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Compared to the volunteer fire department in most small towns, the number of fire departments in the city might lead you to that conclusion. |
| I have never wanted to live in a small town and grew up in a mid-sized city. |
It's funny when city people visit the small towns. Every stray animal is rabid. Every snake is some deadly, poisonous viper. All the bugs are "eating them alive." You sometimes have to walk more than block to get somewhere. If you don't have something, you improvise until the next time you make it to the store or borrow something from a neighbor. Of course, city people already know everything, so you can't tell them anything they don't already know. |
Similarly, when small town folks (and they're always folks) come to the city, they walk around clutching their overstuffed tourist backpacks as if every person they encounter (especially every person blessed with more melanin than they are) is going to rip it off their body. They refuse to ride the Green Line, because the last time they were in DC, for the Glen Beck rally, someone told them it wasn't safe. They go to dinner at something in the Farmers and Fishers family and then proclaim that the food in DC isn't all that, failing to recognize that they went to one of the chains that caters to tourists and yes, is complete crap. And then they return home proclaiming the superiority of small town living, in the same breath that they complain about the price of gas for their F-150, because they have to drive all over hell's creation to run their errands. Funny, indeed. Enjoy Applebee's. |
| I once spent a month in a tiny town of 2500 people in med school. I was living in Boston at the time, and many locals pretty much thought big cities were dens of iniquity where you have to resist getting addicted to drugs and debauchery, like a real life Pleasure Island from Pinocchio. Which is funny because I thought Boston was pretty provincial as far as American cities go. This was a few years before meth and opiate abuse came to small towns, so I’m sure that small southern town didn’t weather that well. |
Small towns don't attract chains. My small town didn't even have the obligatory McDonalds. It's the local bar or diner. |
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I grew up in a small town and would never want to move back. Maybe... maaaaybe when I'm in my old lady busybody stage of life I'll move back.
Because honestly, small towns are full of two things: ex-jocks who still wax on about their glory days and nosy busybody old ladies who know & spread all the gossip. I remember one time I was with a friend who got a speeding ticket and my mom knew before I got home. And my friend got the ticket ON MY STREET! Like, maybe 5 minutes from my house. They say the coconut wireless is fast but the granny wireless is faster, IMO. |
| People in my small (4k people) midwestern home town either (1) love the city and couldn’t wait to get there (like me); (2) love the shopping in the city but hate the crowds and traffic, so only go when they have to; or (3) are terrified of the city because of all the gangs and shootings and would never dare go. |
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I am from a small town. Loved in Boston and DC, now live in the Midwest on the outskirts in a midsize town.
I find that “city” people and “small town” people both make a lot of assumption about each other. In the same way the post here mocks small town people for being nervous in the city, they are often nervous in a small town. They also have this idea that it is unsafe in a small town if you are a minority. Which I find hilarious, because half my Hicksville backwood good ol’ boys and girls are in interracial marriages…way more than my DC elite friends. I wish we’d all take a deep breath and realize there are good and bad people everywhere. |
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I always lived in midsized to large cities until I settled in a small town about 12 years ago. I love it here. I like day trips to cities sometimes, and feel comfortable there - I have no problem navigating public transportation, don't have an exaggerated sense of fear, etc. Sometimes I'll spend a few days in a city for a vacation or a conference and it's fine. But I have zero desire to live in one again.
I doubt that I represent all small town people though. We're not all the same. |
| Driving in the city is incredibly stressful, which makes the whole experience pretty unpleasant. I think that’s a bigger factor than people think. |
Agreed. I actually find city people to be more judgmental and more likely to make lazy stereotypes about small town people than the opposite. |
| They hates it, precious! |
I think it depends on how you define lazy. My sister lives in the country and never walks anywhere. They drive all the time, even if it’s to a different store in the same shopping center. We walk all the time because things are accessible and parking is difficult. On the other hand, we’re far more likely to have something delivered because that’s easier and not too expensive, especially if I would’ve had to pay for parking. She never has things delivered because they’re used to driving everywhere for errands and they live so far away from restaurants and stores that most places don’t offer the service or charge a lot for it. She thinks I’m a little lazy for relying on deliveries, and I think she’s a little lazy for driving even when she can walk. It’s all about perspective. |