So I know this has been done in different fashions, but I was curious what's your instant sterotype of a state. I don't know why I always find this so interesting, but I find it fascinating what some states are known for - and wonder how these views developed. I don't care if it's good or bad, I'm just curious what they are. We ALL know that they aren't true, and I'm DEFINITELY not trying to get people to defend any of these. I've been to all 50 states, and I love them all - but if you were to say a state name, this is what would instantly pop into my head before I had a chance to think.
Think The Simpsons. They're excellent at doing this. The Simpsons go to Alabama to live - a week later they show them wearing overalls sitting on a porch talking with slow southern drawls and chewing on long grass. Of course that isn't true, but you scream Alabama, and this is the picture I get in my head.
Place, then people.
Alabama Place: Smaller towns and cities, hot, rural in nature. People: Southern drawl, race issues, religious.
Alaska Place: Mountains, very sparsly populated. People: Rugged, white or natives.
Arizona Place: Empty except for Phoenix, sprawling, beautiful. People: Old people and transplants, riding on Californias coattails.
Arkansas Place: Small towns, wooded, farms. People: Simple, a little hillbilly-ish. Lots of pickup trucks.
California Place: Very diverse state, two huge cities, desert in south, mountains in north. People: Lots of transplants, feel like the rest of the country are their "accessories". Blonds at the beach, hispanics doing all the manual labor.
Colorado Place: Mountains, ski resorts, Denver is the only city. People: No real sterotype I can think of here. Nice people, young.
Connecticut Place: North of NYC, lots of little cities. People: Rich, people living off NYC.
Delaware Place: Small! coastal. People: Really get no image, stuck between large cities with not much of a voice.
Florida Place: Palm trees, beach, people living in cities. People: Lots of old people, lots of transplants, lots of snobs in the cities, hillbillies in the central areas.
Georgia Place: Low mountains, Atlanta. People: Atlanta as the capital of the upper class blacks, more race issues and ignorance in the rural areas.
Hawaii Place: Beaches, mountains, isolated. People: Natives of the area, easy going, friendly.
Idaho Place: Mountains, isolated. People: No real image, not "mountain people", but not cosmopolitan.
Illinois Place: Chicago, farms, flat. People: "city" types in Chicago, rural hics downstate.
Indiana Place: Indy, farms. People: Very republican, white, conservative.
Iowa Place: Flat, rural, farms. People: hics, white, simple.
Kansas Place: Very flat, lots of wheat, nothing else there. People: Rural people, simple, nice.
Kentucky Place: Mountains, little towns. People: Mountain hics, hillbillies.
Louisiana Place: Swamps, New Orleans. People: Easy going, meandering through life, better off than Mississippi.
Maine Place: Nature, forests. People: Democrats, white, content.
Maryland Place: Smashed between DC and Philly. People: Tied to DC, Baltimore gets lost in the mix, professionals.
Massachusetts Place: Boston, coastal. People: Very democratic, white, educated, liberal.
Michigan Place: Detroit, great lakes. People: Friendly in rural areas, lots of urban poor.
Minnesota Place: Cold weather, lakes, farms. People: Friendly, white, Rose from Golden Girls.
Mississippi Place: Deep south, rural areas. People: Low education, race issues, struggling.
Missouri Place: The area between Kansas City and St. Louis, part north, part south. People: Urban poor in St. Louis, Cowboys and whites in Kansas City. Rural areas are farmers.
Montana Place: Mountains! Big sky. No people. People: Isolated, rugged, independant.
Nebraska Place: Very flat, boring, corn/wheat. People: Farmers, nice, simple.
Nevada Place: Vegas all the way. People: People actually LIVE in Nevada?
New Hampshire Place: Trees, more trees. People: Very nice and friendly, quiet life, mind their own business and want out of the rest of the countries issues.
New Jersey Place: Philly, NYC. People: The other half of NYC, cliche, loud mouths.
New Mexico Place: Rural, mountains, dry. People: Hispanic...no other impression.
New York Place: New York City. People: Fast moving, loud, annoying.
North Carolina Place: Mountains in west, coast to east. People: Transplants, near south, friendly "normal" people.
North Dakota Place: Desolate, flat, cold. People: What are they doing up there??
Ohio Place: Industrial, cities. People: Average Americans, stagnant economy.
Oklahoma Place: North of Texas, lots of Native Americans. People: Riding on the coattails of Texas. Unknown really...
Oregon Place: Pretty, Portland, clean. People: Tree huggers, friendly, busy recycling and enjoying nature.
Pennsylvania Place: Philly/Pitts with a lot of mountains in between. People: Big city on either end, mountain myserious people in between.
Rhode Island Place: Small, counching next to Boston. People: New Englanders.
South Carolina Place: Southern, Atlantic, resorts. People: Race issues, not as educated, easy going.
South Dakota Place: Mountains/farms/plains. People: Friendly, rural in nature. Work with the land a lot.
Tennessee Place: Mountains, Nashville, country music. People: Hics, country folk, but nice.
Texas Place: Very large, big cities, tornadoes. People: Big hair, loud, self absorbed, but open and friendly.
Utah Place: Rural except Salt Lake City, mountains. People: Mormans, guarded, not overly concerned with the rest of the country.
Vermont Place: That big V shaped park people in NYC go visit. People: White, nice, quiet.
Virginia Place: Colonial, hilly. People: Democrats in north, Republicans in south. Prosperous, happy.
Washington Place: Nature, pretty, Seattle. People: Friendly, clean, white, outdoorsy.
West Virginia Place: All mountains, no cities. People: Coal miners, kinda poor, flat economy. No new people moving in.
Wisconsin Place: Standard Midwestern. Great Lakes, cows. People: Lots of everyone, friendly, dairy farmers.
Wyoming Place: Open, very rural, quiet. People: Cowboys, macho, conservative.
Again, don't start defending these or getting upset, I know they're wrong and I'm not trying to start a "movement".
I'm Just curious, do you recognize any general sterotypes above? Do you have any others? Where did they come from? Media? Word of mouth? Do they go back decades? Do you think people actually believe these, or is it more like the Simpsons where they play them up so obviously - people know they really aren't true.
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