13 Things You Learn Right Away when You Move to California from Wisconsin
In honor of Professor Christine Hurt's list on her 2nd anniversary of moving to Wisconsin from Texas, I thought I would try my own list at adjusting to life in California after moving from Wisconsin:
1. Californians do not drink beer 7 days a week. Californians do not drink alcohol 7 days a week. Interesting. Californians also view 'Sconis as huge drinkers (via John T. Hein). Well, although that is interesting, it doesn't surprise me.
2. Californians are constantly complaining about the price of gasoline. I don't really know why, cause the price seems pretty similar to me when back at home. Maybe $.05 to $.10 more expensive. Big whoppee.
3. Northern Californians hate Southern Californians, but not the other way around. Kind of like 'Sconis and F.I.B.s or F.I.S.H. So, I feel right at home in that little rivalry. From my research, it seems the only thing neat about SoCal is Disneyland - which is like the coolest thing ever in California, so much cooler than Disney World.
Stupid Southern Californians... SOCAL... SO WHAT!?!
4. California does not have towns or villages: only cities. If you ask them about towns or villages they will think you are a time traveller who has just arrived in a time machine from England about 350 years ago. I am not making this up.
5. Red Lobster is not considered a good restaurant. In California, it is on par with a Sizzler. I am not making this up. If someone asks you where you went for a graduation dinner or dinner for something special, and you say Red Lobster, people will definitely think you are white trash.
6. People from the midwest have an accent. It is called the Midwestern Accent. Allegedly, we pronounce words like, "Minnesota" and "Wisconsin" incorrectly. I am not making this up. Further notice goes to pronouncing, "Coke" or "Coat". I am sure more of my "mispronunciations" will be brought to my attention with time. Oh yeah, UW means University of Washington. Stupid.
7. Brats are not a staple to a Californian's diet. In fact, a couple of days before my arrival, Paige's mom, Gail, noted a sign in the local supermarket saying, 'Do something daring... Do brats tonight'. This is a true story, and I will post a picture the next time I go out for a "Coke".
8. Here is something that is actually beautiful. After sunset, the sky takes a while to turn black. It transitions into a indigo, matted over a dark blue, matted over a blue, matted over a light blue, on down to the horizon. It persists in this shading for much longer than I can ever remember it doing in Wisconsin. I think the first time I ever noticed this was on a trip out west to Arizona. It is actually more pronounced in California. and very beautiful.
9. Here's a good one: there are no Hardee's in California. None. Instead, they have Carl Jr.'s. Not that significant so far, right. Well, Carl's Jr. has the similar menu and the same logo as Hardee's - the smiling star character. They also have the same commercials. Pretty creepy. The food is not exactly the same though, and might be a little bit better. They have $6 Burgers out here, can't remember if they have those back in Wisconsin. Their corporate website doesn't really clarify matters either.
10. In addition, there are no Marshall Fields or Boston Stores out here, but Macy's. There are no Pick 'n' Save, Sentry, Copp's, Piggly Wiggly, but Safeway, Raleys, Ralphs, and Albertsons (plus a bunch of other grocery stores down in SoCal).
11. If your food was cooked outside, you are eating barbequed "insert"
12. No Fish Fry. NONE. Not even during Lent.
13. And Drumroll please... No Frozen Custard. NONE. No Culver's, No Kopp's, No Michael's, No Oscar's... No frozen custard. And you'd think with all their advertisements on having the "Happy Cows" that they would have the cows make the thing that makes people happiest - frozen custard. Well, they don't. If I started selling frozen custard, I would have a monopoly on the California frozen custard market from day 1. Say frozen custard to someone, they will have no idea what you are talking about.
So, that is my list of 13 Things You Learn Right Away When You Move to California from Wisconsin. I will update the post with additional things that might be different that have slipped my mind.
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7 comments:
Interesting observations.......fun to read. I must however comment on item #6 regarding Midwestern "accents".......well, you do!!!! and I for one find it very charming. I don't consider an accent as "mispronouciation". I'm always happy to hear a regional accent. It seems with our TV world everyone sounds alike....like news broadcasters. By the way I think it's great if someone thinks I have a California accent......whatever that might be.
Good list, and all very true. Barbecue may have more regional meanings than any other word.
By the way, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are owned by the same parent company.
"5. Red Lobster is not considered a good restaurant. In California, it is on par with a Sizzler. I am not making this up. If someone asks you where you went for a graduation dinner or dinner for something special, and you say Red Lobster, people will definitely think you are white trash."
This is also true in Wisconsin. If someone told me they went to Red Lobster for a graduation dinner I would think they are white trash. So this is really a similarity, not a difference.
I disagree. At least not where I was raised -- but then again, I could be white trash. I believe my little brother had his graduation dinner at Red Lobster, and we all had the Ultimate Feast, which was quite tasty. The tab was extremely north of cheap. Yeah, me and my little brother were both confronted by the anti-Red Lobster bias first when we came-out to California.
I worked at The Olive Garden in Eau Claire, WI for a few years in college. The OG is owned by the same corporation that owns Red Lobster. People in EC seemed to think they were nice restaurants too. I don't think it's a Wisconsin vs. California thing as much as it's a small town (like Eau Claire) vs. city with more restaurants. It's expensive compared to burger joints, but it's cheap for seafood. The only time I would go was in college when I had the employee discoutn and we'd get 30 shrimp for like 11 bucks. If that's not WT, what is?
What communities, outside of Milwaukee and Madison, qualify as being large enough not to be automatically white-trash in Wisconsin?
Per #10, note that there are no Trader Joe's in Wisconsin...yet, though Trader Joe's keeps promising to come to Milwaukee (and has been doing so for a couple of years).
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