The Kentucky Derby is over in about two minutes. Outside Kentucky, Americans talk like the state’s whole calendar revolves around those two minutes for a solid week every spring. It doesn’t. These are the Kentucky traditions outsiders assume live and die with Derby week. 1. Mint Juleps Outsiders treat mint juleps like a costume prop,…
A Lehigh Valley club in Pennsylvania has followed the same unusual dinner table rule since 1934. Locals in small Pennsylvania towns grow up knowing rules like it, and newcomers rarely hear the reason until they ask. These are the small-town Pennsylvania traditions that out-of-staters rarely understand. 1. Belsnickel Comes Calling Belsnickel is a Pennsylvania Dutch…
Austin set a goal back in 2009 to divert 90 percent of its trash from landfills and incinerators. Giving things away instead of tossing them is doing a good share of that work. Here are some freecycling options in Austin that don’t require climbing into a dumpster. 1. Freecycle Austin Freecycle Austin runs one of…
Missouri ties with Tennessee for bordering more states than any other state in the country, eight apiece, and that geography makes leaving feel deceptively close. It rarely feels that close once the moving truck pulls away. These are the things Missourians miss most about their home state after they’ve packed up and moved. 1. Toasted…
Linguists at North Carolina State University (NC State) have spent decades recording how North Carolinians talk. One pattern keeps showing up in the tapes: The warmest-sounding line in the room can mean trouble. These are the North Carolina phrases that sound polite but carry a very different message underneath. 1. “Not to Be Ugly, But…”…
Can you pronounce Idaho’s capital the way a native does? Almost nobody outside the state gets it right on the first guess, and Idahoans have mostly stopped bothering to correct them. These are the things Idahoans say that confuse everyone who visits. 1. The Treasure Valley Idahoans call the Boise metro area the Treasure Valley….
Think you know New Hampshire because you’ve driven Interstate 93 through the White Mountains? Guess again. Granite Staters field the same handful of confidently wrong assumptions from many people who pass through. These are the assumptions people get wrong about New Hampshire. Note: This is general information, not tax advice. Property tax rates and figures…
Intro Option 1: South Carolina added roughly 80,000 new residents between July 2024 and July 2025, growing faster than any other state in the country. That’s a lot of people learning Southern rules on the fly. These are the etiquette mistakes that mark you as new to South Carolina. 1. Skipping “Ma’am” and “Sir” South…
The Great New York State Fair is underway in Syracuse, and the newcomers already stand out. Close to a million people pass through the Onondaga County fairgrounds every year. Regulars move through that crowd like they’ve done it dozens of times, because many of them have. These are the New York State Fair habits that…
No state packs more people into every square mile than New Jersey. But many out-of-staters show up assuming it’s a flyover state compared to its New York neighbor. Here are the myths New Jerseyans are sick of correcting. 1. Can’t Pump Your Own Gas? New Jersey has banned self-service gas since 1949. Out-of-staters assume Jersey…
