Where You're From
The other day, I was in the pizza shop and this lady in front of me was placing her order. She was one of those people that needs to specially tailor her sandwich to her very particular tastes, which is fine. Her request was slightly absurd, but that’s beyond the scope of this discussion. The real problem was that she was having a little difficulty communicating her order to the man behind the counter. If I had to guess I’d say that the guy behind the counter was of middle eastern descent. He had a good enough grasp of the English language to perform his job function. The lady was from Carolina. She too had a good enough grasp of English to perform her job function. I can only assume that she’s from some county that I’ve never heard of, some place that I’d be uncomfortable visiting. I infer these things from their respective accents alone.
She ordered a steak and cheese sandwich. She capped off her laundry list of specifications with a request for “Roah Onions.” To which the man behind the counter gave a quizzical look and asked, “Ruhd Onions?” Not really understanding the man, the woman clarified, “Roooooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.” To which the man replied, “Ruuuuhhhhhhdddd?” The lady seemed to blame the man for being foreign. The man, who was probably slightly self-conscious about his second language, probably placed the blame on himself, as well. I, the innocent bystander, couldn’t understand what the hell either of them was trying to say. At this point, the guy, frustrated, reaches under the counter for a paper and pen and attempts to write down her order in front of her. The difference between her “Raw” and his “Red” was then quickly remedied.
It made me wonder about the extent to which the place you’re from informs the person that you are. Clearly, a person from Cairo, Egypt and a person from Nowheresville, North Carolina share little in the way of formative experiences. But what of the difference between someone from Los Angeles and Boston? New York and Dallas? Chicago and Minneapolis? Sure these people don’t sound the same, but what else is going on?
I would venture to guess that if you took 100 random people from each of these cities and mixed them up. Then you had a person interview some of them for like 30 minutes and attempt to identify where they’re from, the guesser would perform well above random. I would say that this would be the case even if you masked the accents.
I’m at a loss in trying to identify the cause of the difference though. It can’t just be weather that makes someone in San Francisco more liberal than someone in Cincinnati. Granted, there’s some self selection involved. So, if you’re super liberal, you’re more likely to move to San Francisco, but how did it originally come to be the case? Is there something in the water?
People from different parts of the county even look different. The girl that works the counter at the New York style deli in my neighborhood physically reminds me of the girls back from growing up in New York. How can this be so? Is there some genetic homogeneity at play here?
Anyway, as I’m considering places to move after I sell my house in the spring, I’m questioning why fans of the St. Louis Cardinals appear to be nicer than fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and wonder whether or not such facts should enter into my calculus. At the very least, I’ll eliminate all the places at which it would be difficult for me to communicate my sandwich order.
She ordered a steak and cheese sandwich. She capped off her laundry list of specifications with a request for “Roah Onions.” To which the man behind the counter gave a quizzical look and asked, “Ruhd Onions?” Not really understanding the man, the woman clarified, “Roooooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.” To which the man replied, “Ruuuuhhhhhhdddd?” The lady seemed to blame the man for being foreign. The man, who was probably slightly self-conscious about his second language, probably placed the blame on himself, as well. I, the innocent bystander, couldn’t understand what the hell either of them was trying to say. At this point, the guy, frustrated, reaches under the counter for a paper and pen and attempts to write down her order in front of her. The difference between her “Raw” and his “Red” was then quickly remedied.
It made me wonder about the extent to which the place you’re from informs the person that you are. Clearly, a person from Cairo, Egypt and a person from Nowheresville, North Carolina share little in the way of formative experiences. But what of the difference between someone from Los Angeles and Boston? New York and Dallas? Chicago and Minneapolis? Sure these people don’t sound the same, but what else is going on?
I would venture to guess that if you took 100 random people from each of these cities and mixed them up. Then you had a person interview some of them for like 30 minutes and attempt to identify where they’re from, the guesser would perform well above random. I would say that this would be the case even if you masked the accents.
I’m at a loss in trying to identify the cause of the difference though. It can’t just be weather that makes someone in San Francisco more liberal than someone in Cincinnati. Granted, there’s some self selection involved. So, if you’re super liberal, you’re more likely to move to San Francisco, but how did it originally come to be the case? Is there something in the water?
People from different parts of the county even look different. The girl that works the counter at the New York style deli in my neighborhood physically reminds me of the girls back from growing up in New York. How can this be so? Is there some genetic homogeneity at play here?
Anyway, as I’m considering places to move after I sell my house in the spring, I’m questioning why fans of the St. Louis Cardinals appear to be nicer than fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and wonder whether or not such facts should enter into my calculus. At the very least, I’ll eliminate all the places at which it would be difficult for me to communicate my sandwich order.
posted by Donkey Boy at Sunday, February 12, 2006
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