People who lie about where they're from

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll also answer with a generic but not untruthful response.
It is one of those questions I tend to get from awkward people who are maybe not so good at small talk and who I may not want to tell exactly where I grew up and lived.

Yes, interesting that OP mentions that they hear so many of those types of responses. It may say more about OP than the people giving the answers TBH.

[Anonymous]

Why did Hilaria Baldwin lie in so many interviews about being from Spain? Because she wanted to seem more sophisticated, cooler, SPECIAL. That's what it really comes down to- someone who feels like theyre just "not enough". A little self hate mixed with a dash of Machiavellian "I will MAKE myself into an interesting person, come hell or high water!" You gotta have a little psychopathy as well, which comes with a lack of regard for the truth if it stands in the way of a goal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

Idk but there are likely dozens of reasons for them not volunteering any personal information and your question being annoying is probably the first reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

Idk but there are likely dozens of reasons for them not volunteering any personal information and your question being annoying is probably the first reason.

The fact that you find that question annoying says more about you than you realize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t want to tell you their personal business.

It’s none of your business where they’re from, or why they do or don’t tell you any of their background.

Maybe their parents are state senators and they’re just trying to blend in here.

Maybe they grew up in foster care.

Maybe their parents were serial killers and you would know it by the state and their last name.

Maybe their family is super wealthy and they don’t want anyone to know.

Maybe it’s NONE of your business.

So you've never asked a Hispanic Indian Asian or African where they're from?

I get asked all the time despite my family being dc natives since the 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

Interesting. I think it's wherever you lived out your childhood so I'd say Colorado. The other cities weren't a big part of your growing up in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also answer with a generic but not untruthful response.
It is one of those questions I tend to get from awkward people who are maybe not so good at small talk and who I may not want to tell exactly where I grew up and lived.

Yes, interesting that OP mentions that they hear so many of those types of responses. It may say more about OP than the people giving the answers TBH.

Op has got a point though. Jon Leguizamo said he was Puerto Rican for decades until he came put as a Colombian when it became cool in Hollywood.

Heck this is America. Even people like Rachel dolezal fabricate their ethnicity. And we have so so many immigrants who deny what city they're from especially if they came from the poorer sections of the country. This is a land of fake it til you make it or fake rich types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

People don't mature after 18? That's an interesting idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

People don't mature after 18? That's an interesting idea.

Not in the way they do during childhood and young adulthood. That's why we, as a society, consider it the benchmark age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

Where am I from, OP? What response could I give (that won't bore people to tears) that "truthfully" answers your question?

My parents were living in Beirut but temporarily relocated to Paris for a few months when I was born for access to better medical care, but returned to Beirut where we lived until I was four. I did K-Grade 2 in Harare, Grades 3-5 in Hanoi, Grade 6 in DC, Grades 7-9 in Bogota, and Grades 10-12 in Tunis.

I spent my "formative years" in multiple countries across four continents. I went to French schools in Harare and Hanoi, public school in DC, a Swiss school in Bogota (where I learned German and Spanish) and an American school in Tunis. FWIW I have a US and EU passport (French and American parents).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people lie about the city they grew up in? I live in a major city with a very high transplant percentage and it's amazing to me how many people will beat around the bush to say they're from "here" when the truth is they grew up in Duluth, Minnesota or Astoria, Oregon or whatever. Is it because they want to seem more cosmopolitan? What is the pathology at play?

OP, I was born in Boston and moved almost immediately to Colorado until I was in middle school, followed by 10 years in Wisconsin, and then 15 years in DC. I now live in CA. Where do you think I should tell people I'm from, realistically? I tell people in CA that I moved there from DC, which is true. Arguably, I'm a lot more from DC than I am from Boston or CO. I have no affinity with or allegiance to the state of Wisconsin at all. Why should I claim those places because I was a child there?

If this is a serious question, then the answer is quite obvious. "I grew up in (city name) Colorado and (city name) Wisconsin" since that's where you spent your formative years. Going to college in DC and then spending some early working years there is largely irrelevant since you spent your time there after you had reached adulthood and were "fully formed", so to speak. Whenever asks "where are you from" theyre asking where you grew up- it's really not even a complicated answer, in your case.

Where am I from, OP? What response could I give (that won't bore people to tears) that "truthfully" answers your question?

My parents were living in Beirut but temporarily relocated to Paris for a few months when I was born for access to better medical care, but returned to Beirut where we lived until I was four. I did K-Grade 2 in Harare, Grades 3-5 in Hanoi, Grade 6 in DC, Grades 7-9 in Bogota, and Grades 10-12 in Tunis.

I spent my "formative years" in multiple countries across four continents. I went to French schools in Harare and Hanoi, public school in DC, a Swiss school in Bogota (where I learned German and Spanish) and an American school in Tunis. FWIW I have a US and EU passport (French and American parents).

What would be so bad about saying something like "I grew up all over- predominantly Hanoi, Bogota, and Tunis"? And if they want more details they can ask? Even so, it seems strange to act like this is the reality for most people, when you seem to be well aware this is an outlier. But even in an extreme case like yours, naming the three places you lived the longest wouldn't take more than 5 seconds. Why are you acting like this a crazy situation that you're truly incapable of handling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t want to tell you their personal business.

It’s none of your business where they’re from, or why they do or don’t tell you any of their background.

Maybe their parents are state senators and they’re just trying to blend in here.

Maybe they grew up in foster care.

Maybe their parents were serial killers and you would know it by the state and their last name.

Maybe their family is super wealthy and they don’t want anyone to know.

Maybe it’s NONE of your business.

So you've never asked a Hispanic Indian Asian or African where they're from?

I get asked all the time despite my family being dc natives since the 70s.

We are first gen and I do not find any of these questions odd, at all. Why are DC area people seemingly so paranoid? It is a point of conversation. Converse or don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll also answer with a generic but not untruthful response.
It is one of those questions I tend to get from awkward people who are maybe not so good at small talk and who I may not want to tell exactly where I grew up and lived.

Yes, interesting that OP mentions that they hear so many of those types of responses. It may say more about OP than the people giving the answers TBH.

Op has got a point though. Jon Leguizamo said he was Puerto Rican for decades until he came put as a Colombian when it became cool in Hollywood.

Heck this is America. Even people like Rachel dolezal fabricate their ethnicity. And we have so so many immigrants who deny what city they're from especially if they came from the poorer sections of the country. This is a land of fake it til you make it or fake rich types.

I can't imagine being ashamed of my true backstory. What an awful way to live.