How do you tell a DC native from a transplant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was wild listening to the older generation talk about growing up in DC. How they hung out at a roller skating rink in the 60's and before that (during segregation) there were clubs that had no names and were basically downstairs of someone's home.

Yes! The Kalorama rink! 🛼

[Anonymous]

black DC natives--their grandparents or great parents are all from North Carolina, moved to DC to for work during WW2; they have a distinct accent that they don't share with other AAs; stick with each other, I think since they come from such large families, have many brothers, sisters, cousins in the area, really do no see need to expand social circle outward; dress in a particular way--I am AA, and feel very different from AA DC natives.

white DC natives (well white DC natives from SE DC)--grandparents or great grandparents moved from Appalachia or Northern Virginia or NC to work in DC during WW2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can tell because DC natives will announce their native status every chance they get.

And the ones in NWDC and Chevy Chase think of all friendships and social engagements as networking. That is the most distinct trait. Networking networking rather than just being friends. It is quite a strange phenomenon. What can someone do
For them either now or on the future. I don’t view people like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:black DC natives--their grandparents or great parents are all from North Carolina, moved to DC to for work during WW2; they have a distinct accent that they don't share with other AAs; stick with each other, I think since they come from such large families, have many brothers, sisters, cousins in the area, really do no see need to expand social circle outward; dress in a particular way--I am AA, and feel very different from AA DC natives.

white DC natives (well white DC natives from SE DC)--grandparents or great grandparents moved from Appalachia or Northern Virginia or NC to work in DC during WW2

-Nope. Georgia and Alabama are pretty common too. I know many families from other Southern states as well, plus smaller numbers of other states. One of my grandparents was actually from Vermont.

-All 4 of my grandparents and at least one great grandparent moved to DC prior to 1920. So, yeah, there was the Great Migration which started around 1910. There were free and enslaved Black people here prior to the Civil War, and there was a large wave of people who moved here during and immediately after the Civil War — and many stayed. Howard University and DVNBAR High School as well as civil service service jobs were big draws for Black people relocating.

-Small families are also not at all uncommon. Many families do, however, have extended family also living in the area.

-Most people that I know have much wider circles than just their “official” families, although an outsider might not realize this. The kids and grandkids from several families that I’m close too call me “Aunt” for example. I grew up with “play brothers” and “play cousins “ as well.

- I have no idea what the PP means by “dress in a particular way” so I can’t comment on that — except to say that I don’t think we all dress similarly.

-IMO, PP is over-generalizing big time. I’m curious about the “dress” comment though.

— One of the third generation DC Natives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can tell because DC natives will announce their native status every chance they get.

And the ones in NWDC and Chevy Chase think of all friendships and social engagements as networking. That is the most distinct trait. Networking networking rather than just being friends. It is quite a strange phenomenon. What can someone do
For them either now or on the future. I don’t view people like that.

That’s interesting. I’m from NW DC and that’s not at all my experience — although I do see that more with transplants. PP, when you say “social engagements” are you talking things like charity balls and work parties? Or things like baby showers and birthday parties? Or something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are nice. It's really that simple.

^This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Natives aren’t obsessed with being perceived as being in a big city, don’t refer to Virginia and Maryland as the “bridge and tunnel crowd”, don’t get all hot and bothered when someone from the MD side of Takoma says they’re from DC and insist they’re actually from Maryland and have nothing to do with DC, don’t care about your brush with some famous politician, doesn’t think “no one is from DC”, doesn’t think all cowboys fans are from Texas and knows why, and definitely doesn’t say DMV unless they mean the department of motor vehicles

+1

And the ONLY person I ever heard refer to "bridge and tunnel" wrt VA/MD was from New Jersey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a DMV-Baltimore accent.

DMV accents are not the same as Baltimore accents.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Twenty years from now, the answers will be, "You remember when
1) Jackson-Reed was called Wilson
2) Connecticut Ave used contra-flow during rush hour
3) CityLine was Fannie Mae
4) Georgetown Day and Sidwell had separated campuses
5) Rock Creek Park had car traffic north of Broad Branch
6) You used to watch movies as Mazza Gallerie

Real OGs watched movies at Union Station .

Those theaters opened in 1988.

Real OGs remember the creepy adult theaters that used to be down near Ford’s Theater, when that neighborhood was still burned out.

+1. And watched double features at the Biograph in Georgetown.

Or the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Key!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still Calls Reagan airport national

That’s me. Will never be anything but Washington National Airport.

Transplant that has lived here for 25 years. It’s national for me too. That’s what everyone called it when I moved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twenty years from now, the answers will be, "You remember when
1) Jackson-Reed was called Wilson
2) Connecticut Ave used contra-flow during rush hour
3) CityLine was Fannie Mae
4) Georgetown Day and Sidwell had separated campuses
5) Rock Creek Park had car traffic north of Broad Branch
6) You used to watch movies as Mazza Gallerie

Real OGs watched movies at Union Station .

Those theaters opened in 1988.

Real OGs remember the creepy adult theaters that used to be down near Ford’s Theater, when that neighborhood was still burned out.

+1. And watched double features at the Biograph in Georgetown.

Or the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Key!

Ding ding ding!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twenty years from now, the answers will be, "You remember when
1) Jackson-Reed was called Wilson
2) Connecticut Ave used contra-flow during rush hour
3) CityLine was Fannie Mae
4) Georgetown Day and Sidwell had separated campuses
5) Rock Creek Park had car traffic north of Broad Branch
6) You used to watch movies as Mazza Gallerie

Real OGs watched movies at Union Station .

Those theaters opened in 1988.

Real OGs remember the creepy adult theaters that used to be down near Ford’s Theater, when that neighborhood was still burned out.

+1. And watched double features at the Biograph in Georgetown.

Or the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Key!

Ding ding ding!

Who still has a biograph coin entry souvenier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a DC native, I think we are less ambitious than people who move here for their career.

Yup from another DC native!

Definitely.

100% agree, another DC native

[Anonymous]

Whenever someone says "DC proper," I know they're not from the area.

[Anonymous]

How? Well, you can’t tell a transplant anything!