Vermont’s early records put the first town meeting in a Bennington tavern in 1762, decades before Vermont was a state. That meeting never stopped. More than two centuries later, it still runs on rules that stop a first-time visitor cold, and none of them have been modernized out. These are the things that happen at…
A resold table at Funke in Beverly Hills once listed for $125 on a site built for flipping restaurant reservations. Funke never saw a dollar of it. California’s Assembly and Senate passed a bill banning the practice by unanimous vote in late August, which tells you how tired everyone is of it. These are the…
More than 152,000 people moved into Massachusetts from other states in a single year, per Boston.com’s read of Census data. Nobody hands any of them a manual. They sign a lease, register a car, and come to realize things work differently than the state they’re from. These are the things that confuse everyone who moves…
Utahns can move through a farmers market without asking a single question. First-time visitors tend to leave with several, especially after watching shoppers follow rules that don’t seem to exist anywhere else. These are the things Utah locals do at a farmers market that confuse first-time visitors. 1. Handing Over Wooden Tokens Locals who shop…
University of Georgia Extension calls 36 to 46 degrees the killing zone for a peach, the band that causes chilling injury within five to seven days. A home refrigerator sits right in the middle of that temperature range. Locals running Georgia’s farm stands know that. These are the things Georgia peach farm stands do that…
Texting eliminated the awkwardness of a phone call and replaced it with a different set of ways to annoy people. Most Arizonans are too polite to point them out, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t keeping score. These are the texting habits people judge each other for in private. 1. Firing Off a Triple Text…
Texas’s House Speaker ordered a state committee this year to study annexing several eastern New Mexico counties back into Texas. It wasn’t the first time somebody floated the idea. New Mexico has been fielding the same handful of remarks from across that line for generations, and the annexation one is only the loudest. These are…
Mardi Gras parade routes have rules, even when the celebration looks like anything goes. Louisianians learn them through years of catching throws, watching relatives, and discovering which mistakes earn a few sideways glances. These are the unwritten rules locals follow on a Mardi Gras parade route. 1. Yelling for It Louisianians don’t stand on a…
South Dakota sells a resident small game license for $36, which is good for the whole season. A nonresident pays $142 for the same thing. Move away, and the state wants 90 consecutive days of domicile before it sells you the cheap one again, which is one of the things people find out too late….
Oklahoma hands out 12 high school football championship trophies every December, and every one of them gets awarded at the same stadium in Edmond. The OSSAA locked that in through 2027. A local has the drive mapped before Week 1 kicks off, which is one of several tells that don’t need explaining in this state….
