Anybody from Chicagoland Area?

[ShIzO]

hi,

i was just wondering if there is anybody here from Chicagoloand area or all of you are either from UK or Australia...

[barrk]

Not UK or Australia....I'm from California.

[CiberTHuG]

I'm not from the UK or Australia, but I've never been to the Chicago area (been through O'Hare). I'm on the east coast and Katie is on the west. I guess an interesting question is... are we the only Americans? I think Dennis is.

PS Well, speak of the devil, Katie just posted.

[barrk]

Dennis is from Virginia. Cander is from Georgia. Markman is from Florida.

[CiberTHuG]

Wow... the South will rise again.

Well... I can't really count Florida as part of the South. And the Mason-Dixie line has slowly moved further and further south, so I can't consider Virgina and ally, what with them being a Communist (Commonwealth) and all.

Guess it's just me and Cander.

[ShIzO]

hey, i didn't want to offend anybody saying "UK or Australia" it just looks like that's all you guys are talking about over here:

1) how much i love England
2) Australia is the best

and so on.....

[barrk]

No offense. I guess us Americans are just a little less pompous about being "the best" than the Aussies and Brits....don't feel the need to puff ourselves up like they do

[CiberTHuG]

We aren't offended. But we don't refer to the whole of America as ChicagoLand.

<sarcasm>I think the Brits and the Ozzies feel they have something to prove. It seems the Americans here are quite comfortable with their role and <heavy>world leader.</heavy></sarcasm>

I will say I don't like it when they call all Americans Yanks or Yankees. Yankees are the poor-driving Federalists from New England.

New England... as if Old England weren't enough.

[barrk]

I see your point Travis....it's much more preferable to be referred to as a red-neck than a yankee

[SurfDemon]

Originally posted by ShIzO
hey, i didn't want to offend anybody saying "UK or Australia" it just looks like that's all you guys are talking about over here:

1) how much i love England
2) Australia is the best

and so on.....

Don't be nice to them. They can take it.

P.S. I'm up here in Canada. Were just waiting for Nuclear war to break out so we can come out of our igloos and take over the world.

This is Canada's plan to take over the world. Let everyone else scrap it out, then when the fights over, come out and kick the winner in the goolies (proverbially speaking) and take over.

Frightening thought isn't it...... Maple syrup on every-type of food. yuk.

Mind you, the cops would be polite and there wouldn't be any litter (apart from all the radioactive dust floating around).

SD (soon to be El-presidente SurfDemon of Canada I)

[CiberTHuG]

Redneck is a derogatory term stemming from our agriculture (agri-based culture). Yankee isn't a derogatory term to those to whom it fits. Redneck is not positive to anyone.

I preffer Southerner. I would accept Rebel and Confederate, but since I would truely preffer to fix America and not reform the CSA, Southerner is more appropriate.

Oddly enough, there are several "liberal" minded Californians who agree that the Federal government has lost focus.

[Jamagei]

Originally posted by barrk
No offense. I guess us Americans are just a little less pompous about being "the best" than the Aussies and Brits....don't feel the need to puff ourselves up like they do

It's not really. It's just that the Americans don't have anything worthwhile to shout about. And as for being puffed up. Isn't amercia the most obese country?

Americans are just fat British people

[ShIzO]

by the way - i'm not American i'm Polish, i just thought i should mention that since this thread changed its direction somewhere along the line...

[CiberTHuG]

Okay... this is going to sound very unPC, but... what brought you to Chicago, ShIzO?

[ShIzO]

standard of living in Poland these days is not one of the best ones out there: prices are HIGH and unemployment rate is somewhere around 50%!!!! yup, imagine that.
people are graduating from best universities just to find out that there are no places to work... sad but true

i'm only 23 and to tell you the truth what i have right now over here i would never be able to have in my lifetime while living in Poland. so that should give you some kind of picture on how bad it is over there....

i hope that answers you question CiberTHuG...

[barrk]

Originally posted by CiberTHuG

Oddly enough, there are several "liberal" minded Californians who agree that the Federal government has lost focus.

[CiberTHuG]

Well, yes and no. I was wondering what brought you to Chicago specificaly. It seems each region of the US attracts higher concentrations of immigrants from other lands. Chicago has, historically, had some of the highest Polish concentrations. There is evident Polish influence in Chicago.

Several large cities have Little China, or Little Italy, but I think San Franciso and New York are the most famous for their respective ones, even though each of them have both.

I'm sure there are reasons for it all. As much as I enjoy sitting around and watching people, I guess I should study socialology.

Where I am, in North Carolina, our largest groups of immigrants are Mexican and Indian. Many Mexicans in this area are migrant. They are here for the summer and fall, and return home for the winter. They provide cheap manual labor. Mexico's universities are not as thriving as Polands. And as more and more Southerners themselves leave agriculture and go to university, the South must rely on outside help. And I guess that makes sense.

As to our Indian migration, well... once a roommate in college told me he moved to the east coast because Chinese and Japanese students filled the positions on the west coast, the ones that were closer to home. He was Thailand or Veitnam, if I remember correctly. Anyway, he was saying he didn't have the edge over the stronger countries such as China and Japan to compete for a position on the west coast.

Mind you, North Carolina's Research Triangle Park is the second best IT area to Silicon Valley, and there are several companies that move here because our cost of living isn't as high. I would imagine tuition is cheaper here, too. *shrug* I'm not sure.

Okay, well, I've rambled a lot on a completely boring topic.

[CiberTHuG]

Originally posted by barrk

See... now all we have to do is teach you that hurricanes aren't anything to fear, heat is good, and that you can't have a meal with too much frying and you, too, can be a Southerner.

And to be honest, driving isn't that important. I've found that these damned hicks can't drive, either.