You know you are from a Large/Small town if...
 

Lets get this thread started with our observations..

Big town:

1. Sitting through 3 cycles of lights before you actually get to go through the light.

2. You welcome a police officer directing traffic. You feel it goes faster.

3. You drive down the road (in construction zones) and every few weeks they move the freeway.

4. You understand that a downtown is supposed to smell like urine.

5. You have contribuited to #4.

6. You know the primo spots (which overpass, etc) to live if you are homeless. You also have thought to yourself, "I'd live there if I was homeless."

7. Emergency sirens in the night dont phase you, because you know the cops are never where the actual crime happens.

8. Its been months/years since you have seen the stars.

9. You see an accident on the freeway, traffic is really backed up, and you actually think to yourself, "Someone better be REALLY hurt for traffic to be messed up like this."

What are some of your observations..... Large or Small

Oh, I've got one...

Small Town:
You take a check to the bank for your Dad and the teller says she can see the family resemblance.

That one kinda blew my mind!

Small town:

Wal-Mart is only place in town to do shopping! (I go to school where this is the case!!) You have to drive 35 mins (to State College or Williamsport, PA) to buy anything!

Small town:

You come home from the bar and tell your mom that "Joe" kept trying to rub up on you all night. Mom rolls her eyes and says "like father, like son" because of course she partied with "Dad of Joe" in her youth.

You have to be really careful not to date anyone who is distantly related to you by marriage.

You're known as "so and so's son/daugher" even if your parents have been dead for 50 years.

The exchange students and Fresh Air kids crack up laughing when they read the police blotter in the newspaper.

You have Fresh Air kids.

If you pay more than $2 for a beer, you've been robbed.

Here's One...
 

I knew I was home a few years back when I was leaving my hometown to drive back to Annapolis and I got pulled over in a speedtrap on the outskirts of town. The police officer asked to see my license, gave me a lecture on speeding and then gave me a warning, "If I see you driving this fast through town again, I'm going to tell your mother"

I love my hometown :)

that large town/city description is so bang on :).

You know you're from a small (small) town when:

Gravel roads don't phase you

Your nearest neighbor is a mile away

You can see the stars and perhaps the milkyway

There is still a town square and people still congregate there

You have a water tower with the town's name on it

You know you're from a big town when:

Seeing people drive with cell phones doesn't phase you

Snow days occur even when it's just icy (because of driving hazards)

Sections of town is designated for cultural, educational, entertainment, and sports....

Large town, good and bad:

You drive around for an hour looking for a place to park on Saturday night, and end up parking in a tow zone anyway.

You can go out dancing until 5 am.

You can go to a club where the crowd is diverse and friendly, and people of different races mingle freely.

You can buy crack within a mile of your house, dude on the street offers to sell you a three-in-one remote, and sometimes if the guy offering to wash your windshield gets mad enough, he will pee on your car before you can drive away.

You can shop for absolutely anything you could ever want.

You can get dressed up and go to a super fancy hotel for drinks or high tea.

You can get amazing ethnic food of any type, in any price range.

You don't need a car.

Lifesaver, OMG, 1, 3, and 6 are sooo true for big cities! I can sit at a light for like ten minutes and I still haven't moved! Also, they've changed the direction of traffic on the freeway like 3 times in the last six months, sometimes I will be in the westbound lane going east and vice versa!?

I remember hearing one about small towns:

You go to the store, leave the keys in the unlocked car, windows down, and car running. :eek:

I never leave the car unlocked, I even lock my glove compartment!

ok, i'm changing it a bit:
you know you're in a COLLEGE town when
there are 23 bars within one block
stores close 4 or 5 hours earlier in the summer
politicians direct their campaigns to people age 18-22
instead of going to restaurants families eat out at University dining halls

You know you're in a small town when:

People put random stuff in their front yards -- like old desks and car wash parts. I drive through small towns sometimes and I swear they're having aa contest on who can get the strangest stuff in their front yards.

You know you're in a small town when:

You go to the bars over Xmas break and it's like a high school reunion.

Small town:

You know you're from a small town if you have to explain the location of the town by saying it's "X hours North/South/East/West of ..." (a bigger city).

You went to 5 of your own High School's Proms...the first while you were in 8th grade because they wanted it to seem like a big dance.

Big City:

If you've never gone to the city's main tourist attraction.

Small town-
You ask for directions and you are told to drive about 1/2 mile till you see the dead oak tree turn left at the silo and go for a spell till you come to the fork past the cow guard. Can't miss it.

You are the forth family to buy a house and people still refer to it as the "Smith" house.

Homecoming for a one HS town, they close Main Street for the parade. On the subject of parades, everyone comes, dogs run wild and parents yell at other people's kids like they are their own.

There is a drugstore with REAL fountain drinks and ice cream sodas, and they KNOW how to make coke floats or vanilla and chocolate cokes.

