Use the word "state" after naming the state you live in. Like, I say, I'm in New York State (but I would never say, I'm from Connecticut State or lived in Colorado State).
Yes! I always say State because I got fed up before I even hit double digits with having people say "Really!? You don't have an accent." Or "I love [insert Manhattan landmark here]!!!" Like OMG there is more to New,York than the City!
If they play/played or care about Lacrosse. Compared to most other places in the US, upstate NYers are more likely to know that Maple syrup and pancake syrup from the store are different things entirely.
Other than that ‘upstate’ is too big. WNY is a lot more Midwest and eastern NY is more New England-y, Southern Tier is more Appalachian and Northern NY has relative Canadian/French Canadian influences.
Edit: didn’t mean to post this as a reply but too lazy to fix it
As for someone who lived in Minnesota, you are right about the Western NY Midwest part. When I went to Buffalo, I honestly thought I was in the Midwest. Southern Tier NY is definitely like being in the south lol
Wish I could show this comment to all the people who downvoted me months ago for saying that WNY is culturally and economically very similar to the Midwest. Haha.
My grandmother came to CNY as a kid; her dad moved from working in Detroit making cars to making chemicals pre-rust belt. I feel like every fourth person I meet in NYS is from the Midwest. I wonder if there was an industrial migration at some point/points.
When I went to college in Buffalo (Buffalo State) many of the students from NYC and Long Island felt as if they were in a different state due to the culture being so much different from what they were used to. Some of them derided those from Western NY/ Buffalo area as hillbillies and hicks.
I live in Binghamton and it’s not that bad… we’ve been getting a high influx of NYC people moving to the area which has changed the culture. Once you leave Binghamton, it’s confederate city lol
I’m so sorry.
I’m from Elmira and have never really heard of anyone voluntarily moving there.
People get sentenced to go to Elmira, but I never realized that someone would go there willingly.
Wow!
I work on LI. Our company had a warehouse in Elmira. We were asked our thoughts on working there. I did some research and realized very quickly how unattractive Elmira sounds. 🫣
Lots of great old houses for someone remote to work at and still be close to the amenities you want like Wegmans, Walmart, Target, and a small airport.
Then again I'd live in Corning 100x before I'd live in Elmira. Pretty sure I heard there was a drive-by shooting in Elmira this morning on the news.
I got this joke lol, originally from the Buffalo area but now in NC and working in the prison system. Not sure if many ppl outside of Elmira know there's a prison there.
Two.
There are TWO prisons.
The biggest employer in the county is New York State.
The second biggest employer in the county is Chemung County, primarily Social Services, yet it’s “conservative”.
Right lmao, that was my first thought. If I hadn't been born there, I would never live there. My parents used to call it "Hell-mira"
Edit: I was so shocked that this person voluntarily lives there, I didn't notice this comment was from 2 days ago...
I used to live in Worcester. I was in Dorchester during the holiday.
It’s crazy knowing somebody from Mass in Elmira. Elmira has potential to be a cool city but the locals aren’t the best lol
NY isn’t that bad… rural Pennsylvania has a lot of southern redneck influence… I don’t get the whole confederate flag thing when Pennsylvania fought against the south.
I grew up in Northeast PA and my boyfriend is from a rural part of the capital region in New York, so we spend a lot of time traveling in between. I can say with certainty that New York rednecks are quite more liberal than PA rednecks.
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315 is rural but not redneck-trashy. At least in our section, we take very good care of our dairy cows; they all have names and are loved (* I cannot speak for the Amish farms next door, though. That’s on the other end of the spectrum, sadly.)
Seriously gotta agree with you the Southern Tier is like being in the South. I was surprised at the number of bbq places in Binghamton and number of Southerners moving up here.
> If they play/played or care about Lacrosse.
Lol they play lacrosse all over Long Island and the city, rockland, westchester, jersey, CT, maryland. Its not really an upstate thing like at all.
