Cultural and Regional Differences About This Page:

[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.

[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.

[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.

[MargaretJ]

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, in the South Ice Tea is available everywhere. You can get sweet or unsweet tea pretty much everywhere here. During our June trip last year we stopped by the Fish n Chips stand in United Kingdom pavilion & I order my son a Coke (coke is what all soft drinks are in Atlanta) & myself a tea. Imagine my surprise when I got a cup of Hot Tea with a tea bag on a day when it was 98 degrees. We pump our own gas here, I can not even think of where a full serve is. Have some of the worst drivers around especially in the rain or snow. The big thing that drives me crazy is every county in metro Atlanta seems to have a different tax rate. Yes beer & wine can be bought at any grocery store but laws are pretty strict & never on a Sunday.

[katerkat]

In NJ "neccessities" were not taxed. I don't think it included ice cream. But basic groceries and clothes... In Va., everything was taxed, but at a lower rate. So when my mom wants something that's not a necessity (ie, her new printer) she buys it when visiting my sister in Va. When Jen wants to stock up on groceries, she buys while vising my parents in NJ. And we never buy from NY.
Another annoying thing is the Va. city vs. county tax rate on food. Convinence store food and restuarants have it. I used to live in the county, near a city, and it was always cheaper to eat the same food in the county. I never understood it.

[Chrissi]

We don't pay taxes on necessities either in PA, but we do pay sales tax on toilet paper. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] How is TP not a necessity? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Oh, and PA sales tax is 6% across the board.

[Fortissimo]

Here in Colorado you can purchase liquor in the manners as follows:
-Liquor stores cannot sell food and grocery stores cannot sell any alcohol except beer or liquor that is at most 3.2% alcohol.
-We cannot buy liquor on Sundays or election days unless it is at most 3.2% alcohol.
-We cannot ride our horses while under the influence of alcohol.

In Colorado, we cannot bring your horse or pack mule above the ground floor of any building and if left outside, the animal must be tied up to hitching posts outside.

So, when visiting Colorado, you can buy liquor at a liquor store and then ride your horse to the grocery store to buy food to serve with your liquor as long as you are not intoxicated. When visiting the stores, please make sure to tie your horse up outside, unless of course all of your shopping can be done on the ground floor, then you can take your horse into the store with you.

Oh, and about pumping gas, we don't have to worry about that - horses don't use gas.

[DebiDebiDebi]

greystone98, my oldest DD still laughs about the week she spent in Texas...where ordering a "COKE" became her favorite passtime.
WAITRESS: "Hon, you want somthin to drink"

DARA: "I'll have a coke, please"

WAITRESS: "Will that be a coke-coke, pepsi-coke, 7up-coke, or DrPepper-coke, Hon?"

She still howls at that!

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, we drink pop, wear tennis shoes, sit on a couch, carry a purse, and buy beer and wine at the grocery store, but hard liquor at a liquor store. We pump our own gas, turn on red, and u-turns are legal unless marked otherwise. There is no smoking in public places, with the exception of bars and casinos. We pay tax on non food items. We wear helmets when we ride motorcycles. And our police cruisers have red AND blue lights!

[ 01-10-2003, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: DebiDebiDebi ]

[MargaretJ]

Oh I have another one. We lived in alot of different states before moving to Georiga years ago. We always called those little cheap rubber sandals "thongs". When we 1st moved to Georgia & asked at a Drug Store if they had thongs they looked at us like we were nuts. In Georgia they are called Flip Flops, thongs can be bought at Victoria Secrets not a Drug Store.

[*Pixie*Dust*]

Originally posted by MargaretJ:
In Georgia they are called Flip Flops, thongs can be bought at Victoria Secrets not a Drug Store.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">ROTFLOL
Well, here in NJ:
we wear flipflops and sneakers

drink soda

turn right on red but we can't make U-turns(NJ is the home of the first highway clover leaf [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] )

all alcohol must be purchased at a liquor store and we can get it on Sunday, but only after 12pm

Smoking is not allowed on school grounds or in public buildings

NJ was also the home of the first drive-in theatre, but there aren't any left in the state [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Bert & Sully]

Ok I'm originally from the midwest; flatlands of Illinois to be exact but wound up doing most of my growing up in Connecticut where only beer is sold in a grocery store. Wine, and anything stronger is bought in a liquor store (or if you're from upstate a package store). When my mother moved to Georgia in '91 with UPS I was spellbound with the mere thought of purchasing WINE in a grocery store!! Same held true when I moved up to Central NY. I'm on the panhandle of Florida now where they sell wine in the grocery store as well. I thought I went thru alot of "culture shock" moving up to Ithaca [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] until I moved down HERE [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] . When going to Wakulla Springs one is NOT going to the beach as I was corrected on a daily basis my first year. My favorite bottled water is Poland Springs Lemon or Lime. I have to buy a few cases when visiting the Atlanta area. I was spoiled in Ithaca with Wegman's. Down here it's the W-D (Winn-Dixie) which is THE PITS!! I try to get to Publix as much as I can. I have even resorted to the Co-op for Organic veggies as the W-D has a Gaaaawd-awful time with freshness....Grrrrr.....but that's a WHOLE nother story!

I got a good cackle out of Patty C's post because that's the norm down here. I learned the hard way if they ain't calling ya Miz Eeeelaine" they ain't got respect for you! It drove me nuts my first summer working with the local kids and DH kept yelling at me to quit telling them "I'm Elaine, just Elaine, not your mother, not your aunt, not your grandmother, etc etc, just ELAINE!!". They are raised to respect adults that way. Well bein' the YANKEE I am that's STILL difficult to this day. One of my bestfriend's down here finally realized if she didn't let her kids call me by my first name we weren't going very far!" We made an agreement that in public I go by the "miz biz".... [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ...

