A bull named Old Buck still crashes a village dance on Hatteras Island every January 6th. Rodanthe wouldn’t have it any other way. These are some of the things small towns in North Carolina do that the rest of the country has long since stopped. 1. A Country Store’s Potbelly Stove Mast General Store has…
Only about a dozen of South Carolina’s peanut farms grow the raw, undried peanuts a boiled peanut stand needs. Everybody else grows peanuts bound for roasting, peanut butter, or candy. Needless to say, visitors driving past a plywood “boiled peanuts” sign in July have no idea how seriously South Carolinians take their boiled peanuts. 1….
Texas has 254 counties, more than any other state. Somewhere along the way from one county line to the next, an ordinary English word starts meaning something else. A transplant finds out mid-sentence, usually in front of people who assumed everybody already knew. These are the words that mean something completely different once someone crosses…
New York City has passed local laws co-naming nearly 2,500 streets, intersections, and parks since 2001. The city keeps adding to that list every year. Many New Yorkers still default to whatever name they learned growing up, no matter how many new signs go up. These are the New York City landmarks locals still refuse…
A cooler shows up to an Alabama cookout stocked with a national-brand jug of tea, no ice, and a fistful of sugar packets on the side. Nobody says a word. They just reach past it for the gallon somebody already brewed, sitting cold on the table. These are the sweet tea rules that give out-of-staters…
More than 810,000 Minnesotans claim Norwegian ancestry, more than any other state in the country. That number shapes more than a family tree. It’s why so many Minnesota kids grow up saying “uff da” before they even know what it means. These are the signs of a Minnesota upbringing, no matter where you live now….
Anyone who’s moved states hauls a routine or two along. New neighbors and coworkers are quick to catch those of Wisconsinites. Here’s what gives Wisconsinites away the second they cross the state line. Note: This is general information. Alcohol and hunting rules vary by state and are subject to change. 1. Naming Roads by Letter…
South Carolina residents will confidently correct a tourist’s pronunciation of a hometown road, then turn around and butcher the name of a town two counties over. Nobody’s immune. The state is full of names that look like one thing on a road sign and sound like something else entirely once a local says them out…
New Jersey packs more people into a square mile than any other state, and somehow also splits them across 564 separate town governments. Two neighborhoods a mile apart can run on completely different trash days, tax bills, and rulebooks. These are the things that confuse everyone who moves to New Jersey. Note: This is general…
St. Louis pizza runs on a cheese blend engineered in 1947. It doesn’t behave like any other pizza cheese in the country. Missouri has a whole list of such quirks that lifelong residents have to explain to out-of-staters. These are the things Missourians are tired of explaining to everyone who moves in. 1. Missouri’s Lettered…
