A first-time visitor to Michigan pulls into a gas station outside Traverse City and asks for directions to the nearest party store. They picture balloons and paper plates. Not that kind of party. These are the Michigan sayings that leave out-of-towners completely lost. 1. Pasty Michigan’s Upper Peninsula turns out hand-held meat pies called pasties,…
Delaware fits a beach, a battlefield, and its state capital inside a two-hour drive. Move to Delaware from almost anywhere bigger, and that scale takes some adjusting to. So does the rest of what comes with living in the country’s second-smallest state. Here’s what surprises the newcomers who make the move, for better and for…
Think you could pass for a longtime Virginian before your coffee kicks in? We’re willing to bet you can’t. More than 170,000 people have moved into Virginia since 2020, and their headlights are easy for native Virginians to pick out of the pack by 7 a.m. These are the morning habits that instantly give away…
Sanford Stadium holds just over 93,000 fans on a Saturday, close to the entire population of Athens-Clarke County. Georgians navigate the crowds by a rulebook outsiders have never had to learn. These are the tailgate mistakes that instantly mark someone as out-of-state. 1. Setting up Before 7 A.M. Georgia tailgaters know exactly when the party…
A rancher out past Marathon watches the sky turn strange shades of gray and calls it a blue norther before the front even arrives. A visitor just calls it a cold front. These are the words, foods, and customs that instantly give away a lifelong Texan. 1. Icehouse Icehouse means a bar to a lifelong…
Live in South Carolina long enough, and certain behaviors start running in the background. A glance at the hurricane cone, a quick check of the yard, and one look at the barbecue sauce bottle happen without a second thought. These are habits South Carolinians develop without ever realizing it. 1. Naming Their Corner of the…
More than 100,000 people crowd Lexington every October for one plate of barbecue. Many out-of-staters will order it wrong before they even sit down. These are the North Carolina barbecue rules outsiders break at every cookout. 1. Choosing a Sauce Side North Carolina barbecue splits into two camps, and picking one out loud, whether at…
To Americans who didn’t grow up in Iowa, Casey’s is just another gas station. To Iowans, it’s the unofficial pizza standard. These are the small signs that give an Iowa transplant away, no matter where they land in the United States. 1. Bragging About Corn An Iowa transplant brings up corn within the first five…
New York City almost lost its doormen this spring. Thirty-four thousand of them threatened to walk off the job before a new contract saved them in April, days before a strike would have hit thousands of buildings. Doormen say the job starts the second someone walks through the lobby door, long before anyone says a…
A black-and-white rerun flickers on during a family dinner in Erie, and somebody’s dad repeats the punchline out loud a half-second before the actor on screen gets there. He meant it, back in the day. The kids at the table just look at each other. These are the 1960s phrases that turn a family dinner…
