"Where do you live?" "Oh we're in North Arlington"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This kind of reminds me when we were house hunting recently. We were Arlington (South) residents looking for a larger house. We preferred South Arlington for a number of reasons, but larger homes are in smaller supply and so we had to expand our search. We visited an open house in North Arlington and the agent asked where we currently lived. I have the neighborhood name and the response was, “Oh, so you’re looking to move up to North Arlington.” The look I shot back made her immediately regret her statement. I got my husband and we walked out. We narrowed our search back to just South Arlington after that, and it took longer, but we finally found our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you feel insecure which is why you're asking this question.

You're not the first person here to suggest I must be insecure but I'm not following the logic - what insecurity might I have that would prompt me to ask the question in the OP?

The fact that it bothers you tells me you're insecure. No different than someone being annoyed if a friend brings up that their kid got into an Ivy. It hits a sore spot - it's normal. But it's still an insecurity.

I'm less bothered than curious. My wife and I live in North Arlington but pretty close to Rt 50 (Ashton Heights/Lyon Park). She tends to respond to the "where are you from" question with North Arlington and I lean towards just saying Arlington. Or, more specifically, my response depends on where I'm having the conversation. If I'm at the park down the street I say which street, if we're in Clarendon I say which neighborhood, and if we're in DC or Fairfax I'd just say Arlington.

I said this elsewhere in the thread but to me "North Arlington" is so broad as to be almost useless in clarifying where you live. I can walk to Columbia Pike a mile away in South Arlington but there are parts of far North Arlington that would be a 12-15 minute drive. The "North Arlington" response strikes me as juuuuuust specific enough to make it clear that you don't live in South Arlington and if that's all you're trying to do it has a whiff of "well I live in the "good" part of Arlington, not that other part".

Anyway, I asked here because I'm curious how other people interpret that response. It looks like most people don't see anything wrong with it but there's certainly a smaller group of people who read it the same way I do.

Yeah, that sounds like she’s trying to signify something vs giving a better locator. If you wanted to tell someone from the general DC area where you live, near Clarendon, near Ballston, or even close to Arlington Cemetery are all going to be more precise and identifiable than saying N Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of reminds me when we were house hunting recently. We were Arlington (South) residents looking for a larger house. We preferred South Arlington for a number of reasons, but larger homes are in smaller supply and so we had to expand our search. We visited an open house in North Arlington and the agent asked where we currently lived. I have the neighborhood name and the response was, “Oh, so you’re looking to move up to North Arlington.” The look I shot back made her immediately regret her statement. I got my husband and we walked out. We narrowed our search back to just South Arlington after that, and it took longer, but we finally found our house.

classic DCUM.

Right? That real estate agent probably thought you were bonkers. I'm a little sad that you moved within South Arlington. Us hoi polloi really aren't that uptight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This kind of reminds me when we were house hunting recently. We were Arlington (South) residents looking for a larger house. We preferred South Arlington for a number of reasons, but larger homes are in smaller supply and so we had to expand our search. We visited an open house in North Arlington and the agent asked where we currently lived. I have the neighborhood name and the response was, “Oh, so you’re looking to move up to North Arlington.” The look I shot back made her immediately regret her statement. I got my husband and we walked out. We narrowed our search back to just South Arlington after that, and it took longer, but we finally found our house.

This is possibly the dumbest anecdote of decision-making I have ever heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t matter to me. I don’t think any part of Arlington (north, south, east or west) is particularly great.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of reminds me when we were house hunting recently. We were Arlington (South) residents looking for a larger house. We preferred South Arlington for a number of reasons, but larger homes are in smaller supply and so we had to expand our search. We visited an open house in North Arlington and the agent asked where we currently lived. I have the neighborhood name and the response was, “Oh, so you’re looking to move up to North Arlington.” The look I shot back made her immediately regret her statement. I got my husband and we walked out. We narrowed our search back to just South Arlington after that, and it took longer, but we finally found our house.

A lot of people us "up" synonymously with "north" and "down" with "south". For example, I say "drive up to NY" or "drive down to Florida."

