How long do you have to live somewhere before you are a "local"?
 

My dog got off the leash at 7 am this morning. I brought home a customers Porsche last night, so the only vehicle I had at my disposal that I would put a muddy dog in, was my yard cart, 1977 chevy plow truck. It looks like it is right off the farm in W Va.
I was fresh out of bed with my pj's on, and I really need a hair cut .
Whenever my dog runs away, he always ends up in the clean sterile brand new housing plan down the street . I call them the townies
So there I am loading my big dumb dog into my rusty redneck truck at 7am, in basically my underwear, when I notice an entire family watching this whole debacle out their bay window .
I told my wife, that I wondered what the new transplants thought of the locals while they were witnessing this episode , and she reminded me, that I am not a "local"
I have lived here for 22 years now . She was born and raised here .

The term "local" depends entirely upon who is considering the individual. To your wife , you will always be a come-from-away. To anyone who has moved to your area in the past two decades, you are one of the weird locals.
I have been on this site for almost 38 years. To some of my neighbours, I am the guy from away a local girl met at university and brought home.
A decade ago, I was playing with a group and it struck me that of the 9 folks, only three of us were born in Nova Scotia. The rest came from other parts of Canada, the USA or the UK. It is that sort of community.
Frankly, you shouldn't give a darn.
Best
Les

If you were born there - or finished high school there - I'd say you're a local.

Given how long you have been established especially as a business owner, you could also be considered a local.

Context has a lot to do with it.

Good to see you are taking care of your pup, Fred. Were you also wearing your flip flops? :D

I loved in a small, 6000 people, town for34 years, 83 to 17. I always remember people asking me where I'm from, or been here long, or you're not from around here, are you. This town was enti rely family run and everyone local knew everyone. The locals married locals and everyone lived there their entire lives. Good things? I guess in this crazy world it was.

LOL Fred...if you are in a somewhat rural area....yer wife is correct. She might not be either if her parents or grandparents moved there :D

My Lab sez....woof! .. .. gotta go ;)...

I moved to the Franklin/Oil City PA area as a Browns fan in '74. Right up the street from the Steelers during their Super Bowl passage. Never felt like I fit in but I was in high school.

Yesterday I drove to the south east side of Pittsburgh for a car part and two old timers like me helped me load a used transmission into my RAV. They got a kick out of my mid 70's story and made me feel right at home. I don't know if it's the age thing or that they knew I was leaving shortly. :) I think age helps.

I have 19 years in the North Canton area. It's my longest anywhere. The last ten I have been fiddling with cars daily and I feel somewhat that I am a local because of the networks I have developed. Many folks I meet "went to grade school" with another I know or dated his sister for a while. That sort of thing. Helps you feel grounded when you have mostly been a transient.

Browns fans can never be locals here . I love that area up around Oil City.

Around here, they refer to the house you live in by the old owners name.
Takes a while.

I've been here in my home for 40 years, to most here I am local, the old man of the neighborhood. To those who were born here I'm still a transplant. I believe it's an ego thing. Despite my long term commitment to this town I'll always be haole.

I'd say that if you've been in a place long enough to become indistinguishable from the native gestalt then you are local.

In some places (Key West, Maui) you can never become a "local"

Plenty of Steelers fans here but they are more accepting of the lower class.

Local or not.............
 

In Charleston, SC the Episcopal Church (I think is the one) has two cemeteries, one on the same side of the road as the church and the other across the street. If you were born in Charleston and were a church member you could be buried in the cemetery next to the church. If you were born anywhere else, no matter how long you lived in Charleston or who/what you were, you would be buried across the street. So, in some places (at least) you are either a local or not. How long you lived there doesn't matter! My wife and I have lived in a small town in South Georgia for over 35 years and we are not considered to be locals (yet)!

It’s a sliding scale.

Best illustrated by example. I’m born and raised in Texas. I moved to California. To a California-born, I’ll never achieve “local” status. Now if I meet a person that just moved, or better yet is on vacation? I can hold my head high and ask, “ what do you need to know? I’m local”

Then in between the scale slides. It involves a complicated differential equation.

I laugh about this a lot. When I visit relatives in my home town where I graduated from high school...and ancestors lived at least since the Revolution...it seem like the nicer areas of town have all been bought up by folks from New England (largely NY). Block after block of people from elsewhere. They seem foreign to me as they work very hard to push crazy liberal legislation and for more services (that increase taxes). Sadly, since most retired there (and did not bring and real jobs other than service-related ones)...the only real contributions they have made is to create/sustain more a eclectic restaurant scene (that has killed off the older family restaurants) and a housing shortage by driving the home prices (and property taxes) beyond what the locals can afford on their service-related jobs.

When I grew up, many of us hunted for much of our food or grew it. So, every critter was either dinner on the hoof or a threat to our harvest or livestock. There were literally no bear or deer (And few rabbits an squirrels) unless you hunted deep in the woods adjacent to a watershed or other protected area where they ventured out occasionally. Now there are big black bears everywhere. In the subdivisions, on children's playgrounds, walking city streets, etc. They climb onto people's porches, go into open garages, rob garbage cans, etc. No hunting is allowed within city limits and there are huge sanctuaries nearby...so other than remote areas in the county...they multiply like crazy (there are no predators).

