The Nation That Stereotypes Together, Stays Together.

November 7, 2012 1:29 PM

50 State Stereotypes (in 2 minutes)
posted by The Whelk (84 comments total)

Related FPP: A map of American state stereotypes, generated by Google autocomplete.
posted by ericb at 1:34 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

aww, rhode island: No, seriously! We're a state!

Also loved that he used his hands to indicate Michigan. We totally do that.
posted by royalsong at 1:35 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Confirming Minnesota's occasionally crappy governors.
posted by cthuljew at 1:42 PM on November 7, 2012

Have there actually been any serial killers in the UP or does it just seem like the kind of place they would hang out?
posted by theodolite at 1:44 PM on November 7, 2012

I split the first 28 years of my life equally between KY and TN, and he's pretty spot-on for both (though I've now lived in one house in the North of England for longer than I've ever lived in one place before).
posted by cilantro at 1:48 PM on November 7, 2012

Oregon: dreads on white people.
Washington: richer hippies than Oregon.

Ha. Yep.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:51 PM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

Every Fan of the NFL in 90 Seconds!
posted by cashman at 1:57 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Maryland entry is idiotic.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Hi, I'm in Delaware.
posted by wcfields at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2012 [6 favorites]

Also loved that he used his hands to indicate Michigan. We totally do that.

I have a certain roommate/Mefite who believes that every state can be demonstrated this way. After a few beers, he'll do state maps for you to indicate where you're from.

If you're coming to the DC Meetup on Saturday, ask him to do New York. It's quite a production.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Indiana: You have to drive through us to get somewhere better

Nailed it.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:59 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

BC: Everyone else in Canada thinks we keep 3' tall bongs in the office.
posted by thewalrus at 1:59 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

How tall are they really?
posted by The World Famous at 2:01 PM on November 7, 2012 [24 favorites]

The Maryland entry is idiotic.

Anything more accurate would make those Papist crab-flavored Wire-inspiring District-huggers weep.
posted by psoas at 2:01 PM on November 7, 2012

The Maryland entry is idiotic.

Eh, there are some pretty ridiculous concentrations of rich people on the bay. And seafood, obviously. I could definitely see that being a pretty popular stereotype.
posted by Nomiconic at 2:01 PM on November 7, 2012

First biggest ego? Fuck the haterz. We can't help it that we are the epicenter of the known universe.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:02 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

The known universe does in fact extend beyond Stamford.
posted by psoas at 2:03 PM on November 7, 2012

I'm far too busy to see what it says about New York. Can someone give me a quick summary?
posted by griphus at 2:05 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

It isn't important, that guy is from someplace out there where they have corn and cows and stuff like that.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:08 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I grew up in Maine.

I have never seen a moose.
posted by zizzle at 2:11 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also loved that he used his hands to indicate Michigan. We totally do that.

I have a certain roommate/Mefite who believes that every state can be demonstrated this way. After a few beers, he'll do state maps for you to indicate where you're from.

One of my most memorable conference moments was a group of drunken librarians all using their hands to indicate what state they were from, led by a librarian from Michigan. I lucked out, PA is fairly easy to do as well (hand out to the side, thumb crooked to signify Erie) but New York was screwed. :)
posted by librarianamy at 2:12 PM on November 7, 2012

NJ would be an angry little fist.
posted by The Whelk at 2:16 PM on November 7, 2012

I have never seen a moose.

Just so you know, they're rad.

Also, I gather, completely terrifying, but I've only ever seen one galloping all picturesque across a mountain meadow in the middle distance.
posted by brennen at 2:17 PM on November 7, 2012

NC seems right. Some of my earliest memories there were going to Kitty Hawk and thinking it was normal to see old folks with oxygen tanks hooked up to their tracheotomy hole on a semi-regular basis.
posted by thecjm at 2:18 PM on November 7, 2012

His joke about Kentucky schools having outdated textbooks: I live in KY, and when I was in elementary school, in the 1980s, my science book said, "Man has not yet landed on the moon, but one day..." 'course, it was a Catholic school, so maybe there was some agenda.
posted by Zerowensboring at 2:24 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Have there actually been any serial killers in the UP or does it just seem like the kind of place they would hang out?

haha I do not know. Certainly not known as a serial killer haven in the LP.
posted by royalsong at 2:25 PM on November 7, 2012

In all fairness, the Massachusetts stereotype is a bit off. Some years, the biggest export is obnoxious Sox fans (right, Baltimore?).
posted by maryr at 2:27 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Have there actually been any serial killers in the UP or does it just seem like the kind of place they would hang out?