There is a section in the newspaper called "Fender Benders".

They barter for services.

The majority of radio stations are a.m. and give the hourly farm report. The top local TV program is "Gone Fishing".

The weather girl was Homecoming Queen and the head cheerleader works at Merle Normans. There is a Dairy Qeen!

Small town:
When your high school football team goes to state playoffs and there is a sign hanging on the highway out of town that says, "Last one out, turn out the lights."

And they were serious.

(True story. My hs football team ruled :) )

I just remembered-My niece dated a guy from a REALLY small town. He played football, and was in the band. At half time, he had to run in and change into his marching band uniform!!!

LOL! I've never lived in a (very) big city, but my hometown has 400 people and the small town ones are SO right - esp. the one about Don't speed or I'll tell your mother" :)

More Small Town Ones:

*Your bus ride to high school takes more than an hour

*There is a big to-do whenever a new house is built.

*People wave at you when you're driving down the street.

*You can ask any given person in town where any other given person is at the moment, and they can probably tell you.

Small Town:

Knowing you can speed through town because the lone cop car is sitting at the conveniece store

I live in a small farming town , population around 350 (high school-230, graduation class-60).
Mine was getting into a car accident, then about an hour later, the "older" townfolks call my grandparnets to see if I was alright.
Also you know EVERYONE. You wave to them on the road, etc. I agree with Ginger, riding the bus took about an hour. Also you learned you don't wanna date the "local" guys, cuz u know where they have been. LOL

You know you are from a small town if you see everyone you know on a trip to the grocery store.

You know you live in a big city of someone says, "Meet me at the Bennigan's/Old Chicago/Red Robin/Whatever Restaurant" and you have to ask which one because there are like, at least 10 or 12.

A couple more...
 

Big City: Give distance in terms of time: How far is downtown?" "Downtown? About 25 minutes from here."

Small city: Give distance in terms of miles: "Oh, I live about 5 miles outside of town"

Kinda funny, you'd never tell someone you lived 5 miles from campus. Youd say "I live 5 minutes away."

Big city: Not uncommon to hear people speaking a language you dont understand. (or on GC, see Tom Earp. lol, had too.)

Big City: You adjust your life around the traffic. Damn, I was hoping to be outta the office by 4:45 to beat the traffic. Its now 5:30. Might as well stay till 7. I'll be home the same time regardless.

Big City: You know what an "Air Quality Health Alert Day" or an "Ozone Action Day" is. You also see the brown haze and say to yourself, "Whatever, this is nothing. Its been worse."

Big city: You live in the land of 24 hours. 24 Hour grocery stores, 24 hour Home Depot's (those ROCK), 24 hour movie theaters, 24 hour resturaunts, 24 hour dry-cleaners, etc.

Small town: They rol up the sidewalks at 9pm, and the only food to be had is the fried chicken at the 1- 24 hour convience store.

ALSO: In a big city, IF I am running errands, and have to include downtown to pay a bill or something, I can often put 100 miles on the truck. I can remember growing up that 100 miles was the distance roundtrip to the nearest big town.

Wow...I grew up in a small town, went to college in an even smaller town, and now live in a city....all of the things you guys are listing are sooo true!!

I have one for you:

Small town--it takes 5 minutes to get to the movie theater (which invariably only has 4 or 5 screens)
Big city--you think nothing of driving 25 minutes to get to the movie theater across town, just because it has more comfortable seats than the one down the street

When my parents first got divorced, my mom said that she didn't have to go to a counselor, because she got all the counseling she wanted every time she went grocery shopping! She knew everybody there!


And btw, this is my 100th post :)

Big City: Walmart and Starbucks are in constant competition to see who can build the most buldings in the least amount of time

Big City: There is a Wal-mart and Starbucks on almost every corner

Big City: You complain about how bored you are and there's nothing to do despite the fact that you live close to 6 shopping malls, tons of resturants, a few colleges,sports bars, dance clubs,and that there are serveral pro sports teams in the area

Small town: A traffic jam is waiting for that large tractor or other piece of farm machinery to move off the road

Small town: Having yourself pictured in a commercial for the local pizza place that airs before every movie at the local theater. (Yep, that's me holding open the door to Pagliai's on the big screen:rolleyes: )

Small town: The airport has two commercial flights a day with a plane that has a propeller, and is in the middle of a huge corn field.

I got another few:

Big City: You think in terms of Zip Codes. "Where is that? Over in 78249? Oh, ok"

Big City: You move, even if its across the street, and the daymn phone company makes you get a whole new phone number.

Big City: You have to dial (and I hate this one) the area code with the number just to call across the street, because your city has used up all the numbers in your area code, and you now have to have 2 area codes, just for your town.

