A sedan with Michigan plates drifts toward the toll gantry on Florida’s Turnpike outside Wildwood, then hits the brakes to a near-stop. There’s nothing to stop for. The cameras read the plate at 70, and the line of cars behind them backs up for no reason at all. These are the things Floridians wish snowbirds…
A family moving to Pennsylvania pulls off Interstate 80, hunting for the flat farm country they pictured. The road climbs into one forested ridge after another instead. That gap, between the Pennsylvania people imagine and the Pennsylvania they move into, turns up everywhere. These are the things out-of-staters get wrong about living in Pennsylvania. The…
A snake in the pine straw rears up, flares its neck flat, and hisses at the guy who just moved down to Georgia from Chicago. Then it flips onto its back, goes limp, and plays dead in the flower bed. These are the creatures that make Georgia newcomers jump, plus the two that have every…
Every North Carolinian has a food they can’t find once they leave the state. These are the dishes and drinks that taste like childhood in the Tar Heel State and baffle everyone from anywhere else. 1. Livermush Nothing says a North Carolina breakfast like a slab of fried livermush. It’s exactly what it sounds like….
A Texan in July has a long list of hard nos. Every one of them traces back to a burned hand, a ruined errand, or a lesson the sun only had to teach once. These are the things Texans flat-out refuse to do in the July heat, no matter what. 1. Grab a Steel Seatbelt…
You think the line between your yard and your neighbor’s is settled. It might not be. In Georgia, a tree, a shrub, or seven years of looking away can move a boundary the deed swore was yours. These are the property-line rules Georgians learn about only after the argument has already started. Note: This is…
Anyone can visit California for a week. But moving here rewires you. The clues show up in tiny ways, from how you say a freeway number to what temperature makes you reach for a jacket. These are the signs you’ve been a Californian for many, many years. 1. You Shrug off Earthquakes A longtime Californian…
Think you know how Upstate New York talks? Prove it. From the Thruway to the North Country, Upstaters toss around words that stop a visitor cold on the first try. These are the Upstate New York sayings that baffle other Americans. 1. Garbage Plate Order a garbage plate in Rochester, and you get a glorious…
Think you can’t be fooled about ice cream? We beg to differ. In honor of National Ice Cream Day tomorrow, here’s a fun two truths and a lie game for you. Each round below hands you three statements, two of them true and one of them a lie. You tap the fake. How well do…
North Carolinians have never once voted for a president. Not one of them. The name you fill in on the ballot at that church fellowship hall in Cary is a stand-in for sixteen people you’ve never met, and those sixteen are the ones who cast the vote. Here’s the Electoral College explained for North Carolinians…
