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1. Michiganders call soda "pop". Every time anyone mentions "pop" I feel like I've been transported back to the 50s. About a month ago a girl in a Subway asked me if I wanted a pop with my sandwhich, and I almost asked Jim if she was allowed to say something so colloquial in a business before I realized that's what everyone calls it here.
2. When they talk about going to Disneyland, they actually say "Disney World". Everyone in Michigan goes to Florida ALL THE TIME, like there's some sort of direct portal between the states or something. I mean, Michiganders go to Florida like Nevadans go to California. And they NEVER GO ANYWHERE ELSE.
3. Also they think California is full of dirty hippies, but I've noticed this is common among non-California states.
4. You can't turn left. About half of the intersections here have what they call "Michigan lefts," which are the most retarded concept in the history of driving. You can either go straight through the intersection and then make a U-turn halfway down the next block at a little built-in U-turn spot (which usually has its own stoplight), then go back to the intersection and turn right, or you can turn right to begin with, go down the block halfway and make a U-turn, and go straight back through the intersection you just came from. Basically, any way you look at it, you have to stop 3 times instead of 1. I'm sorry, but this is DUMB. This does not save time, and it blatantly wastes resources.
5. There is an overt attitude here that over-educated and intelligent people are elitist. It feels like the majority of the population here actually DISCOURAGES their children from striving to be more intelligent. They still want them to go to college, but then they want them to get some sort of steady, reliable, solid job. It shouldn't be anything creative or unconventional. And heaven forbid you actually enjoy "nerdy" things like reading.
Edited to add: 6. They write their phone numbers really strangely. At first I thought it was just my boss, but then I started seeing it on all sorts of official websites. They write them like 123/456-7890. What's with the weird slash thingy? Where did that come from? The hyphen isn't good enough there? I've seen 123.456.7890 and that's at least internally consistent... the backslash method uses two DIFFERENT forms of punctuation in the same number! It's just weird. I refuse to use it.
All that said... the people here are really nice. That, at least, is a significant upgrade from New England.
And it's spring, and things are blooming, and the sun is out all day. So I'm happy.
2. When they talk about going to Disneyland, they actually say "Disney World". Everyone in Michigan goes to Florida ALL THE TIME, like there's some sort of direct portal between the states or something. I mean, Michiganders go to Florida like Nevadans go to California. And they NEVER GO ANYWHERE ELSE.
3. Also they think California is full of dirty hippies, but I've noticed this is common among non-California states.
4. You can't turn left. About half of the intersections here have what they call "Michigan lefts," which are the most retarded concept in the history of driving. You can either go straight through the intersection and then make a U-turn halfway down the next block at a little built-in U-turn spot (which usually has its own stoplight), then go back to the intersection and turn right, or you can turn right to begin with, go down the block halfway and make a U-turn, and go straight back through the intersection you just came from. Basically, any way you look at it, you have to stop 3 times instead of 1. I'm sorry, but this is DUMB. This does not save time, and it blatantly wastes resources.
5. There is an overt attitude here that over-educated and intelligent people are elitist. It feels like the majority of the population here actually DISCOURAGES their children from striving to be more intelligent. They still want them to go to college, but then they want them to get some sort of steady, reliable, solid job. It shouldn't be anything creative or unconventional. And heaven forbid you actually enjoy "nerdy" things like reading.
Edited to add: 6. They write their phone numbers really strangely. At first I thought it was just my boss, but then I started seeing it on all sorts of official websites. They write them like 123/456-7890. What's with the weird slash thingy? Where did that come from? The hyphen isn't good enough there? I've seen 123.456.7890 and that's at least internally consistent... the backslash method uses two DIFFERENT forms of punctuation in the same number! It's just weird. I refuse to use it.
All that said... the people here are really nice. That, at least, is a significant upgrade from New England.
And it's spring, and things are blooming, and the sun is out all day. So I'm happy.