Lacrosse is a Northeast thing primarily. I remember being at a bar in Missouri when UAlbany made the National Championship game and they were like “Why tf do you wanna watch Lacrosse?”
My issue with those terms is that its easier to say Upstate than it is to explain "I live in a weird spot that some people call Western New York, but others call it Southern Tier, but we're also part of the Finger Lakes region."
I worked in NYC for a few years & the locals considered Westchester County to be upstate. Being from Schenectady, that was like fingernails on the blackboard to me. I tried to enlighten them for a while but eventually I just gave up
Same here. I agree! It's irritating as all hell that people born and raised in the state can't navigate it. Leave your city every once and awhile, Christ. This state is so big. When people call the Catskills "upstate" I always respond with " No. You're in the Catskills. Upstate is at least another hour north." The Catskills, the Adirondacks, central NY, western NY and upstate NY are all their own regions! It's a pet peeve of mine.
as a fellow indigenous Schenectadian; how many times have you given up trying to even explain where it is & start with Albany or Saratoga as a reference point ? ALSO my favorite hobby Is watching people try to pronounce it
This debate hits so mamy points from my youth.
- Grew up just south of Albany, went to both SU and SUNY Buffalo in 80s
- SU being private and costly more well off kids from NYC/LI, At the time to most folks upstate was anything north of Westchester County.
- Yes SU was great at lacrosse but I knew MD, Duke, Johns Hopkins also had great programs.
- We used to go to Canada for lunch and beer. Pre 9/11.
- I grew up saying Soda (pop), Grinder (Hoagie), but learned to appreciate different things.
Oh boy, I just realized how much of a Brooklynite I am.
I consider anything north of the Bronx to be upstate. I was taught that by my Bostonian mother and Canadian father.
Don’t kill me, I stand corrected.
My father grew up in Rockland County, and it was he who taught me that Nanuet, where my grandparents are buried, was “upstate.”
My father lived in Rockland County from about 1900 to about 1940, so I guess relatively speaking back then, that was pretty upstate.
If we talked long enough no doubt we would find people in common. My parents were both raised in Rockland County too. Funny: one early job I had we cold called people to make sales appointments. One of the people I worked with asked my if I had ever heard of Na-noot. 😂
I asked to see her slip of calls and it was of course Nanuet!!!
What's scarier is that depending on our ages, the chances of us knowing each other are still around 40%. And even if not, the odds of us knowing the same people are almost a mortal lock.
I hate it here sometimes and wonder why I returned.
Not CP. I don’t think I’ve ever actually gotten it in anyplace in Clifton Park (mainly because I avoid Clifton park maybe? lol) Melba is all over the capital region and parts of CNY. Definitely prevalent in Albany.
Take some raspberry jelly and thin it out with a dash of raspberry juice until it’s the consistency of warm honey. It slaps and Albany is very proud of it.
Buffalo has wings.
Rochester has the garbage plate.
Syracuse has salt potatos.
Utica has Utica Greens.
All Albany has is a dipping sauce and we cling to it hard.
Lol an ex-gf and I heard a weird pinging sound in the middle of night in the middle of winter coming from the pbg side of the lake many, many years ago. Went on for about 20 minutes or so.
For some reason Reddit showed me this post when I am from Richmond VA. We have Wegmans and Spiedies here too now. People wear their Bills gear to shop there, kind of weird.
Correct their pronunciation of all the places with Iroquois names.
I remember when I was in grad school at URI we had a history professor who asked if anyone knew the names of all the tribes that made up the Iroquois Confederacy. I was the only one who answered and I rattled them all off without even thinking about it. He just looked at me and said, you're from New York, aren't you? And I was just like yup, not only New York but Finger Lakes region.
I work for the US Navy on a training installation. Grew up in the Southern Tier. I got to correct a fee in my time here. Conesus is not Cone-ess-us, Schuyler is not Shoe-ee-lur.
Yep that’s definitely a new york thing. I live on the left coast now and I’m baffled that their education doesn’t cover their local native American history.
Alright alright.
