Strange questions about your town

[jamespowers]

Recently upgraded to 9.2 actually. The house I grew up in was pre-earthquake. I used to play in what used to be the contiguous neighborhood that slid 100 feet down a cliff into the ocean, now called (cleverly) Earthquake Park. 15 years after the quake and bits of houses and stuff were still coming up out of the mud.

Now it's all green and you can't tell anything ever happened.

Interesting. See? They were floating and sunk in the mud.
Any hats, cars and clothing coming out of the mud?

Regards,

J

 

[carebear]

Interesting. See? They were floating and sunk in the mud.
Any hats, cars and clothing coming out of the mud?

Regards,

J

Not that I didn't light on fire in my early destructive days.

I am now in my later destructive days if anyone wonders what's changed.

 

[pretty faythe]

My hometown is in Iowa, and I moved to South Dakota to go to college. One question I get asked both places is, "Do you have cell phones there?"

oh my gosh lol

 

[Lincsong]

Since this (San Francisco Bay Area) is ground zero for fruits and nuts the list is endless.lol But, I usually get asked; "that's real close to Los Angeles right?"

Then there's always the blank stare when people ask where I'm from and I say "here". (Well, hell I was born and raised here, what am I supposed to say?????)

 

[Paisley]

I once read about a man of Asian descent who was on an airplane. The passenger next to him asked, in a manner that suggested he assumed he didn't speak much English, where he was from. "San Francisco," the Asian-American replied.

 

[Girl Friday]

It's not the heat, it's the humidity...

 

[Viola]

"Have you ever seen a shooting/driveby/murder?"

I think I just said "What?...No!" But I should have said, "I didn't see nuthin!"

"Is that museum with all those steps real?" and "Do you know Rocky?" are my favorites.

"Is there a LOT of crime there?!" Well, I don't know how to answer that. More than where you're from in Bupkis, Idaho, possibly. She was going to a downtown function at night so I think I said something like "no, not at all, its no big deal. Just keep an eye on your belongings, obviously." and she replied "You have to do that? Gosh that's so SCARY!"

What? Stay home, lady.:rage:

-Viola

 

[CanadaDoll]

Regarding my hometown of Soldotna, Alaska:

• "Did you live in an igloo?"

Matt

I've gotten the igloo one too, although most people are joking about that, most people that is....

I got asked if I ate seal meat and whale blubber once to (for the record, no I haven't had the pleasure):eusa_doh:

 

[Teekay44]

Lancaster PA

I get.

"Are you Amish?"

Sorry you couldn't tell. I shaved my beard off yesterday.

"Did you drive your horse and buggy here?"

Yea, it took me a few more hours to get here but I passed a Yugo on the way. (one of the funniest thing I ever saw was a bumper sticker on a buggy that said I may be slow but I'm ahead of you.)

"Do you have electricity there? "

Only in the barn. We keep the TV by the manure spreader. Seems like the right place.

 

[Viola]

I really enjoy the image of you treadle-powering your modem though, Teekay!

-Viola

 

[Lady Day]

Some kid from the east coast once asked me if I surfed to school. First of all, this was when I lived in Northern California where the water is shark-infested (well kind of at least) and FREEZING!

Of course I said, "Yeah, you didn't know that? Everyone surfs to school in California!"

Surf to where? Do you really surf to a place!? Are the schools on oil tankers out on the coast!? lol

LD

 

[Teekay44]

I really enjoy the image of you treadle-powering your modem though, Teekay!

-Viola

Thats what the windmills are for! lol We now use the treadles to power the Fax machine.

 

[Snookie]

Two 19-yr-old boys in a pub in Nottingham, England:
So how big *are* the cars?
Do you really have cowboys over there?
(Questions that were both quite embarrassing to a group of liberal college students!)

 

[Brooksie]

I have had some funny questions also...

The town I work in is called Pacific City and it is in Oregon and the restarant I work in is right on the Pacific Ocean.

We get a lot of tourists from around the US and the world here in the summer and durring the holidays.

