On being Northwestern

In the past few months I've connected with some guys from my hometown area: the Northwestern United States.

One is from Oregon and the other is from the Seattle area. They are housemates and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and hanging out at their house. And I've noticed something I had forgotten about my Northwestern kin folk. We can be verbally abusive and acidic in a friendly way with each other without offending one another and I just eat it up when I find people who "get that" about Northwesterners. I think of my friend Schuyler and his similar traits.

These guys just take me back to so much of the verbal sparing of my first 20 years of life in the Northwest. There's something tremendously sharp-tongued in a very witty sort of way about Northwesterners. You just have to be on your toes because we don't use trite platitudes, references to the obvious as pleasantry or repetitive phrases like "how are you today" without really wanting to know? Authenticity is highly valued there. Growing up, I don't remeber people asking me questions if they didn't want to know the answer... like "how you doing?" as they walk away. That kind of repetition is considered as boring and uncreative. That kind of insincere "pleasantry" is viewed suspiciously and platitudes are a waste of breath when one could say something meaningful and worthwhile.

So upon moving to South Carolina in 1997, you can only imagine what I had to learn there to get along. In fact, many I've met over that past 11 years on the East Coast tend to think me pretty rough around the edges and down right rude. But over the years, I've softened my language and learned to say "how are you" to everyone all day long as a kind gesture and make pleasant, fluffy statements about the obvious (like how cold it is or how warm it is or how good your new haircut looks). But meeting my new friends has brought back a side of me that I nearly forgot is an authentically Northwestern trait; ACTUALLY SAYING SOMETHING YOU TRULY THINK when you should be "making nice" despite the chance you'll offend the listener in some way.

And even more strange when I go back to Seattle in my mind there is something else I forgot. Children call their elder relatives and adult acquaintances by their first names (but not our teachers)... without appended titles like "Uncle" Joe or "Aunt" Kathy. The culture of those families root there since the 1800s (not transplants) is to call our aunt and uncle "Joe" or "Kathy" rather than "Uncle Joe" or "Aunt Kathy." And my neighbors growing up were "Steve" and "Nancy"... not "Mr. and Mrs.
Bergman" as they are usually called by children in my experience here on the East Coast (or is it just the South)?

Anyway, I've also noticed that my larger vocabulary returns around these guys. I remember words I have been unable to use for the past 10 years without getting odd and bewildered looks. In the Northwest, there is a mastery of the witty use of language and an expansive use of those rare vocabulary words you haven't heard since high school SATs. In 2005 and 2007, it has swapped places with Minneapolis, MN as the 1st or 2nd mot literate city in the USA. See
http://www.livescience.com/health/071227-literate-cities.html and

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2005-11-28-seattle-literate_x.htm

Now, I don't want to overplay this. Everybody has something special about the region where they grew up. But when you become a stranger in a strange land, it can be lost and forgotten just how different you are in your heart of hearts, until you meet your kindred people.

It's just a funny observation. Nothing more. :)