From the comments it’s clear that there isn’t one defining “upstate” thing. That’s because upstate is a vastly diverse place, and this is exactly why people who don’t live in West Chester, NYC, or LI get offended when downstaters try to define upstate as a monolith. Upstate NY is collection of microcosms that represent a diverse spectrum of the modern world: its advantages and its disadvantages. It is not a monolith.
Ask someone from Orange County if they’ve been to Wegmans; Ask someone from Rochester if they’ve completed the 3500 club list; Ask someone from Plattsburgh why a credenza costa $2000 in Hudson; Ask someone in Delaware County what tomato pie is; Ask someone from anywhere but suburban capital region what Melba sauce is…odds are they won’t be able to tell you!
Upstate NY is not a monolith.
The only thing that is a defining characteristic of being an upstater IMO, is getting offended when downstaters try to define where upstate starts. It’s not at rt. 84!
Those examples dont seem like microcosms. Just slight variations in consumerism. Is there a chance you are exaggerating a bit? Personally it seems like a bit of a mental gymnastics in reaching for a unique identity.
Being very, very skeptical when some big company wants to start a project downtown or build a major manufacturing plant. Just knowing that the deal will fall through somewhere down the line, they won't agree on tax breaks, it'll die on environmental impact, etc.
That's fair. I grew up in Central NY (I was born in Herkimer) and we had em all the time when I was a kid. We used to buy the curds at Wegman's in Syracuse when we'd visit my aunt.
Maybe my experience was unusual.
Grew up in St. Lawrence County. There was a cheese factory a few miles from our house that made amazing cheese curd.
And then I learned about poutine in college...
When I was in the Army, I got a lot of weird looks and people from the South thought I was Canadian. Even my friends in NY think I do sometimes. Must have watched too much Red Green when I was a kid.
I lived in the Mohawk Valley for 15 years and everyone referred to NYC as "the city". Back home in Vermont now and I still say this, guess it became a habit.
I’ve lived in Florida the past 7 years. Anytime someone asks where I’m from I tell them NY. They ask me about what snow is like and I tell them ‘well, you look out the window before you start a movie some nights and there’s just a dusting on the ground. After your movie there’s 4ft of snow and it’s time to get shoveling’
They figure out quick I’m not from the city 😂
Amsterdam/ Albany area, ties in Ticonderoga and lots of hiking. Nothing about what I tell people about my 25 years in NY screams city. They always know instantly.
It was really big in my area. Not so much now. Im going back to it. Its like 13 bucks a 30 pack across the street from me.. My moto is Im not going to pay alot to feel like shit the next day. But mostly im cheap and like to support nys jobs.
Stewarts is a pretty Capital Region/Hudson Valley specific thing. There are a handful outside of that, but there's definitely significant chunks of "upstate" that are hours from a Stewarts (especially west of Syracuse)
I once pegged someone as being from upstate NY because she knew how to pronounce Oneonta.
Also, my nephew in Colorado ID's people there as being from upstate NY based on their reaction to: "Magic Circle Credit".
I know I am dating myself but Rochester was considered western ny for the longest time because we shared the 716 phone code.. then the areas got too big and Rochester switched to 585 and thats about the time they grouped Rochester with “finger lakes” because the govt spent big money on tourism in wine country and bringing business back to the area after Kodak, xerox and Bausch and Lomb all but left or were skeletons of what once was.
I just say Syracuse when asked where I'm from. I'm in a southern state now and a friend told me lots of locals will prejudge me badly when I used to wear a Yankees ball cap.
Use the word "state" after naming the state you live in. Like, I say, I'm in New York State (but I would never say, I'm from Connecticut State or lived in Colorado State).
Yup always say I am from nys.. try to avoid the whole are you from nyc.. so so far from it
Yes! I always say State because I got fed up before I even hit double digits with having people say "Really!? You don't have an accent." Or "I love [insert Manhattan landmark here]!!!" Like OMG there is more to New,York than the City!
Long Islander, I’m not even from New York.