Here are some of the questions:

We get a lot of people that will say - boy we had a long ride over here in the car... I will say where did you come from and they will say Portland (refering to the one in Oregon) and they will say have you ever been there before?
My answer is: Uh, I lived there for 36 years! (everbody who lives on the coast gets to the city every now and then!) then they usually say, wow you lived there longer then I have!

I bet you have lived here in Pacific City your whole life right?
I tell them I have never lived here, I grew up in Portland and now I live in Beaver, 12miles east on Hwy 101.

Do all of you that work here (we have about 60 employees) live in this town?
I tell them only a handful of us work and live here, everybody else lives in the surrounding small to towns.

People will call up on the phone and ask us if we have any motels or grocery stores in Pacific City... I feel like saying common people it is a town - we are not just a restarant out in the middle of no where!

The name of our restarant is the Pelican Pub and Brewery so people will ask if I have ever seen any pelicans here and I never have so I say no but other people have seen them here and then they say to me yeah right and how much did they have to drink? I will say no really people here have seen them and they will say but you have never seen one so they must not exist here! At that point and time I am like yeah whatever!

Brooksie

 

[Mojito]

From a Korean friend when I was living in Singapore:

J: "So, do you speak Australian?"
Me: "Erm...yes..."
J: "Can you speak some for me now?"
Me: "Oh yes, I'm quite fluent. G'day, mate!"

This is the same friend who asked if I'd had a pet kangaroo.

Most folks, curious about where we live, ask about kangaroos, koalas, and our many gloriously lethal snakes, spiders and sharks. This has led to the notorious "Drop Bear" - a creature that lives large in tales related to visitors. One cousin could keep tourists enthralled for hours with tales along the lines of how she has to wear a helmet when walking up and down her driveway, for fear of the Drop Bear launching itself out of the tree at her. When their skin is sufficiently crawling, she treats them to tales of sharks that live in the surfline and routinely latch onto the chests of people who dive under waves.

"Do you really have all those dangerous animals down there?" is a popular one among those that watch the Discovery channel. They're not really reassured by my "oh, no...we never really encounter them..." when it's followed up by "well, except for the occasional funnel web spider roaming across the living room floor...but really, you never think about it."

Then they point out that I dive with sharks and sea snakes, so am obviously someone who must stroll around with a crocodile teeth necklace and a large machete tucked into my ugg boots, so really, they can't take my word on the lack of rampant danger in the Sydney suburbs...

 

[GeniusInTheLamp]

Whenever I mention that I live near Chicago, I always get asked if I know any gangsters.

I once read about a man of Asian descent who was on an airplane. The passenger next to him asked, in a manner that suggested he assumed he didn't speak much English, where he was from. "San Francisco," the Asian-American replied.

That reminds me of a story about Mickey Mantle. He was playing an exhibition game in Japan when he was called out on a questionable strike call. He slammed down his helmet, glared at the ump, and (thinking that the ump didn't speak English) said, "You stupid (derogatory remarks about the umpire's ethnicity and legitimacy), I'm sure glad we bombed your (backside)!"

The umpire replied apologetically in perfect, un-accented English, "I'm sorry, Mick, I'm doing the best I can." Mick practically crawled back to the dugout.

 

[rockyj]

Only a hundred miles.

That's as far from the Artic circle as I live, so I get all the same qustion as Canada doll gets. Plus, "When do the Northern lights come on?"

 

[Rosie]

Then there's always the blank stare when people ask where I'm from and I say "here". (Well, hell I was born and raised here, what am I supposed to say?????)

Oh yes, I get that too. "Where are you from originally?" Me: New York, Person: "Really?!"

With so many people coming to the city people are surprised when they meet a native New Yorker

 

[BegintheBeguine]

^^^Welcome to Atlanta. The other one in Atlanta was "Where's the beach?"

 

[Lincsong]

I once read about a man of Asian descent who was on an airplane. The passenger next to him asked, in a manner that suggested he assumed he didn't speak much English, where he was from. "San Francisco," the Asian-American replied.

Would have been funnier if he said; Texarkana.lol I worked with a guy from Denmark when I lived in Florida and when people asked him where he was from he would reply; "Ally-bama".