Some guy will post a picture of a pretty standard looking pepperoni pizza and say: "Imagine not living in new york." And then there's the whole bodega discourse, which is also funny. "For you non-new yorkers, let me explain: a bodega is not a corner store. It's a place where you can buy gatorade, toilet paper, AND eggs." Thank you sir for explaining that to a slack-jawed yokel such as myself.
Confession time? Confession time:
I used to be someone like her. I'm from a small town in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest but I claimed to be from Chicago (closest major city people give a damn about) only went there once every few years. Basically the stolen valor is about trying to feel like you're from an important place and to make one seem less "normal".
Eventually I grew up when I realized no one really cared either way. Where I grew up does not make me interesting, and there's a ton of racist people in the "cool" places in California and New York. Conversely, one really cool guy I met in college came from deep red Texas. Accent and everything. He understood where I was coming from but he helped a lot in getting me to just own it. Yeah, I say "ope" and call soda "pop", that doesn't make me a "dirty racist normie"
Yeah, my childhood was kinda boring. But that can't be helped.
This is kind of a tangent but everyone says "ope" I don't know why the Midwest acts like they're the only ones. Grew up in florida and heard it, heard it when I lived in Pittsburgh, heard it when I lived in Boston, haven't heard it with any greater frequency now that I'm in the Midwest myself
It's because the Midwestern oafs spread out
Huge wagon trains of Germanic folks heading in every direction with their smoked sausages and folksy wisdom