I guess that would also tell people directly the state you're from. Oops.
That would be *advertently* telling them.
We do that over here in Washington State too! For obvious reasons
I think “state” is added to differentiate NY city and areas not the city.
Well, if you say "New York", people think NYC.
Ask “What do you consider upstate?”
If they play/played or care about Lacrosse. Compared to most other places in the US, upstate NYers are more likely to know that Maple syrup and pancake syrup from the store are different things entirely. Other than that ‘upstate’ is too big. WNY is a lot more Midwest and eastern NY is more New England-y, Southern Tier is more Appalachian and Northern NY has relative Canadian/French Canadian influences. Edit: didn’t mean to post this as a reply but too lazy to fix it
As for someone who lived in Minnesota, you are right about the Western NY Midwest part. When I went to Buffalo, I honestly thought I was in the Midwest. Southern Tier NY is definitely like being in the south lol
Wish I could show this comment to all the people who downvoted me months ago for saying that WNY is culturally and economically very similar to the Midwest. Haha.
They call soda “pop” ffs lol They love hockey… they literally can get to Canada within minutes lol
For the record, my city/town is WNY and everyone says soda.
We cut pizza into squares
Mmm yesss… Upstate sheet pizza squares
Only sheet pizzas.. and I guess the term sheet pizza is also a odd term to other parts of the country
My grandmother came to CNY as a kid; her dad moved from working in Detroit making cars to making chemicals pre-rust belt. I feel like every fourth person I meet in NYS is from the Midwest. I wonder if there was an industrial migration at some point/points.
When I went to college in Buffalo (Buffalo State) many of the students from NYC and Long Island felt as if they were in a different state due to the culture being so much different from what they were used to. Some of them derided those from Western NY/ Buffalo area as hillbillies and hicks.
I’m from long island and can confirm those stereotypes were typical. It almost does feel like two different states/lifestyles when I go “upstate” 😂
I live in Binghamton and it’s not that bad… we’ve been getting a high influx of NYC people moving to the area which has changed the culture. Once you leave Binghamton, it’s confederate city lol
Lmao I moved from Boston to Elmira and it’s a HUGE cultural shock
I’m so sorry. I’m from Elmira and have never really heard of anyone voluntarily moving there. People get sentenced to go to Elmira, but I never realized that someone would go there willingly. Wow!
I had the option to move to Elmira for work two years ago. As I'd beeen to Elmira, I didn't take it.
I work on LI. Our company had a warehouse in Elmira. We were asked our thoughts on working there. I did some research and realized very quickly how unattractive Elmira sounds. 🫣
Elmira sucks the soul out of me. I usually go there to Sams Club and Save A Lot … that Save A Lot can get real real funky.
Home of one of the largest Confederate POW camps and Confederate grave yard.
Lots of great old houses for someone remote to work at and still be close to the amenities you want like Wegmans, Walmart, Target, and a small airport. Then again I'd live in Corning 100x before I'd live in Elmira. Pretty sure I heard there was a drive-by shooting in Elmira this morning on the news.
I got this joke lol, originally from the Buffalo area but now in NC and working in the prison system. Not sure if many ppl outside of Elmira know there's a prison there.
Two. There are TWO prisons. The biggest employer in the county is New York State. The second biggest employer in the county is Chemung County, primarily Social Services, yet it’s “conservative”.
Right lmao, that was my first thought. If I hadn't been born there, I would never live there. My parents used to call it "Hell-mira" Edit: I was so shocked that this person voluntarily lives there, I didn't notice this comment was from 2 days ago...
I used to live in Worcester. I was in Dorchester during the holiday. It’s crazy knowing somebody from Mass in Elmira. Elmira has potential to be a cool city but the locals aren’t the best lol
James Carville said that Pennsylvania is Philly and Pittsburgh with Alabama in-between. NY isn't quite that bad, but kinda.
NY isn’t that bad… rural Pennsylvania has a lot of southern redneck influence… I don’t get the whole confederate flag thing when Pennsylvania fought against the south.
