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If you have lived in different parts of the US...


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... where have you felt the people were the most sincerely kind and loving? :bigear:

 

Edited to add: Please note that I am not asking about which place is "friendly," which I consider to be something distinct (and possibly less sincere) than kindness.

Edited by Sahamamama
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Western North Carolina. But also, for the most part, their lifestyle was the most, well, simple. (generally speaking). Could also have something to do with the huge "hippie" culture there as well, :lol:

 

Really? I don't know. I have met quite a few nice people. But that is all they are is nice. People don't stick around you to long. Or maybe it was me? :D (Jeez, didn't think I was that bad, I shower and brush my teeth!)

 

WNC also has its fair share of snakes in the grass too. I have been burned by a few people.

 

The people in Northwestern PA were real nice. Haven't lived there though.

 

Out of places I have lived I think eastern TN (Knox and surrounding counties) had the nicest people.

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I've lived a lot of places and I really like my neighbors here in Va.

 

OP here with a tangent -- TAMMY, your grandchildren are ADORABLE! Oh. my. goodness. That little girl is like a sugar cube, dripping with honey. Your grandson is gorgeous. You are so blessed. :D

 

Back to your regularly scheduled "kind and loving" question.... :lol:

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Haha, I guess it all depends on your state of mind and what you are used to. I spend the prior 5 years living in Florida. Nice enough people there, but how shocking it was to move to WNC and have the gas station workers look you in the eye, the neighbors bring over food your first week, the waitress apologize sincerely about her mistake and fix the bill without asking, no one running you off the road, strangers having conversations with you. Amazing!!! I am sure many of those strangers thought I was a total stuck up snob when they would start talking to me, because at first, I would be taken aback and barely have a conversation with them. I just wasnt' used to it!!

 

Really? I don't know. I have met quite a few nice people. But that is all they are is nice. People don't stick around you to long. Or maybe it was me? :D (Jeez, didn't think I was that bad, I shower and brush my teeth!)

 

WNC also has its fair share of snakes in the grass too. I have been burned by a few people.

 

The people in Northwestern PA were real nice. Haven't lived there though.

 

Out of places I have lived I think eastern TN (Knox and surrounding counties) had the nicest people.

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Grew up in NW PA, lived near Pittsburgh for a few years, near Cincy, OH and now in TN.

 

The people where I grew up in NW PA would give you the shirt off their back in the middle of a blizzard if they thought you were in need. It isn't easy living where I grew up economically, but people take care of each other, family or not. Salt of the earth.

 

Pittsburgh were good folk, too. Weird driving rules there, but good, sturdy, unpretentious people who were kind.

 

Living in the South has been a HUGE adjustment, but we really do love it here. It is a bit hard to "break in" when you've not grown up here, but we do love it here now.

 

OH? Meh. It was OK, but probably my least favorite.

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I've lived a lot of places and I really like my neighbors here in Va.

 

I've lived in two very different western states, but I've found the nicest and most caring people in southern VA. Yes, this is the south, but I've lived in both the country and the city here, and no one has ever made us feel like outsiders.

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northern Utah. Logan, UT to be exact.

 

Utah folk are incredible. If only we were LDS, or could have in good faith converted, we'd never have left. I can't comprehend why anyone who IS LDS would not live there. It is heaven. People are JUST SUCH GOOD PEOPLE.

 

We met & lived in Logan for 3 years (mid 90s). Truly awesome neighbors and people. Just amazing.

 

This past summer, we went backpacking in UT. We parked my fully loaded (6 week road trip) van at the trailhead. 2 laptops, ipad, my purse, cash, credit cards, cell phones, etc, and numerous other items in full view.

 

A week later, we backpacked out. Guy on trail about a mile from the trail head stopped to ask us about something else, and mentioned, "Did you have a blue minivan there all week?" YEP, that's us. "You left the dome light on. Folks kept mentioning it, and finally someone decided to try your door a couple days ago. It was unlocked. He turned off the lights for you, but it might be out of batteries anyway, since they were on for a few days."

 

I trotted to the parking lot (after an 8 mile pack out in the hail, on my birthday) . . . and found:

 

The lights were off. Not one item in the van was taken or disturbed. [This trailhead certainly had at least a handful of vehicles access it daily.] Not even the peanut m-n-ms on the floor board of the passenger seat. And, amazingly, the van battery wasn't dead.

 

Utah is a very special place.

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I've lived in IL, MO, NC, OH...and now I'm back in MO.

 

 

I think it depends on the size of your town and the circles you run in. There is a huge difference between Raleigh, NC and small-town, NC. There is a giant chasm between Chicago, IL and the rest of IL. I like living in a small community within driving distance of a big city.

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Not the South! (sorry to all of those who love the South, but it is not easy unless you were born here)

 

Most kind and accepting was New Mexico. I loved it there.

 

 

:) The only part of FL I consider 'south' is the rural panhandle..the rest are transplanted others? We have lived in CO, GA, WA, TN, AL...spent time 6 weeks or more in CA, NJ, PA...

 

Out of those GA or AL wins )

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Not the South! (sorry to all of those who love the South, but it is not easy unless you were born here)

 

Most kind and accepting was New Mexico. I loved it there.

 

Perspective is funny because I felt the same when I went from the South to IA and OR. It felt like you had to be born there to fit in and since we weren't it was very hard.

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Texas, most definetely.