Another funny thing is DH is from Boston area and LOVES his chowda', lobster, shrimp salad roll,etc etc. Down here they have hot dog rolls but not those blunt-ended ones used for shrimp salad....Pet peeve of HIS! As a joke his brother will send a few bags down from time to time say for his birthday or X-mas, etc.

Amazingly enough we DO pump our own gas here in Mayberry.

We also call people on the bus at WDW admiring [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] armadillos 'tourists'. People who walk around wearing shorts in 50 degree temps 'snowbirds'.

We have second-run movie theatres here that are only $.50-1.00 depending on when you go. IE: We took my mom to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding last Sunday afternoon for only $.50 each. We had something similar, though not as cheap, in Ithaca although mostly European movies. My first introduction to these type theatres was when my younger brother moved down to my mom's in Atlanta to finish school. I just assumed they were in most college towns.... [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] .....

Ok, when I started this post I had a bunch more differences to post about down here that have COMPLETELY left my cranium so I may be back when the brain cramp dissipates [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] .

Signed: (Miz) Elaine

[katerkat]

[quote]Originally posted by Happy&Grumpy:

turn right on red but we can't make U-turns(NJ is the home of the first highway clover leaf [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] )

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Oh, and jughandles! We have jughandles! My hubby didn't understand those at all!

[FanOfMickey]

Tax in Pa. is 6% unless you live in Alegheney County, then it is 7% [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Janine

[pflamingo]

What wasn't culture shock, moving to central Georgia??

Sales tax - rate differs from place to place, but everything is taxed, including food and TP (just at lower rate).

Tea - I don't know about the rest of GA, but around Macon you get sweet tea unless you specify otherwise -- and then they look at you funny. Now, I was raised by Canadians, one generation removed from England. When I ask for "tea", I'm thinking hot water with a bag.

The first question you get asked when you move to Macon is "what church do you go to?" Since I consider religion to be a very personal thing, and since non-Christians are really in the minority here, I used to relish telling people I was a Taoist (a whuuut??), or that I belonged to the Unitarian church (which made them step back, rather quickly).

You pump your own gas here. If you can find a place that'll do it for you, you pay more.

You already know where to buy beer/wine/liquor here, and you can't buy it on Sunday, and you have to remember that Sunday begins at midnight on Saturday night. I confess, I thought alcohol sales laws in PA were pretty strange the first time we visited Dennis' parents there.

There are restaurants here where the menus actually have "breakfast", "lunch" and "dinner" written on them. That's all, except for the price of each. Breakfast will always include grits.

No one here thinks they have a Southern accent. You can't tell if a person is asking for a "pen", to write with or a "pin", as in "safety", since both are pronounced "pee-in".

They're still arguing about whether or not the Confederate flag should be part of the state flag, and wondering why some people are offended by it (it's only been there since the 1950's, put on as a reaction to desegregation). Before that, it was just the state seal on the flag.

Okay, good things. I rarely have to worry about getting Coke vs. Pepsi, since more places have Coke.

Pecan tree in my front yard (yum!). [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

Fresh peaches. [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

It's mostly warm and hardly ever snows.

Great barbeque (though I still think the best bottle-barbeque sauce I've ever tasted was Maull's, which I've only ever found in the Mid-West)

And the best thing about central GA...
It's really close to Florida!

[GoofyMom]

When we visited the United States for the first time (25 years ago), I will never forget the shock and disappointment I experienced in Montana. We stopped in at a diner and ordered a hamburger, chips and iced tea. Well the burger was fine. For the chips we got a small bag of Lays potato chips -- I wanted French fries. And the iced tea was just hot tea poured over ice -- ew. The latest difference we've come across in the U.S. was in Anaheim, Cal. when we went to gas up the rental car (at a self serve station). We had to prepay! My DH asked the attendant how he was supposed to pay for gas when he didn't know how much gas it needed? At least he got change back from the guy after he had filled up, because we weren't certain if they would just lock up the building and laugh at us after we were done filling up.

I've experienced all sorts of cultural differences just in our move from Saskatchewan to Manitoba (next door neighbour provinces). In Sask, alcoholic beverages at a pro or semi pro sports game may only be consumed behind the line painted on the floor of the concourse level of the arena -- not in the stands. In Man, there is a person who carries around a large backpack full of beer and also has hard liquor which they sell throughout the stands just as if it's popcorn. In Sask you must be 19 to consume alcohol, in Man you only have to be 18. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] You may only buy alcohol in a liquor store or a "Cold Beer Store". In Sask you may not carry your alcoholic beverage around in a public place. An example is: you go to a restaurant and sit in the bar enjoying an adult beverage while waiting for your table. When they tell you your table is ready, the waiter/waitress will pick up your drinks for you and carry them on their tray, then set them down at your table for you. In Manitoba you may carry your own drink.

Manitoba has "socials" which is kind of a fund-raising pre-wedding dance. You pay an entry fee, buy liquor, buy raffle tickets, etc, etc with the money going to the bride and groom. They also have socials for people who, for example, have a sick kid who needs to travel out of province for medical attention and the parents need to stay in a hotel during the kid's treatment, or for, say, someone who's home burned down and they lost everything in the fire.

Manitoba has a 7% provincial sales tax on pretty much everything except unprepared food and children's clothing. We also pay 7% GST (goods and services tax affectionately known as the gouge and scr*w tax [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) which is the Federal sales tax which is also paid on everything except unprepared food. Essentially we pay 14% taxes on everything we buy. [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

Sorry this is so long, there's many other differences I've come across, but I'll stop now. [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]