I think you need to remove the chip on your shoulder and give that poor realtor some grace. It's not intended to be a slight.

Yeah, that would be my first thought as well. Up = north, down = south.

We used to live in the mountains and it always struck me as odd when someone said "we're going to drive up to Denver" when Denver was both a) south of us and b) at lower elevation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of reminds me when we were house hunting recently. We were Arlington (South) residents looking for a larger house. We preferred South Arlington for a number of reasons, but larger homes are in smaller supply and so we had to expand our search. We visited an open house in North Arlington and the agent asked where we currently lived. I have the neighborhood name and the response was, “Oh, so you’re looking to move up to North Arlington.” The look I shot back made her immediately regret her statement. I got my husband and we walked out. We narrowed our search back to just South Arlington after that, and it took longer, but we finally found our house.

Because of something a realtor who probably lives in Ashburn said to you? That is super strange decision-making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people in North Arlington so insecure?

OP sounds like the insecure one. I mean, her mindset is bizarre and anxiety-riddled. Who has “debates” about this kind of thing, let alone think about it at all, let alone start a thread about it on a message board. It’s clear OP has some issues.

It took two minutes to make this post and now I've got 10 pages of insight into how other people interpret that response. Great payback for the effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Website is defunct: http://ww1.southarlingtonmomsclub.org

but their Facebook group has 27 new posts in the past month. Only 169 members though so a far cry from the thousands in MONA

[Anonymous]

Why is this a fascination of DCUM? I live in Arlington, but relatively central. The people we know most fixated on direction are our friends who live off Columbia Pike. I think it makes sense to use N/S/W/W when you live towards the extremes. Living west means you probably hang out in Faulk church; south means you’re more likely to visit Alexandria/Fairfax. But I also find it weird when people specify North Springfield v West Springfield. I know this is supposed to mean something, but I don’t know what! Yet no one asks that on this board!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I'm in the DC area and I am not aware that North Arlington is more or less nice than other locations in Arlington.

+1 I live in Bethesda and gave plenty of friends in Arlington. I didn't know this was a "thing" ( N vs S) until I read DCUM.

I live in North Arlington. I had no idea it was thing either. But DCUM is gonna DCUM. Anything to do with perceived class (hence the threads about “how to look wealthy” and “ are women who marry well smart or lucky?”). This whole area is filled with strivers and and insecure people.

This is not a DCUM thing. This is been a thing in Arlington for quite a while! Are you aware of all of the MONA controversy? How they don’t allow any mothers from below route 50 to join?

How is that "controversial?" It's called mothers of north arlington. It's for mothers in north Arlington. Do you go also think ifs controversial when people have block parties? You include the people on your block. It's not an open invitation to all people who live in houses.

+1 This is so tiresome. MONA exists because there had been a MOMS Club of North Arlington and MOMS Club of South Arlington. When a club gets to a certain size the MOMS club national organization required that you split it up into separate groups, e.g. there would have to be a MOMS Club of Arlington Forest, MOMS Club of Clarendon, MOMS Club of Westover. The members of the NArl club didn't want to break up so they disaffiliated and made their own group. The MOMS Club of S. Arlington remained affiliated, although I don't know what form it exists in now. The excluding people south of 50 was because those moms had their own organizations.

FWIW, I would generally just say I live in Arlington. If someone knew the area, I'd be more specific about neighborhood or just that I'm near a particular metro stop.

Except the Moms Club was exclusionary from the outset for only North Arlington, and it was intention. The South Arlington chapter was founded after, and the split when it got too large, because Moms in even zip codes weren’t welcome in the Moms Club of North Arlington nor its offshoot MONA.

+1 And MONA members know what the controversy was because 1) it was covered by the new and 2) there was a big blow up on the list serve when members were questioning the group's classist and potentially racist rules. Several members left and the rest was swept under the rug. Must get ready for that next sip and shop!

[Anonymous]

^Covered by the local News.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in DC for 33 years. That would have gone right over my head because I'm clueless about Arlington and the different neighborhoods and what that means.