Cultural and Regional Differences About This Page:

[Chrissi]

A question for the globetrotters...

Have you ever been on a trip or in a new town and noticed some cultural or regional difference that took you by surprise? Or is there something you found out upon arrival that you wish you'd known about before you got there?

Me? I was startled to find out that you could buy alcoholic beverages in convenience stores and grocery stores in the southern states.

PA has some pretty strict laws regarding alcohol distribution. It's gotta come from a bar, beer distribution warehouse, state-run liquor store, or restaurant. (And if you look like you're under 40, you can bet you'll be carded.) Pennsylvanians would be up in arms if someone suggested selling booze in the grocery store or at a gas station/convenience store!

So what surprised you during your travels?

[ 01-08-2003, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: Beaner ]

[*Pixie*Dust*]

I am still amazed when I go to states and can pump my own gas. In New Jersey it is against the law to pump your own.
I also can't believe what a hard time you have finding Taylor Ham(pork roll) south of Maryland.
I am also on a quest to find a decent bagel and slice of pizza in Southern California.

[Chrissi]

Originally posted by Happy&Grumpy:
I am still amazed when I go to states and can pump my own gas. In New Jersey it is against the law to pump your own.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">I live in one of those states Margo! I've always pumped my own gas. In fact, I had to teach some of my girlfriends how to pump theirs when they came across the river to visit. (I grew up in Easton, PA on the Delaware across from Phillipsburg NJ.) It's one of the first things you have to learn in Driver's Ed here, though.

I still get impatient when I go into NJ and have to wait for someone else to pump my gas. It takes forever!

[stonewall]

I gre up in NJ and PA and now live in NY; here we pump our own gas(please,we practically have to do our own surgeries!), can buy beer in the grocery stores-but not until after 12pm on Sundays-and have 2 liquor stores per block.
Ah , a hoagie by any other name..... [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

[Janet 46]

Originally posted by Happy&Grumpy:
I am also on a quest to find a decent bagel and slice of pizza in Southern California.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Margo, I have close friends who moved to Valencia just outside L.A. and they stock up on bagels whenever they come to visit their families in NJ. However, they recently found a guy who opened a shop near them who used to make pizza on the Boardwalk at Seaside!

If you're going to California, let me know and I'll get the pizzeria location for you. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[katerkat]

My hubby's from PA, and I was shocked when his dad showed me that his Coors Light cans were in a Micholob box. He said he had to go to the bar and they just put them in whatever box they have. I said, "What's wrong with the grocery store?" and they all looked at me like I had two heads!
And I'm a proud Jersey girl who never pumped gas until I went to college!
I just moved to Mississippi, and I'm finding massive amounts of cultural differences... Hmmm, lemme think of some... A lot of driving ones: their yellow light is longer than Virginia's, but they all slam on the brakes, no matter how close they are to the light!
Oh, and another general one -- the town I used to live at didn't allow right turns on red. And I still can't do it. I get honked at all the time. [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] It just seems wrong!

[patty c.]

I've got sort of a reverse example. In the midwest most children are taught to address adults by their last name...Mrs. Jones or Ms. Jones, etc. Well, our church's Childrens Ministry director was a lovely Southern Belle who insisted that all the children address the adults as Miss or Mr. "first name"...like, Miss Patty or Mr. Steve. Further, she insisted that the children answer "Yes Ma'am" or "Yes, Sir". Only military people do that around these parts. In fact, I though a kid was being sarcastic when he said "Yes, Ma'am" to me the first time. This womans intentions were noble, but it just isn't
the way we talk around here!

Okay, now I've just got to ask about the gas thing. Why can't you pump your own in New Jersey?

When I was in Israel I asked where a restroom was and was pointed to a busy restaurant lobby. Seems they prefer to refer to this as a WC - Water closet. Or, in Hebrew, a "sheratim". I also couldn't approach the wailing wall until I covered my shoulders. (Nakedness!) However to enter the Dome of the Rock just a few feet away I had to take OFF my shoes. Apparently, shoulders are more seductive than feet. Go figure!

[ 01-10-2003, 02:42 AM: Message edited by: patty c. ]

[*Pixie*Dust*]

Originally posted by patty c.:

Okay, now I've just got to ask about the gas thing. Why can't you pump your own in New Jersey?

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">From www.infoplease.com
Today's Question:

What states other than New Jersey do not allow customers to pump their own gas at gas stations?

The Answer:

New Jersey and Oregon are the only U.S. states that currently ban self-service gas stations.

The purpose of these laws was to protect consumers and gas station owners from costly, and possibly deadly, accidents.

Better education and improved technology, however, have made pumping gas much safer and easier for consumers over the last 50 years. Since the 1970s, self-service gas stations have grown in popularity and have offered consumers significant savings at the pumps.

The New Jersey law was enacted in 1949 and the Oregon law in 1951. Each statute has stood up to several challenges in those two states.

Disabled motorists are most interested in seeing such laws survive. For those motorists with a disability, pumping gas is not an option and they depend on the employees of full-service stations.

Despite requirements outlined in the American Disabilities Act, many self-service stations do not provide a full-service option for disabled drivers, nor provide those services at self-service rates.

[HiddenMickey]

FYI -- In NC you can only buy beer and wine in grocery/convenience stores. All other alcohol is sold in ABC stores that are strictly monitored. I was shocked when I walked into a Virginia convenience store many moons ago and hard liquor was for sale on the shelves.