I may have told this before but I once stopped at a gas station in the UP with hand-lettered signs advertising the price for both No Lead Gas and Super No Lead Gas.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:33 PM on November 7, 2012

> Indiana: You have to drive through us to get somewhere better

YES! Living in Louisville, this has been our unofficial take on their state slogan for years!

Other local versions:
"Indiana: It's in between Louisville and Chicago"
"Indiana: Windmills.... What else are you gonna do with Indiana?"

My ex said something that I laugh about to this day every time I make the drive north to Chicago--

"I-65 should just be a tunnel through all of Indiana... at least then you'd have the novelty of being in a tunnel."
posted by MysticMCJ at 2:35 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

BC: Everyone else in Canada thinks we keep 3' tall bongs in the office.

AB: Conservative rednecks, fake cowboys, oil industry
SK: Farmers, Riders fans
MB: Either cold and horrible or full of black flies and mosquitoes
ON: Centre of the universe
QC: Maple Syrup, Go home anglo, merci for the transfer payments
NL: Cod fishermen on the dole, or gone to work in Alberta
NS: Fiddle music
PE: Potatoes? Anne of Green Gables?
NB: Acadians?
YT: Klondike gold rush etc.
NT: Polar Bears everywhere
NU: Government workers + nomadic Inuit

[Note that I love Quebec and don't personally believe these things. Also I'm sorry I can't even come up with a coherent stereotype for the maritimes].
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 2:40 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Eh, there are some pretty ridiculous concentrations of rich people on the bay. And seafood, obviously. I could definitely see that being a pretty popular stereotype.

I hate having to justify my opinions but the dude said lobster. Maryland is closely associated with a different crustacean. Rich people around the bay is a pretty weak basis for a supposed stereotype. And even the rich eat crabs.

This:

Papist crab-flavored Wire-inspiring District-huggers

Is much more accurate.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:44 PM on November 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

I'm close with a couple where the wife is from Kentucky and the husband from Indiana. A couple of years ago, after driving from DC to Oklahoma and back in the span of five days, I ran into them almost immediately upon arriving home. My first words to them were, "she wins."
posted by Navelgazer at 2:51 PM on November 7, 2012

I forget who said it but always liked

"Kentucky is a six year old girl, very open and pretty and obsessed with horses."
posted by The Whelk at 2:52 PM on November 7, 2012 [13 favorites]

I don't think this guy has been around the country much... not that he needed to actually go to every state to film this, but the Oregon entry is pretty obviously filmed at Venice Beach, CA...

Palm Trees...
posted by twjordan at 3:00 PM on November 7, 2012

They were pretty obviously all shot in LA, I think.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:03 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oregon: dreads on white people.

I didn't find that particularly funny at first, but then I remembered that every time I visit my family on the east coast I marvel at how normal-dressed (with non-dreaded hair) people are over there. It's almost too true to be funny to me.
posted by hopeless romantique at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't think this guy has been around the country much... not that he needed to actually go to every state to film this, but the Oregon entry is pretty obviously filmed at Venice Beach, CA...

From the Amazon description for the book he's promoting:
Rather than deal with the problems he was facing as a recent college grad, Paul Jury decided to leave them in his rearview mirror. He might not have known the direction his life was headed, but he knew the route he was taking to hit all forty-eight contiguous states on one epic road trip.
posted by hopeless romantique at 3:06 PM on November 7, 2012

Also, I gather, completely terrifying

Yes! They tend to show up in the middle of the road in the middle of the night.

I am okay with the Vermont entry.
posted by jessamyn at 3:15 PM on November 7, 2012

Wait wait wait. You're telling me Bulgaroktonos and Copronymus are roommates? Is there some sort of porphyrogenitii cabal?
posted by benito.strauss at 3:16 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

How tall are they really?

In practice, not more than 0.5 meters. The one meter bongs are only found on the Gulf Islands.
posted by thewalrus at 3:17 PM on November 7, 2012

Canadian Stereotype Infographic
posted by sarastro at 3:18 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Vancouver stereotype map.
posted by thewalrus at 3:20 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

It's amazingly accurate. I know a lesbian hipster filipino... who lives near Kingsway...
posted by thewalrus at 3:21 PM on November 7, 2012

The United States.
posted by thewalrus at 3:25 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

> Also loved that he used his hands to indicate Michigan. We totally do that.

I have a certain roommate/Mefite who believes that every state can be demonstrated this way. After a few beers, he'll do state maps for you to indicate where you're from.

