What is the sterotype?

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1n 1967 my dad had to quit working for himself (which he loved) and get a "Big Corporate" job (which he hated) The family stayed here in the Columbus area, while dad got an apartment in NYC!

Mom had gone to visit and go to the company Holiday/Christmas dinner. AS she chatted with the various wives, They kept looking at her kind of strange and a look of relief would come over their faces. Mom stayed they night with dad and finished Christmas shopping the day. Then both flew Home together for the week of Christmas!

At diner on Saturday night dad was saying all his associates stopped in his office to chat and mentioned how their wives enjoyed meeting mom, and she wasn't at all what they expected! After about the fifth one, dad ask, "What were they expecting?" Basically, anyone West of Pittsburgh dressed like Roy Rogers and Dale Evens, rode a horse, walked around with six guns strapped on. We also had to run for cover because of the gunfights at noon!

In 1967 that was so far from the truth, that you had to laugh! But now in 2023: People walk around in tee-shirts & wholly jeans. Columbus allows the raising of livestock in apartment buildings. My brother's family raise and ride horses constantly (even to the pizza shop one and a half miles away). Worst of all, the shoot outs are mostly at midnight, but you hear gunfire everyday in many neighborhoods! Lastly, both of dad's sons don't go anywhere without a gun in our pocket! (and I'm seeing more open carry all the time)

Were the New Yorkers prophetic? Or is our civilization collapsing?

Ivan
 
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. . . Lastly, both of dad's sons don't go anywhere without a gun in our pocket! (and I'm seeing more open carry all the time)

Were the New Yorkers prophetic? Or is our civilization collapsing?

Ivan
Hey, at least in Ohio some of the good guys are carrying guns. Sounds like you're one up on NYC.
 
Interesting how stereotypes get started. One of my sons was in Japan about 30 years ago and one of the big stereotypes of anyone living in the western part of the United States, especially of one who lived on acreage and owned horses, was that of John Wayne, simply because of the movies they had seen.

One person seriously inquired of my son, "Do you own any guns?" My son replied in the affirmative, to which the person then asked, "How many people have you shot?"

Yep...stereotypes can definitely be strange.:confused:
 
Hasn't changed much either:

new-yorker-print-2.jpg
 
It's collapsing Ivan, I used to go to Boston on business and the law firm employees would comment on my southern accent! Now that was funny. I was there the night of the 2016 election and when I went to the office the next am it felt like a wake.
Not at my gun club, it didn't. The usual Wednesday volunteer maintenance crew was lounging about after finishing up our work, wondering whether it was going to rain as predicted. I commented that everyone complained about the weather, but Donald was the only one who actually did something about it.

"What are you talking about?" asked one person.

I answered, "Well here we are worrying about the weather, but even if it rains, it will still be a great day!"
 
Once folks discover that I hold a British birth certificate they often assume that I have bad teeth, no taste buds, good feet and drink my tea with my pinky extended.

And virtually everything said with a British accent sounds smarter. That BBC programming is brilliant! (Well, the mid-run of Top Gear not so much.)
 
We as humans need stereotypes. Yes, "you can't judge a book by its cover", and you need to treat everyone as an individual and take them on face value. All that is great if you have the time to do that. However stereotypes are needed so that you can make a quick assessment of someone, or somewhere, you are going to encounter. For example, a rich posh surburb vs a ghetto covered in graffiti. We need those instantaneous assessments of a person or an area otherwise our brain would just overload.

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My company was bought out by a French Company. Our technology was superior to theirs. I had to go to Paris to one of their plants to straighten them out. I was at a Dinner Party sitting next to their CEO, while a frenchie engineer (who had been to the USA) was talking to all the wives. Lots of oohs and ahhs. The CEO explained that he was tasking about the differences between the french and the Americans.

A few days later I was invited to dinner at the Plant Managers house. His wife talked to me later after dinner. She said "you aren't American are you?" I said of course I am. She said the frenchie engineer at the dinner party said all Americans are dumb and lazy.

The frenchie had previously spent a year in the US and was my understudy. I didn't know he hated me that much. I never answered his calls after that.
 
The first time I ever drove a truck up into NY I got unloaded and was hungry, stopped in a little Italian diner and ordered a hamburger, fries, Coke....the guy starred at me for a bit and yelled at his cook to come over there, say that again...so I did..they looked amazed, the one said Beverly Hillbillies and the other guy gave him a high five! :D
 

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