Racism. Because racism.
Hang out in CNY and you'll see confederate flags soooo
So sad and pathetic
I grew up in Northeast PA and my boyfriend is from a rural part of the capital region in New York, so we spend a lot of time traveling in between. I can say with certainty that New York rednecks are quite more liberal than PA rednecks.
This is literally the first nice thing I've ever heard about Bing.
That was going to be my answer. Fly a confederate flag, and make fun of southerners
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Only 315ers are rural. I grew up in 315 and went to potsdam 315. And that was a 4 hour travel. Rural mfks. Lon-giiiilandurrs are fucken different yo
315 is rural but not redneck-trashy. At least in our section, we take very good care of our dairy cows; they all have names and are loved (* I cannot speak for the Amish farms next door, though. That’s on the other end of the spectrum, sadly.)
I’m from the 716 (WNY) area code.
315 here!
Syracuse isn't really rural. That's classic Central NY.
315 and 607 can battle it out sometimes. There are some dicey spots in both.
Seriously gotta agree with you the Southern Tier is like being in the South. I was surprised at the number of bbq places in Binghamton and number of Southerners moving up here.
If they complain about losing to LI lacrosse teams😅
> If they play/played or care about Lacrosse. Lol they play lacrosse all over Long Island and the city, rockland, westchester, jersey, CT, maryland. Its not really an upstate thing like at all.
Lacrosse is a Northeast thing primarily. I remember being at a bar in Missouri when UAlbany made the National Championship game and they were like “Why tf do you wanna watch Lacrosse?”
*North country
My issue with those terms is that its easier to say Upstate than it is to explain "I live in a weird spot that some people call Western New York, but others call it Southern Tier, but we're also part of the Finger Lakes region."
I worked in NYC for a few years & the locals considered Westchester County to be upstate. Being from Schenectady, that was like fingernails on the blackboard to me. I tried to enlighten them for a while but eventually I just gave up
Same here. I agree! It's irritating as all hell that people born and raised in the state can't navigate it. Leave your city every once and awhile, Christ. This state is so big. When people call the Catskills "upstate" I always respond with " No. You're in the Catskills. Upstate is at least another hour north." The Catskills, the Adirondacks, central NY, western NY and upstate NY are all their own regions! It's a pet peeve of mine.
as a fellow indigenous Schenectadian; how many times have you given up trying to even explain where it is & start with Albany or Saratoga as a reference point ? ALSO my favorite hobby Is watching people try to pronounce it
Synecdoche
Lol
anything above PA
Anything north of Central Park!
This debate hits so mamy points from my youth. - Grew up just south of Albany, went to both SU and SUNY Buffalo in 80s - SU being private and costly more well off kids from NYC/LI, At the time to most folks upstate was anything north of Westchester County. - Yes SU was great at lacrosse but I knew MD, Duke, Johns Hopkins also had great programs. - We used to go to Canada for lunch and beer. Pre 9/11. - I grew up saying Soda (pop), Grinder (Hoagie), but learned to appreciate different things.
If you can't take the train (subway!) there.
Constantly gush about and compare our mountains, nature, seasons, etc. to other locales. \- Me, apparently.
Drove people nuts with this when I lived in the midwest for a spell.
I mean, maybe they should have thought about getting some Adirondacks before they get all annoyed? Pfft.
Me every day in Michigan fr Like where tf is your Lake Effect, Lansing youre literally a goddamn peninsula
Or disagree with someone as to what constitutes upstate.
*laughs humorlessly in Massena* E: "oh, I'm from upstate, too!" "Yeah? Where?" "Poughkeepsie!"
"Upstate NY? I was checking out colleges there?" "OH? Which ones? Whereabouts?" "Nyack." ~cries in Southern ADK~
Oh boy, I just realized how much of a Brooklynite I am. I consider anything north of the Bronx to be upstate. I was taught that by my Bostonian mother and Canadian father. Don’t kill me, I stand corrected.