I have totally used my crooked arm to point out where on Cape Cod my parents live and show someone approximately where Provincetown was in relation to Boston.

Also:

"Connecticut - great schools. Because there's nothing else to do."

Well, the second one, anyway.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:49 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Connecticut - great schools. Because there's nothing else to do."

Yes there is! (SLYT)
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 3:56 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

50 State Capitols brought to you by Wakko.
posted by Quack at 4:08 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I didn't find that particularly funny at first, but then I remembered that every time I visit my family on the east coast I marvel at how normal-dressed (with non-dreaded hair) people are over there. It's almost too true to be funny to me.

I know! Every time I visit my family in the Midwest I am sort of shocked by the lack of tattoos and half-shaved heads and I have to remind myself that Oregon is the weird place.
posted by Lutoslawski at 4:09 PM on November 7, 2012

It's a continuum. I live in the Midwest and every time I see pictures of people on the East Coast, even college students, I ask myself "do they all have job interviews later today?!"
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:17 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Idaho. Napoleon Dynamite?

REALLY?

That was 2004. Give me back my famous potatoes.

*headdesk*
posted by BlueHorse at 4:17 PM on November 7, 2012

I wish, Harvey Kilobit.

Apparently we all dress for the job we want to have.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:27 PM on November 7, 2012

No the east coast dresses normally, all the rest of you are just horrifying slobs.
posted by The Whelk at 4:31 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

DC needs statehood ASAP so this guy can mock us.
posted by schmod at 4:35 PM on November 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

Zerowensboring, my school library in Texas had that science book too! "One day, man will walk on the moon…"

My high school library. In 2001.
posted by nicebookrack at 4:46 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

BC: Everyone else in Canada thinks we keep 3' tall bongs in the office.

When I was in grade 7 (1981) on Vancouver Island (BC) we did Alice in Wonderland as the school play. More than one teacher volunteered to bring the hookah for the caterpillar. No one batted an eye.

But hey, WA and CO beat us to full legalization so wtf?
posted by chapps at 4:48 PM on November 7, 2012

Vancouver stereotype map.
Vancovuer: the part of BC where naked people only hang out on one beach.
posted by chapps at 4:50 PM on November 7, 2012

cutecutecute

hahaha

cutecutecute

hahahaha


ERRRRRRRRRRRK!
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2012

The lobster boat? Lobster boat?

Plus, the rich people in Maryland don't have Jeeveseses—it's more than ponytail-and-LL Bean-vest-in-Whole-Foods sort of rich, for chrissakes.

What a peculiar stereotype that was.
posted by sonascope at 4:56 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Maryland entry is idiotic.

To be fair, it's a suburbs-of-DC stereotype, so it's got a limited radius. How about this instead:

To be famous, and also from Maryland, is almost always a complete accident. Except for Misty of Chincoteague. That was planned.
posted by datawrangler at 5:03 PM on November 7, 2012

Marylanders: taking credit for anything near them + water.
posted by datawrangler at 5:16 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Whelk, I am a horrifying slob wherever I am.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:20 PM on November 7, 2012

Flip the bird, extend thumb... Hey WV!

I'm from your ring finger knuckle, ish.

Also, all the WV jokes are true. We had inbreeding, corn whiskey, dirt bikes and hunting accidents on my street.
posted by poe at 5:37 PM on November 7, 2012

As a Nebraska native, I'll give him the football and (maybe) the overalls, but dispute the stereotype about drawls. We do not talk like Larry the Cable Guy.
posted by weathergal at 5:59 PM on November 7, 2012

PA: Delaware doesn't count, we're the First State.
posted by XhaustedProphet at 7:45 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

To be famous, and also from Maryland, is almost always a complete accident. Except for Misty of Chincoteague.

Chincotegue is in Virginia.

To be fair, it's a suburbs-of-DC stereotype

Not much to stereotype there; it's pretty generic. And I get the DC suburbs are a big part of the state but all of it's culture is elsewhere. Anyway, there's no redeeming a so-called stereotype of Maryland that's based on lobsters. Crabs cross class and racial boundaries here; and of any food is quintessentially Maryland. (Virginia too, I guess, but they don't do crab cakes right.) Finally, crabs are delicious and lobster is bland.
posted by spaltavian at 8:04 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

There was even a newspaper article calling out the Maryland sterotype. They didn't think it was too bad.