Big City: You get really pissed if your friends who live just outside of town are too cheap to pay the extra money for a metro phone line.

Small town: You have no idea what a metro phone line is.

That makes me think of that Simpsons episode-New Springfield and Old Springfield-sooooo funny:)

Big City - Pedestrians and other drivers are just obstacles on your path to road supremacy.

Big City - Turn signals are for the weak.

Big City - Double and triple parking are acceptable ways to park

Can you tell I drive in Boston much? ;)

Small town - There's one bagle shop in town that's also the gossip place. Signs for every event in town, lost dogs etc are posted there.

Small town - There is a law that is actually enforced in our town that outlaws colored christmas lights and outlaws painting your house without permission from the historical society.

hahah. Made me think of another two:

Big City: Yield/Shmield. It says yield. It means merge.

Big City: You can park ANYWHERE as long as you leave your emergency flashers on. Once I was dropping something off at our student union bldg, parked in the drop off/circular drive and put my flashers on, got distracted and then realized I was late for class. Hung out with the brothers for a while. After about 6 hours, went to leave and realized what I had done. Yep, the car was still there, still flashing, with no tickets. Did get lots of teasing, tho, 'cause everyone on campus saw it.

Small Town: When you go to high school you get referred to as "Baby Insert-Your-Last Name-Here" by the teachers because they had your mom/dad as students back in the day.

(That one's a true story, happened to me, btw thanks Dad for being such a lousy high school student)

Small Town: The first time you get your period, the entire town knows within 24 hours and calls to congratulate you.

Small town: The speed limit actually means something, especially when you live next door to the police chief

Big City: Speed limits are merely suggestions of how fast one should drive if their is a major catastrophe on the freeway i.e. snowstorm, downpour.

Big City: High school reunions are actually interesting, you find out that the strange guy from apartment 4B went to high school with you.

Small Town: High School reunions are just that: High school all over again, same cliques, same S***.

Oh my gosh, these are sooo funny! I'm from a small town and now go to school in a big city, see I experience all these things every day. Here's some I thought of:

small town: you go to a school where all the teachers are former students who went to college in a small town near by and came back and married other former students that are now teachers.

small town: the parents of your teachers are teachers at your school, too

(both were the case in my high school. soon everyone back home will all be related:eek: )

big city: you have teachers that aren't even from this country

Small Town: even professional men have nicknames like "Booter" and "Boy".

The fact that everyone appears to be related to each other is explained by "Our family trees don't exactly branch aroun' here."

Re: You know you are from a Large/Small town if...
 

I say this almost everyday!!!:D

Re: Here's One...
 

http://www.plauder-smilies.de/laugh.gif

big city (NYC greatest in the world!)
You are fresh air fund kids.
Driving is a stupid idea.
There is a starbucks on every corner but thank God no Walmart within the 5 boroughs.
Connecticutt is the country.
You can get anything (and I mean anything) delivered to your door in 20 minutes with just one phone call.
A beer costs 6 dollars.
Parents begin to prep there children for admission to the best kindergardens before birth.
Young mothers gulp down 6 dollar lattes and complain about the difficulty in getting junior into the best kindergarden while the nanny does the dirty work.
Who needs the stars when you have the Manhattan skyline.

Oh My God!
 

These are so true of small towns! I'm currently living in a small/college town and a lot of what's been written is soooo true!

1. When I give directions, I have to say, "It's about 5-6 hours north of San Francisco."
2. We do have a town square and it is a very popular hang out (especially for the hippies and homeless)!
3. We get a police officer to direct traffic when there are more than 4 cars at the stop sign.
4. All the stores in town are mom and pop.
5. People protested when the nearest town/city opened a Starbucks!
6. We have people who live in trees in order to save the life of the tree.
7. The stores DO close earlier in the summer.
8. We have to drive 1hr. to the nearest Walmart!
9. We have 4 bars on the same street (right next to each other).
10. Public transportation (bus) will stop anywhere at your request. If you live on a street that's on its route, the bus driver will drop you off at your front door if you ask nicely :)

There are many more, but I need to go to sleep now (1:15am and I have class at 8am).

Good night everybody!

Ok, I'm showing my small town-ness, but what is a fresh air fund kid?

http://www.freshair.org

The Fresh Air Fund transports underpriviledged city children into the country in the summer so they can experience smelling cow poop, digging worms out of the ground, and just generally the joys of small town life. :D

Its true about the starbucks, there is one on about every corner in DC.

Also big cities you dont neccesarily need a car, you just take public trans.

What sucka about being in a small town is that there is no variety. For example restaurants, bars, and shops/stores.

Re: Oh My God!
 

What's funny is that these are true of Chicago, too. People protested when a Starbucks was opening in the Wicker Park neighborhood, and I don't know of any Walmarts in the city, although I wouldn't even know if there are any.