 

If we win the lottery, we will move to Texas most likely. I loved it there. I mean a few areas acted a bit snooty but for the most part, it was pretty nice. Iowa is the least friendly place I've ever lived. I dislike this state something fierce. I accept that we have to live here but if I had a choice, I'd move anywhere in a heartbeat.

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NOT Nebraska!:glare: We've been here almost 4 years. I like to talk to dh about the "hostile natives". I'm Southern. I talk to everybody. People here look at you like you have 5 heads if you talk to them.

 

I've lived in LA, GA, SC, NY, CA, WA, and NE. Dh is from KS. The nicest people I have ever encountered were in NY. Trick-or-treating took hours because you had to stop and talk to everyone.

 

A close second would be Kansas. While I've never actually lived there, I have spent a lot of time in KS. Those guys are friendly. They will talk your ears off. Awesome people.

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Oregon.

 

I've lived in the north, south, east and west. Overall, the most sincere, least pretentious, and genuinely friendly: Oregon.

 

I've lived in NY, TX (Houston), CO, and travelled to more places. I always come back to Oregon. Kindy judgy about homeschooling, but if you drop your groceries, or are in a pickle someone always comes and helps.

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Perspective is funny because I felt the same when I went from the South to IA and OR. It felt like you had to be born there to fit in and since we weren't it was very hard.

 

Interesting. I am from outside Chicago originally and when we moved to the FL panhandle I was disappointed to find out that southerners only extended their famous hospitality to other southerners. So in total we have lived in IL, IN, FL, OK, WA and briefly in TX and AL.

 

I am obviously partial to my home in IL but outside of familiarity I would say OK has the kindest people. WA was a close second but its bit more diverse as far as kindness goes because of the larger size in population. FL/AL were by far the least friendly IMHO.

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Interesting. I am from outside Chicago originally and when we moved to the FL panhandle I was disappointed to find out that southerners only extended their famous hospitality to other southerners. So in total we have lived in IL, IN, OK, WA and briefly in TX and AL.

 

 

As a native Floridian (4 generations) I feel like I can comment on this one to why you may have been treated thus. Unfortunately, it's not your fault and probably nothing you could have done about it anyway, but at least I can explain why you were probably treated the way you were. Florida has always faced a sort of onslaught of people from the bigger cities in NY, Chicago, Boston, places in New Jersey. My whole life I've listened to people from these places complain about how much they hate it here. "It's too hot. There's nothing to do. The pizza is garbage." and on and on. It's very insulting to us who actually live here and happen to love our state just fine.

 

Think how you would feel if someone invited themselves to dinner at your house and then proceeded to insult your cooking, your house, your decor... you get my drift. It gets to the point where a lot of us hear an accent that comes from up north and immediately we get our defenses up waiting for the verbal onslaught to come.

 

I actually have met a few NY'ers who actually love it down here and they've told me candidly how much that have had to overcome because of the accent that they have. I know it's not right and you could be the nicest person in the world, but believe me, a lot of people from your city have come before you and have not been nice and people just get to the point where they've had enough and they shut you down before you have even had a chance to start. :( Trust me that people who don't carry the burden of a northern big city accent fair much better down here than those who do. It's just the way it is unfortunately.

 

So please allow me to apologize to you on behalf of my fellow Floridians who treated you in an unfriendly way up in the Panhandle. We truly are nice people at heart, but aren't too eager to be nice when we've been burned many times before iykwim. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

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northern Utah. Logan, UT to be exact.

 

Utah folk are incredible. If only we were LDS, or could have in good faith converted, we'd never have left. I can't comprehend why anyone who IS LDS would not live there. It is heaven. People are JUST SUCH GOOD PEOPLE.

 

We met & lived in Logan for 3 years (mid 90s). Truly awesome neighbors and people. Just amazing.

 

 

We stayed in Logan when we visited the Salt Lake City Olympics. We were there for only a week or so, but I agree that the people are lovely. My son lost a toy, and the hotel staff practically turned the place upside down to help us find it. Beautiful city, too.

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So please allow me to apologize to you on behalf of my fellow Floridians who treated you in an unfriendly way up in the Panhandle. We truly are nice people at heart, but aren't too eager to be nice when we've been burned many times before iykwim. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

This makes total sense however the other places I have lived have also dealt with the same issue. My husband is military so we are always moving to other military communities which by nature have people moving in from all over. Although the accent difference is not nearly as prominent so maybe that's the real issue.

 

Not sure that I am above it either since I seem to have developed a distaste for the southern accent. It bothers me in the movies now and it will take me until the end of a film to identify with a character featuring a southern accent.

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This makes total sense however the other places I have lived have also dealt with the same issue. My husband is military so we are always moving to other military communities which by nature have people moving in from all over. Although the accent difference is not nearly as prominent so maybe that's the real issue.

 

Not sure that I am above it either since I seem to have developed a distaste for the southern accent. It bothers me in the movies now and it will take me until the end of a film to identify with a character featuring a southern accent.

 

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I know what you mean. It's not easy. Making an effort to take people on an "as they come" basis can be exhausting when they keep coming all wrong. You try to protect yourself and before you know it you've built up walls and prejudices. It's not easy. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

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I've lived in OR, NYC, and Southern Cal.

Sincerely kind and loving - actually all of them. Hard to say, since it's hard to generalize. I've lived in cities:

Portland, OR

NYC

San Diego

Loved them all. Nice and not-so-nice people everywhere. Just like anywhere you go in the world.

The one and only place where I never felt like a foreigner was NYC. No one cared where I was from.

But other than that, loved all those places. :)

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