But you never really say "I'm from Maryland", you're from a specific region, like Baltimore or the Eastern Shore (where you are assumed to have a white beard, a sailboat and like Michael McDonald).
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:58 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

YES THE WOMEN TOO THEY HAVE WHITE BEARDS
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:14 PM on November 7, 2012

I watched this mostly so I could be annoyed by the probably stupid and overused West Virginia stereotype. But I wasn't... "The inbred lovechild of Virginia and D.C."? That's remarkably accurate for, at least, the Eastern Panhandle of WV, or maybe it just references the creation of the state. Either way, I think I actually like it.
posted by Silly Ashles at 9:22 PM on November 7, 2012

"Crabs and crack" covers about everything I know regarding Maryland.
posted by maryr at 10:21 PM on November 7, 2012

Yes, MD is all about the crabs, lobsters are from Maine. A college classmate of mine, from VA, observed that all of us Marylanders always identified ourselves by county or region. PG County represent!
posted by amapolaroja at 10:54 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

maryr: "Crabs and crack" covers about everything I know regarding Maryland.

You're half right; Baltimore prefers the H-train.
posted by spaltavian at 5:24 AM on November 8, 2012

NM - like Mexico with UFO's

Ignorant
posted by incandissonance at 6:30 AM on November 8, 2012

The best thing about New Mexico is that it is a beautiful place with a lot of great people, some really cool cities, and all the natural beauty that people associate with the American desert Southwest, plus better weather than the other states in the Southwest. The second best thing about New Mexico is that all of those things remain largely a secret to the rest of the country, no matter how hard the state's citizens and its tourism board try to reveal the secret to everyone. It's like the Northern Michigan of the Southwest.
posted by The World Famous at 10:20 AM on November 8, 2012

Some of us are allergic to turquoise jewelry.
posted by The Whelk at 10:22 AM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

New Mexico has White Sands.

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
posted by maryr at 10:34 AM on November 8, 2012

New Mexico has White Sands.

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

that because it isn't sand. Its gypsum. Totally different mineral.

The best part of New Mexico is the tourists all go to Santa Fe and leave the rest of the state alone.
posted by bartonlong at 10:38 AM on November 8, 2012

"Pennsylvania: Even our Amish will fight you."

It's not a stereotype so much as it's just an accurate statement.
posted by snottydick at 11:47 AM on November 8, 2012

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

The main reason Darth Vader is such an asshole is that he's got sand in his suit.
posted by The World Famous at 12:04 PM on November 8, 2012

I have never seen a moose.

Unfortunately, the last one I saw ran into my car... or vice versa... late one night on U.S. 1. (Fortunately, it was just a glancing blow — only about $300 damage, and I survived.) As the map posted by thewalrus shows, though, lobsters are a much better stereotype for Maine. Unlike most moose (except, sadly, for the one I hit), lobsters are found along the coast, where most of the people are.

I enjoyed much of that video (especially IN), but confusing crabs (MD) and lobsters (ME) is really lame.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:24 PM on November 8, 2012

Funny! My favorite one was Washington: "richer hippies than Oregon!"... having lived in both. Yay for humor.
posted by Debbianne at 12:38 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

As a Nebraska native, I'll give him the football and (maybe) the overalls, but dispute the stereotype about drawls. We do not talk like Larry the Cable Guy.

This is very true, but I suspect that (thanks in part to Larry and his wretched, wretched ilk) there is in fact a widespread stereotype that Nebraska is somehow an outcropping of the South. This is reinforced by the vast majority of Americans being fundamentally incapable of giving a shit about where any of the squarish states in the big vague middle actually are.
posted by brennen at 6:56 PM on November 8, 2012

zizzle: I grew up in Maine.

I have never seen a moose.

You may have. Northeastern moose have a fondness for adorning themselves with brightly-colored items during mating season; they've even been known to rip red flannel shirts off of clotheslines and strut about with them dangling off their backsides.

Also, they can be spotted by their habits at watering holes: they prefer Molsons.

No, wait. I was thinking of moose hunters. Sorry. My bad.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:02 AM on November 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Whelk: No the east coast dresses normally, all the rest of you are just horrifying slobs.

True dat. I was, until I moved out of Missouri. And my concept of "casual daily wear" upgraded again after I moved to CT.

Lately, when I go back to MO, I am astonished at ... the Walmartness of them all.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:05 AM on November 9, 2012

No the east coast dresses normally, all the rest of you are just horrifying slobs.

Aw, it all makes sense now: the East Coast is that horrible boyfriend whose ass I dumped after he told me (among other things) that I needed a "more expensive haircut."

Not "better" or "more flattering," mind you.
posted by psoas at 12:15 PM on November 9, 2012 [2 favorites]