Why do people say they are from DC when they are not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this thread hilarious - well really just OP's rant - because I used to think the same way - in high school and college. I'm from DC - and I mean in the city, born and raised. In college, we hated it when the suburban kids would say they're from DC, because being from DC gave you some street cred (even though I was raised in upper NW) and we felt the suburban kids didn't deserve it. But, uh, I'm 33 now, and really could care less. Also curious if OP is actually a DC native ...

LOL! Did I go to high school with you?? I was thinking the same thing going through this thread! I figured the OP was some GW or AU kid originally from bumble-butt Iowa and is renting an apartment in Adam's Morgan and is really excited to be a city girl now and wants to put down anyone that isn't "legit."

I am right there with you - and probably knew both of you in HS! I am third generation DC born and raised and felt the same way, until I got out and saw a bit more of the world. I live in Kensington now, am married with kids and I couldn't care less where people say they are from. My guess is that OP is not a native, otherwise, why the oversensitivity? BTW - still love DC, but also love where I live now. I never feel like I need to compensate for my address. Oh brother.

Wow...from DC to Kensington...you really took a leap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this thread hilarious - well really just OP's rant - because I used to think the same way - in high school and college. I'm from DC - and I mean in the city, born and raised. In college, we hated it when the suburban kids would say they're from DC, because being from DC gave you some street cred (even though I was raised in upper NW) and we felt the suburban kids didn't deserve it. But, uh, I'm 33 now, and really could care less. Also curious if OP is actually a DC native ...

LOL! Did I go to high school with you?? I was thinking the same thing going through this thread! I figured the OP was some GW or AU kid originally from bumble-butt Iowa and is renting an apartment in Adam's Morgan and is really excited to be a city girl now and wants to put down anyone that isn't "legit."

I am right there with you - and probably knew both of you in HS! I am third generation DC born and raised and felt the same way, until I got out and saw a bit more of the world. I live in Kensington now, am married with kids and I couldn't care less where people say they are from. My guess is that OP is not a native, otherwise, why the oversensitivity? BTW - still love DC, but also love where I live now. I never feel like I need to compensate for my address. Oh brother.

Most people who actually live in DC identify with their neighborhood and ward more than the city as a whole. Since downtown lost the stores people i know shop in Tysons. Even if the stores like woody's were still around they might go to tysons anyway - blame tysons.

[Anonymous]

I'm from Ohio. I live in DC now. But really, if I was away somewhere and someone asked me where I live, I'd say DC even if I lived in Bethesda, Silver Spring, etc. It's just small talk. "Well, I live in Silver Spring, Maryland, but just inside the Beltway..." Most people really don't care that much. DC is a close enough answer. Just like I'm sure Evanston is a lovely town, but you can really get away with saying Chicago. Unless, like someone mentioned earlier, the other person is also from the area or has been here, etc, and actually knows what you're talking about when you say Takoma Park...

[Anonymous]

I tell people I am from Maryland. I take great pride in telling local people that I am THE White Republican in PG county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, where are you actually from? I am from DC, meaning I grew up there, in Woodley Park. I now live in Bethesda, but I consider myself from DC because that is where I grew up. I think it is very weird for people who moved to DC in their 20s to say they are from there because I think that question means "where did you grow up?". When I lived in NY and was traveling and people asked where are you from, I would say that I lived in NY but was from DC. I'm willing to bet that anyone on this thread who keeps talking about living in "the city" of DC is a transplant. It's a district, not a city, and I've never heard anyone who grew up here say they lived in "the city". It's called living "in town" or "in DC." So, I'm glad you feel really cool about where you live now, but if you're from Ohio, you're from Ohio. No need to try to join the DC snobbery (I have been guilty of it) this late in the game. Thanks for playing, though.

We're making DC a city. The state of things as they were a generation ago is not so relevant now. There's no grandfather clause limiting voting and property ownership to people who grew up here or whose great-grandparents chewed straw here. Some rebranding is in order.

I'm "from" a much bigger city and am proud to say so, but I live in DC.

[Anonymous]

10:37 here clarifying that I'm not OP.

[Anonymous]

I give the OP a 9.5/10 for this one. Good work.

[Anonymous]

What does that mean?

[Anonymous]

I am on the phone with my bank asking for my ABA number and the operator says: I can see your account is in Washington DC
I live in VA.

So OP, I don't think you have a point. We fly to DC, we have accounts in DC, heck we even take the DC metro system!

yet we also live in VA and MD.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in DC for 5 years (Adams Morgan) and I only know one person in my neighborhood who grew up in DC, and a few others who grew up in suburban Maryland. I don't know the proportion of NW residents who are "transplants" but would expect that it is very high. Could we be the majority?

[zumbamama]

When I am asked where I am from, and I answer, "Arlington" or "DC," the person asking will always re-ask, "No, where are you really from?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does that mean?

It means you all got taken for a ride on the express train to trollville.

[Anonymous]

zumbamama wrote:When I am asked where I am from, and I answer, "Arlington" or "DC," the person asking will always re-ask, "No, where are you really from?"

You must be Asian if they're asking that.

[Anonymous]

As many other posters have mentioned, I say DC area when talking to people out of the area but locally, I tell people McLean. When we DID live in DC, locally, I told people Cleveland Park not DC.

Maybe some people think DC sounds better than the suburbs but personally, I rather like being a Virginian. I do think it is confusing to say Virginia though as I grew up in Central Virginia close to North Carolina and it is NOTHING like NoVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this thread hilarious - well really just OP's rant - because I used to think the same way - in high school and college. I'm from DC - and I mean in the city, born and raised. In college, we hated it when the suburban kids would say they're from DC, because being from DC gave you some street cred (even though I was raised in upper NW) and we felt the suburban kids didn't deserve it. But, uh, I'm 33 now, and really could care less. Also curious if OP is actually a DC native ...

LOL! Did I go to high school with you?? I was thinking the same thing going through this thread! I figured the OP was some GW or AU kid originally from bumble-butt Iowa and is renting an apartment in Adam's Morgan and is really excited to be a city girl now and wants to put down anyone that isn't "legit."

I am right there with you - and probably knew both of you in HS! I am third generation DC born and raised and felt the same way, until I got out and saw a bit more of the world. I live in Kensington now, am married with kids and I couldn't care less where people say they are from. My guess is that OP is not a native, otherwise, why the oversensitivity? BTW - still love DC, but also love where I live now. I never feel like I need to compensate for my address. Oh brother.

Wow...from DC to Kensington...you really took a leap.

But according to the OP - I have lost all my upper NW street cred and am now a dreaded suburbanite. I crossed that boundry baby. (btw - I did actually lived in other cities, SF, NY, London - before I landed back in DC - ooops, I mean the town of Maryland).