TEA--
In a lot of the south, iced tea is a staple beverage and you get it either sweetened or unsweetened and is on nearly every menu. I'm not a huge tea drinker, being brought up by Michiganders, but it always amuses me when we go to states where iced tea is only served unsweetened, or not offered at all.

-HiddenMickey

I've got to think about this a bit more...and I'll be back if I think of some other things--

[All Ears]

Some of the biggest things I have noticed are the following:
* Soda vs. Pop: What do you call it? I call it soda, but no one else around here does! ('cept my hubby)
* Supper vs. Dinner: I call it dinner, but many people call it supper.
Tomato, tomah-to, potato, potah-to... [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Michelle
P.S. I also pump my own gas, buy alcohol at the grocery (when I buy it, that is), turn right on red, and have a great pizza place and bagel place in my town. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[greystone98]

Wow. It's fascinating to see the differences, ones I wouldn't have dreamed existed (pumping gas, buying beer in grocery stores).

Let's see. In the South, children raised with good manners are taught to always say "Yes, ma'am" and "Yes, Sir" to their elders, from babysitters to teachers, parents and grandparents. As far as addressing someone by first or last name preceeded by Mr., Mrs., or Ms., it varies by individual taste.

When my family went to the NY World's Fair in 1964, my parents still talk about the fact that they couldn't get iced tea. What they were finally served was hot tea and a glass of ice... pour it yourself.

And I'll always remember a trip to California in 1970. We didn't have many "hippies" in the South so we were amazed to see all these young people just hanging out everywhere - sitting on mailboxes, curbs, anywhere they could find a place to sit or lie down. My sister and I thought it was pretty cool (or "groovy" back then) signaling the "Peace" sign to everyone and they'd sign it back to us.

Thank goodness for all the diversity and cultural differences. It would be terribly boring were we all the same.

Debbi

[Love 2 Laugh]

Originally posted by HiddenMickey:
FYI -- In NC you can only buy beer and wine in grocery/convenience stores. All other alcohol is sold in ABC stores that are strictly monitored. I was shocked when I walked into a Virginia convenience store many moons ago and hard liquor was for sale on the shelves.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">That must have been ages ago because I moved to VA from NC (via AZ)in 1981 and the laws were very similar. You could only buy the hard stuff at the state-run ABC store.

If memory serves, back then in AZ they had liquor stores with drive-up windows. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I guess that was back before MADD.

Since we are about a tank-full from NJ, I've helped many nice people from NJ pump their gas. Many of them were quite frustrated or flustered. Of course, I have the opposit problem when I go there. I get out to pump my own gas and some poor attendant comes running out to stop me. [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

And just try to get grits outside of the South. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[TINKN]

Well, we can buy beer and wine etc. in convenience and grocery stores. Hard alcohol must be purchased at a state liquor store.

We have self service and full service pumps. Full service costs more and most people pump their own.

We eat grinders, not hoagies (although the term sub is OK). We don't even have grits here at all. The beverage of choice is soda, not pop.

We can right on red. U-turns are illegal.

Smoking in public places (bars being the exception) is illegal. It is also illegal to smoke on any school property.

VT gets a D- for gun control. You can carry a concealed weapon here except within our largest city. We however have some of the lowest crime rates in the nation.

Everyone knows we have civil unions.

I guess all of these are regional differences.

But, the one that drives me nuts is that fact that here police cruisers have blue lights and ambulances have red. When I go over to NY state it is just the opposite. Cruisers have red lights. What color are the lights on everyone elses cruisers?

[greystone98]

Soda vs. Pop: What do you call it?

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Neither. Unfortunately? Southerners tend to call all carbonated beverages "Coke". As I've said here, before, you can often hear the following exchange:
Waitress: "What would you like to drink?"
Customer: "Just a Coke, please Ma'am ."
Waitress: "Ok, and what kind?"
Customer: "How about a Dr. Pepper?"

Seriously, I'm not exaggerating as much as you might think. [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img]

Police cruiser lights? Have never really noticed - I'll have to check.

Beer/Wine in grocery stores and convenience stores. Hard liquor in liquor stores only. Cannot take an open container of liquor out of a bar/restaurant.

Self serve and full serve gas options.

Sales tax is 9% and no goods are exempt. I know there used to be some states that didn't have sales tax. Is this true where you live?

Debbi

[TINKN]

As far as sales tax goes, our friends over in NH don't have sales tax or income tax (State). I think they were thinking about changing the state income tax.

Here in VT we have 5% sales tax. Excluded items are food (except restuarant and prepared foods like deli sandwiches or bakery items if they are bought in quantities of less than 6) and clothing items with a sale price of less than $100. We also have a rooms and meals tax of 9% and an alcohol tax of 10%.

A lot of VT people who live close to the NH border go there to shop because of the lack of sales taxand the fact that NH is friendlier to big box type stores, which we have very few of.

Just thought of another one. Here in VT we have a $.05 bottle deposit on all carbonated and alcoholic beverages ($.10 on some larger bottles). ME has a deposit on all beverage containers. NH has no deposit on cans and bottles. What about your state?

What about helmet laws for people on motorcycles? Here in VT it's the law. It always surprises me when we travel to other states and I see people zipping down the highway on motorcycles without helmets. ME and I think NH come to mind as not requiring it.