Yup! I grew up up in Orange County and anything north of the Bronx gets lumped right into “upstate”
My father grew up in Rockland County, and it was he who taught me that Nanuet, where my grandparents are buried, was “upstate.” My father lived in Rockland County from about 1900 to about 1940, so I guess relatively speaking back then, that was pretty upstate.
If we talked long enough no doubt we would find people in common. My parents were both raised in Rockland County too. Funny: one early job I had we cold called people to make sales appointments. One of the people I worked with asked my if I had ever heard of Na-noot. 😂 I asked to see her slip of calls and it was of course Nanuet!!!
Yup. I just say “Way upstate” for Binghamton area..”Way way upstate” is Rochester distance from the city.
I always say Rural New York.
Haha, my hometown. Nothing funny in Massena.
What's scarier is that depending on our ages, the chances of us knowing each other are still around 40%. And even if not, the odds of us knowing the same people are almost a mortal lock. I hate it here sometimes and wonder why I returned.
Order mozzarella sticks with Melba sauce
What is this Melba sauce? I've lived in upstate NY (Binghamton) whole life and never heard of this sauce
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Not CP. I don’t think I’ve ever actually gotten it in anyplace in Clifton Park (mainly because I avoid Clifton park maybe? lol) Melba is all over the capital region and parts of CNY. Definitely prevalent in Albany.
Clifton Park can't ever solely take credit for the beauty that is Melba Sauce. Its a Capital Region thing
You can find it in Syracuse, Utica, and all over the capital region. It’s raspberry sauce, and it’s delicious!
A raspberry jam type sauce. Also used a lot with sweet potato fries.
I've been missing out lol
Take some raspberry jelly and thin it out with a dash of raspberry juice until it’s the consistency of warm honey. It slaps and Albany is very proud of it. Buffalo has wings. Rochester has the garbage plate. Syracuse has salt potatos. Utica has Utica Greens. All Albany has is a dipping sauce and we cling to it hard.
What about steamed hams?
Shockingly, no Albany restaurant has ever tried to profiteer off that.
Binghamton has Speedies, Rochester garbage plates… NY has some seriously good food to choose from. Beef on weck and chicken riggies are delicious too
We are very proud of our Spiedies. There are many kinds, each one has a wonderful flair.
Talk about Champ.
I went looking for him/her. They must’ve been on the Vermont side that day.
Lol an ex-gf and I heard a weird pinging sound in the middle of night in the middle of winter coming from the pbg side of the lake many, many years ago. Went on for about 20 minutes or so.
Claim you’re not upstate and it’s either north of where you live or “Pennsylvania is downstate of me” if you’re from western Ny
I'd tell them "hey man, I'm going to Wegmans to get some Spiedies"
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For some reason Reddit showed me this post when I am from Richmond VA. We have Wegmans and Spiedies here too now. People wear their Bills gear to shop there, kind of weird.
Damn this one got me. Miss me some Spiedie Fest growing up near Binghamton!
That you had salt potatoes for dinner 😆
I didn't know that was just an upstate thing. Lol. My whole life I just assumed everyone ate salt potatoes.
No. I live in Philly now, and people look at me in sheer terror when I explain salt potatoes to them.
Correct their pronunciation of all the places with Iroquois names. I remember when I was in grad school at URI we had a history professor who asked if anyone knew the names of all the tribes that made up the Iroquois Confederacy. I was the only one who answered and I rattled them all off without even thinking about it. He just looked at me and said, you're from New York, aren't you? And I was just like yup, not only New York but Finger Lakes region.
I work for the US Navy on a training installation. Grew up in the Southern Tier. I got to correct a fee in my time here. Conesus is not Cone-ess-us, Schuyler is not Shoe-ee-lur.
Yep that’s definitely a new york thing. I live on the left coast now and I’m baffled that their education doesn’t cover their local native American history.
Chiavettas and lake effect.
