that’s here? where?
dcdaveI have a confession to make. I’m not really from DC, I’m from Arlington, VA. You know the place, Pentagon, big cemetery. Well, I’ve been finding out that no one in Tampa is really from Tampa either. Besides the snowbirds and the southerners trying to eliminate winter all together, everyone who says they’re from Tampa ends up being from somewhere else. It goes something like this:
Me: So, you from around here?
You: Yeah.
Me: Whereabouts?
You: Lutz, or Wesley Chapel, or Clearwater, or Paradise Lakes, or Ruskin, or Valrico, or Insert Town Name Here…
Now, before you jump me and say “Hey Dave, Tampa often refers to the entire Bay area, you moron“, I will let you know that I am aware of this fact.
As previously mentioned, I am guilty of doing the same thing concerning the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, and I know that Tampans are much friendlier than Washingtonians. It’s just confusing to learn all these weird (for me) little town names.
On the other hand, it’s much easier to say “Tampa Bay” then it is “Washington, DC Metropolitan Area”.
Cross posted @ The Delightful Yank
Tags: names, neighborhood, one bay one love, tampa
Loading ...
June 16th, 2006 at 9:13 am
I was actually born at St Joseph’s hospital on MLK. I am not sure how many other people here are natives.
June 16th, 2006 at 11:02 am
I was born at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater and raised there too. I now live in Tampa. Only other place I’ve lived is Gainesville for school years back. Not too many are natives. Whenever I am asked where I am from, after answering, the next thing I hear is, “No, I mean originally.”
June 16th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I was born at MacDill AFB hospital…
June 16th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
The reason you get such strange answers is because when you ARE here and ask people here where they live, they try to get more accurate. I say “Town N Country” even though my zip code is “Tampa”.
Now, if I were visiting the Smithsonian and someone asked me where I live, I would not say “Town N Country” as they would then ask - “And where is that?”. It’s easier when out of town to simply say Tampa then to be more accurate.
When you were in the DC area and someone asked you where you lived, did you say “DC” or did you say “Arlington”?
It’s just a quirk of human relations that we answer things like this. Few people try to be accurate by saying… I live in the Town N Country suburb of Tampa Florida.
JMHO
June 16th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
I was born in St. Petersburg. I have lived in the Bay Area for the great majority of my life. I moved away, but always came back and I am staying.
The coolest thing? I am not just any Florida Native. We can trace back 8 generations of Floridians in our family.
Neat…
June 16th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Now, I’m a Texan…HOWEVER, my partner, Gary, was born at MacDill, raised his first few years in Seminole Heights (Tampa), then in Citrus Park (Tampa) back when it was nothing….and I MEAN NOTHING!!!! (side note: we went to visit the grove he lived on when he was 7-14 years old, was still there until last year, when they built condos on it), he spent 10-22 living in Forest Hills (Tampa) when his dad was chief of police for Tampa (1967-74). Then he moved to Houston to go to work for a major technology firm, 25 years later, comes back home to Tampa.
June 16th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
In response to JMHO:
That was my point actually. I’m sure everyone in a big metro area does the same thing.
June 16th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
It’s the same with Atlanta, where I grew up before escaping to Florida 35 years ago. When people tell me they’re from Atlanta, it turns out they’re really from Roswell or Alpharetta or someplace we considered way out in the sticks when I was growing up.
Come to think of it, the places people call Tampa now (Wesley Chapel, Riverview, etc.) were considered out in the county when I came to Tampa in the ’70s. Come to think of it, Dale Mabry was pretty desolate north of Linebaugh then.
Now I live in a neighborhood where the original residents voted against installing sidewalks to preserve the country feel. Fifty-some years later it’s considered practically in downtown Lakeland.
And, no, I don’t tell people I’m from Tampa any more — even when I travel.
June 16th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
The further away from home you are, the further your threshold. I tell people I’m from Toledo, but I’m actually from “Napoleon,” a town 45 miles to the west of Toledo.