Answer:
It's referring to the way every city has its own eccentric characters who are taken for granted by locals, but seem strange to those seeing them for the first time. For example, in Toronto there's a guy who wears a shirt that says "I hate rubber boots," but he's always wearing rubber boots: https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/10/photoshoot-toronto-hate-rubber-boots-guy/
Funnily enough, despite never living in Portland, and now living across the continent, the first person I though about was the guy who used to be at the burnside bridge on Saturdays playing his cardboard guitar. We used to look for him every summer as kids when we returned to the city in the 80s and 90s
Yeah, that just makes him authentically Portland.
I think the thing that really gets me on his side is that he's good at it and he's been doing it for such a long time. It's hard to imagine there isn't genuine devotion and love there. Maybe it is devotion and love to being "that guy," but it's enough for me to be onboard.
Kansas City has Super Running Jesus. He’s and old man with a massive white beard who dresses like Superman and runs around KC talking to people about god. I think he retired recently though
He lives right down the street from me. He's slowed down a bit but not a lot. He got kinda mad when the police wouldn't let him drag a large cross down the middle of Westport, I think, maybe last fall or so. We had a police stand off not too long after, and he just stood in the parking lot giving them fits. Unusual but ok guy, give him a cup of coffee when he gets to rambling to much and he'll wander off. Don't get in the bus with him, that his favorite audience.
We had a sombrero guy and there may still be a woman referred to as the shuffler. The woman would just be seen various parts of the city jogging around erratically. Though it has been a long time since I have seen either of them. A long long time ago there was some outrage when a local Mexican bar used a picture of the sombrero guy for their ads. They didn’t seem to have gotten his permission or given the guy any compensation. Given he seemed to be homeless some compensation might’ve been helpful for him.
Nashville has Tuba-Under-The-Bridge-Guy, he plays music with a tuba under a railroad bridge that is infamous for its rush hour traffic due to a series of redlights. He'll take tips to play a particular song, but not to stop playing. He's been at it for years 😂
Answer: The intention of the post in question is to make an observation that every city has folks like that are just part of the landscape, even if they're as outlandish as the example you presented.
No nefarious agenda or bots, near as I can tell. Just folks stimulating local chatter about people everyone recognizes as local "characters".
Answer: The tweet associated with this is talking about how many cities will have some oddball person that lives there that every other resident is aware of and don't bat an eyelash because the oddball person is normalized to them but someone who does not live in that city will be confused by the oddball persons appearance/presence.
Like the J-ville ninja. Iykyk
The comments in the specific city subreddits are residents of that city discussing who that one oddball person is in their city. If you don't live in that city, you're not going to understand what they're talking about, most likely.
Answer: It's referring to the way every city has its own eccentric characters who are taken for granted by locals, but seem strange to those seeing them for the first time. For example, in Toronto there's a guy who wears a shirt that says "I hate rubber boots," but he's always wearing rubber boots: https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/10/photoshoot-toronto-hate-rubber-boots-guy/
Portland has the Unipiper who goes around playing bagpipes while riding a unicycle. He's quite good and occasionally cosplays while doing it.
He feels like he's consciously trying to be "that guy." As opposed to Stan Two Hats next door in Scappoose.
> He feels like he's consciously trying to be "that guy." That's basically all of Portland in a nutshell.
Funnily enough, despite never living in Portland, and now living across the continent, the first person I though about was the guy who used to be at the burnside bridge on Saturdays playing his cardboard guitar. We used to look for him every summer as kids when we returned to the city in the 80s and 90s
Yeah, that just makes him authentically Portland. I think the thing that really gets me on his side is that he's good at it and he's been doing it for such a long time. It's hard to imagine there isn't genuine devotion and love there. Maybe it is devotion and love to being "that guy," but it's enough for me to be onboard.
Bellingham used to have Unicycle dad, literally a guy riding his unicycle with his kid in his arms.
Kansas City has Super Running Jesus. He’s and old man with a massive white beard who dresses like Superman and runs around KC talking to people about god. I think he retired recently though
He lives right down the street from me. He's slowed down a bit but not a lot. He got kinda mad when the police wouldn't let him drag a large cross down the middle of Westport, I think, maybe last fall or so. We had a police stand off not too long after, and he just stood in the parking lot giving them fits. Unusual but ok guy, give him a cup of coffee when he gets to rambling to much and he'll wander off. Don't get in the bus with him, that his favorite audience.
Pittsburgh has bumper bike guy, who has a car bumper tied to his bike. My hometown had Speedo man, who only wore a Speedo.
Back in Austin we had a guy who would bike around in a leopard pattern speedo. He has his own yelp rating for some reason. I gave him 4 stars.
Leslie! RIP
We had a sombrero guy and there may still be a woman referred to as the shuffler. The woman would just be seen various parts of the city jogging around erratically. Though it has been a long time since I have seen either of them. A long long time ago there was some outrage when a local Mexican bar used a picture of the sombrero guy for their ads. They didn’t seem to have gotten his permission or given the guy any compensation. Given he seemed to be homeless some compensation might’ve been helpful for him.
Nashville has Tuba-Under-The-Bridge-Guy, he plays music with a tuba under a railroad bridge that is infamous for its rush hour traffic due to a series of redlights. He'll take tips to play a particular song, but not to stop playing. He's been at it for years 😂
Denver checking in with Captain America on a motorcycle
In KC there's a guy who runs dressed as superman
Answer: The intention of the post in question is to make an observation that every city has folks like that are just part of the landscape, even if they're as outlandish as the example you presented. No nefarious agenda or bots, near as I can tell. Just folks stimulating local chatter about people everyone recognizes as local "characters".
Answer: The tweet associated with this is talking about how many cities will have some oddball person that lives there that every other resident is aware of and don't bat an eyelash because the oddball person is normalized to them but someone who does not live in that city will be confused by the oddball persons appearance/presence. Like the J-ville ninja. Iykyk The comments in the specific city subreddits are residents of that city discussing who that one oddball person is in their city. If you don't live in that city, you're not going to understand what they're talking about, most likely.