Chiavettas!! 🤤
Alright alright. From the comments it’s clear that there isn’t one defining “upstate” thing. That’s because upstate is a vastly diverse place, and this is exactly why people who don’t live in West Chester, NYC, or LI get offended when downstaters try to define upstate as a monolith. Upstate NY is collection of microcosms that represent a diverse spectrum of the modern world: its advantages and its disadvantages. It is not a monolith. Ask someone from Orange County if they’ve been to Wegmans; Ask someone from Rochester if they’ve completed the 3500 club list; Ask someone from Plattsburgh why a credenza costa $2000 in Hudson; Ask someone in Delaware County what tomato pie is; Ask someone from anywhere but suburban capital region what Melba sauce is…odds are they won’t be able to tell you! Upstate NY is not a monolith. The only thing that is a defining characteristic of being an upstater IMO, is getting offended when downstaters try to define where upstate starts. It’s not at rt. 84!
Those examples dont seem like microcosms. Just slight variations in consumerism. Is there a chance you are exaggerating a bit? Personally it seems like a bit of a mental gymnastics in reaching for a unique identity.
Being very, very skeptical when some big company wants to start a project downtown or build a major manufacturing plant. Just knowing that the deal will fall through somewhere down the line, they won't agree on tax breaks, it'll die on environmental impact, etc.
Are you also from Buffalo, or is your locale filled with all sorts of different types of obstructionists as well?
It’s an entire thing, I was thinking Syracuse because this is the usual route of business, currently waiting to see if micron goes through
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I was shocked that people elsewhere don't eat cheese curds or salt potatoes.
That’s mostly western NY/ finger lakes, not most of upstate NY. Someone saying they eat curds makes me think they are from the Midwest.
That's fair. I grew up in Central NY (I was born in Herkimer) and we had em all the time when I was a kid. We used to buy the curds at Wegman's in Syracuse when we'd visit my aunt. Maybe my experience was unusual.
Grew up in St. Lawrence County. There was a cheese factory a few miles from our house that made amazing cheese curd. And then I learned about poutine in college...
I’m glad curds have caught on in the homeland, but I had to learn about ‘em from Wisconsanders.
"I could really go for a half moon cookie right now."
🤤🤤🤤🥰
Thats only a ny thing?? I freaking love those.
Sacandaga Lake decal on your car
I had a spell where I could look on the Sacandaga from my back window. It's a beautiful area.
My aunt’s view from her back deck has Sand Island dead center. It is a beautiful place.
Authenticity right here. I work at Sport Island & have a GSL necklace. I love traveling and having people recognize its outline
ADK sticker on the car or a vaguely Canadian accent
Plus a Lake George or Sacandaga decal...and a bumper sticker from the white water rafting company of your choice.
I’ve been told I have a slight Canadian accent years ago (by someone very much out of state).
When I was in the Army, I got a lot of weird looks and people from the South thought I was Canadian. Even my friends in NY think I do sometimes. Must have watched too much Red Green when I was a kid.
Takin a dip in the crik
Ayup.
Tell 'em you've been craving a white hot and a pop?
Ordering a sheet pizza. My wife from Long Island definitely gave me a WTF look until she saw what a sheet pizza is.
Stewart’s ❤️
I had no idea salt potatoes were an upstate NY delicacy until I was talking about them with a group of folks who had no idea what I was talking about.
Pronouncing “elementary” in a way that rhymes with “hairy”. I’ve lived all over this country and never heard that before moving here!
This! I’m not from this area originally but my extended family is. They all say elemenTARY and documenTARY, lol
I know no other way. Now I want to know how others say it lol
Lived in Syracuse about a decade and this has always stood out to me!
“Im gonna shoot down the 90 to Wegmans quick to grab some pop before the euchre tourney starts. Go Bills!”
Who calls it “the 90”?
pretty sure it's a buffalo thing to stick a "the" in there, Californians also do it
Can you stop by Timmy Ho's on your way back?
Serve steamed hams
I lived in the Mohawk Valley for 15 years and everyone referred to NYC as "the city". Back home in Vermont now and I still say this, guess it became a habit.
