you from one of the states with a panhandle? Are you from an island or peninsula or from one side of a river when the biggest city is on the other side?
I live on Long Island. We have two Boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn and Queens) as part of our geographical island landmass. However, they are *not* part of "Long Island" in geographical parlance. "Long Islanders" are from either Nassau or Suffolk county (basically, about 2/3 of the island). "The City" can either refer to Manhattan, or the entirely of the Five Burroughs according to a Long Islander, depending on spoken context. "The City" *only* refers to Manhattan to anyone from any of the Boroughs.
Then, there's the inter-state rivalries. New Yorkers sneer at people from New Jersey. New Jersey people sneer at people from New York. For some, not quite explained reason, "everyone" seems to sneer at Ohio.
Next up, there's the regional divisions. "North vs. South". "Deep South vs. Southwest." "East Coast vs West." "Red states vs Blue states".
It's all rather amazing we haven't melted down yet, because you can't drive 100 miles without finding a location that absolutely loathes the people 100 miles away from *them*. But, at even the merely implication of an insult towards the nation at large, we suddenly close ranks into a single, impenetrable mass.