Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
Yeah. I find that most people don't actually have a clue. I mean, I'll admit it too. I grew in Minnesota but didn't have a real clue. People also always say "lake" like it's some small lake in Maine. They don't have a clue of how massive that thing is. At 500 mph, it will still take a plane 15 minutes to fly over it between Michigan and Illinois.
Even regarding culture - a lot of people come for the first time and expect to see people who look like hicks all over the place with no swanky anything. It's just funny - I have a coworker in NYC who's never been there and the way she talks about Chicago is just hilariously wrong. I show her that she hasn't a clue and now she wants to visit.
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most people dont have a clue about anywhere outside of their immediate surroundings. ask an average American to find Poland on a map and I suspect they will fail, much less articulately be able to describe what life is like there or any level of its history/geography/culture. this isnt somehow unique to chicago, although people here do seem to take it more personally.
the fact is everyone forms sterotypes about places, and most will see a mere fraction of the planet in their lifetimes, even if theyre lucky. we have kids on the southside who have never seen the lake or a world outside of their neighborhood, much less a forest or a mountain.