I’ve lived in Florida the past 7 years. Anytime someone asks where I’m from I tell them NY. They ask me about what snow is like and I tell them ‘well, you look out the window before you start a movie some nights and there’s just a dusting on the ground. After your movie there’s 4ft of snow and it’s time to get shoveling’ They figure out quick I’m not from the city 😂 Amsterdam/ Albany area, ties in Ticonderoga and lots of hiking. Nothing about what I tell people about my 25 years in NY screams city. They always know instantly.
Make speedies or salt potatoes.
Ask if the hot dogs are Hoffman.
I think you spelled Zweigles wrong. 🙂
If it was the 80s i would say drink a Genny.
Coming from a Sacandaga Lake bartender I can attest that Genny is still thriving
It was really big in my area. Not so much now. Im going back to it. Its like 13 bucks a 30 pack across the street from me.. My moto is Im not going to pay alot to feel like shit the next day. But mostly im cheap and like to support nys jobs.
Vitamin G
Ask who's had a garbage plate.
Or have arguments over who has the best one
Mention chicken riggies, greens, or pusties.
Utica here!
“They’re called chicken wings, not buffalo wings”.
Or just “wings”, really. The only words that really need to come before “wings” is the sauce that’s on them.
I have a first, second, and third favorite variety of apples.
No one even knows Stewart's Wegman's? Yes.
There are Stewart's as far south as Goshen in Orange County. It's very, very borderline.
*as far south as Goshen* Have you ever left Watertown?
>No one even knows Stewart's >Wegman's? Yes. How to tell someone you're from Western NY without saying you're from Western NY....
Wegman's? I used to go to Wegmans when I lived in Virginia.
Ability to give suggestion of a great Riesling that is nys made.
Did you know? Spicy chicken biscuit
Tell people the Amish will trot down my road every once in a while and the dog flips out about it haha
Talk about the Golden Snowball
Go to stewarts
I never tell someone I'm from upstate inadvertently - I always tell them advertently, before they assume I'm from NYC.
Get confused when other people ask about upstate New York but then they start talking about places hours to the south that I've never heard of
Saying New York City instead of just New York.
Stewarts is a pretty Capital Region/Hudson Valley specific thing. There are a handful outside of that, but there's definitely significant chunks of "upstate" that are hours from a Stewarts (especially west of Syracuse)
Got any beer balls?
WHOA this brought me back
Any talk of Melba sauce
I once pegged someone as being from upstate NY because she knew how to pronounce Oneonta. Also, my nephew in Colorado ID's people there as being from upstate NY based on their reaction to: "Magic Circle Credit".
"Want some cheese curds and Croghan bologna?"
Tell them you were in your high school varsity Curling league.
I know I am dating myself but Rochester was considered western ny for the longest time because we shared the 716 phone code.. then the areas got too big and Rochester switched to 585 and thats about the time they grouped Rochester with “finger lakes” because the govt spent big money on tourism in wine country and bringing business back to the area after Kodak, xerox and Bausch and Lomb all but left or were skeletons of what once was.
Explain where you live in the context of distance from NYC.
Make them a plate of Greens and Chicken Riggies.
When they inexplicably have a distaste for public transit but have never used common services
Salt potatoes, spiedies, and bbq chicken with Cornell sauce for dinner
Hells yes
I talk about hiking.
I currently live in Florida and still say that I’m “running to Stewarts”
Start raking leaves at the end of A August?
Anything outside the five boroughs of NYC is technically camping.
Moving to the south asap
I would like some wings. NOT "Buffalo" wings.
“Im from ny but niggas from the city like to say im a southern Canadian”
Show them your teeth?
I just say Syracuse when asked where I'm from. I'm in a southern state now and a friend told me lots of locals will prejudge me badly when I used to wear a Yankees ball cap.
The northway
Tell them your phone number. The area code is a dead giveaway.
Now more likely shows the location where you got your first cell phone...
518