I note this and point out that it might not be a good idea to have several 300-500lb bears in one's yard or on one's porch that do not fear humans at all. I have suggested that some should be relocated (as I know that the new "carpetbaggers" do not believe in hunting). They scream at me and are very upset...and complain about newcomers that want to change things (as the "bears were there before we were"). Many have been there between 5-10 years (and consider themselves "natives" but look down on the actual natives as rednecks, hicks, or trailer trash. Good enough to do their yard work or fix their roof, but little else. I point out that I was there long before they were...and there were no bears in anyone's yard until recently...and if there were...we would have harvested them for Sunday dinner and sold the pelt (which outrages them). Most of the carpetbaggers are older and have no children at home...so they are not concerned that feeding the bears in their neighborhoods might create a situation where someone is killed (and local new, etc. is careful to underreport any attcaks..an always blame the human in the "beneath the fold" articles they run. For example, coming out of one's home in the dark and not noticing that big black bear in the dark...is the homeowner's fault.

I had intended to move back home when I retired, but am not sure I can stand the "little NYC attitude" of the new residents on an extended basis. Like them, I am bringing money that was earned in places where it came relatively easy and prices are high...to spend in a place where it is not so easily earned. I recognized the fact (and felt a bit guilty) when I bought my vacation house (which is small, but nice)...in what was one of the best neighborhoods when I was a teen...and much better than most local's full time home. It is where the "rich kids" that looked down on kids like me when I was young (who were actually just middle class, but fabulously wealthy to the very poor like me). The realtor was shocked that I was able to come up with significant funds quickly and didn't need inspections or contingences. I couldn't help but think, one less nice home available to the folks that actually live there.

key west it is a bubba not a local but that takes 3 generations or more :eek:

Fintstone, Say you were out and about, saw a bear that might have gone through someones garbage.

Would you chase it down, antagonize and then shoot it or call animal control to take care of things?

It's interesting to see that some of these responses are aligned with what I've seen in different places. I moved to CO a couple of years ago where the "native/local/transplant" thing can lead to arguments and fights (I've seen it). It seems that you're not a "local" until the natives call you that.

Im just kidding Bob, you're good as gold here. Im not a sports fan, so it does not matter to me who you cheer for on Sunday .
The rivalry is pretty funny though .

No. Large bears...sometimes 5 or 6 at a time come into peoples yards in subdivisions, onto there porches, etc. almost daily. They actually walk city streets in broad daylight.

It is illegal to shoot one and animal control will not even come if you call about a bear...as there are too many and they can't do anything unless there is an actual attack on a human.

Since my home is just outside of city limits, I would just shoot them if they became too mush of an issue/danger in my yard...just like any nuisance/varmit on my property. Self-defense is a universal concept to most reasonable folks (as is hunting).

When I lived in Colorado, many had bumper stickers that said "Native". I tried to fit in as I really liked the people and lifestyle at the time. With the changes (due to the large influx of people from the west coast) over the last 30 years, I can see why one might make such a distinction. The best way to be considered a "local" or at least be tolerated has always been to stop trying to change everything into the place you came from.

Absolutely! When I talk to a lot of natives (and others that have been here long enough to be called locals) many bemoan the transplants that have arrived and changed things. In some instances for the worse, and sometimes for the better. I've had several natives mistake me for being a native, which I thank them for and let them know I'm a transplant, but I always consider it a complement.

It is an interesting tribal behavior. You'd think we would have overcome this sort of thing in modern times. I am glad to live in CA where everyone is from somewhere else and your origin isn't even a subject. I have fantasies of moving out to the desert some day and settle on a nice ranch for retirement, but then I remember how that felt like, last time I lived in an area with little growth and newcomers. You will ALWAYS get the "you aren't from around here, are you?" and "what church are you going to?" treatment.

I grew up in a small town in Europe where there were "house names" as described above. The house would be named after a long gone ancestor - not the last name of the people living in it. People of one family would live in the same house for hundreds of years. And families of the same nationality that were displaced during WW2 are still treated as "newcomers" even in the 2nd and 3rd generation. :eek:

G

3 weeks to 3 generations.
Depends where you are...

Yep....even here in NC....about 50/50...urban verses rural, and it's changed dramatically over my lifetime too.

"You ain't from around here are ya boy"....

Naw....I'm from over there :D...

We're lucky to live in a small community where nobody pays attention to that. Our "down town" consists of a small Mexican restaurant, a small market with gas pumps, a little antique shop, and a post office. There are only somewhere between 1,500 & 2,ooo people. One thing that limits the number of people is a decent part of the area being bordered by forest service land. People greet each other & open doors for each other. One thing of concern is trying to keep the place from being discovered by the people down the hill.

So... it's just like NC then ;)?

Here if you're not a native you're a flatlander. Doesn't matter how long you've been here.

In New Zealand we move around quite a bit. So if you have been somewhere for, say, five years you are a local.

But everyone wants to know where you "are from" and I we tend to say where we went to high school as this is the most influential time of our lives.

I have no idea. I've moved around so much, I feel local within a couple few years. I have no idea if other folks think of me as local or not.

I'm nearly 50. The longest that I've lived in one home/house was our old house and that was about 17-18 years. I've been here now for almost 6, which makes this the second longest place (dwelling) I've ever lived. I've been in Houston now for just over 25 years. which is also the longest that I've been anywhere. Prior to this, it was about every 2.5-4ish years.

I've also always either lived in suburbs where hardly anyone was local or in places that were so big that no one would have any idea.

If you can poke someone in both eyes with one finger, then they are 4th generation local

Round these parts that would be Kontac Cabmando, Wd etc. People from Ohio:)

Too late. Every Yankee over the age of 40 seems to be looking to move there.

Without reading your profile information, I figured you were from Nova Scotia from the first sentence of your comment. I don't think I know of any other places that use "come-from-away."

I've been in Chicago for twelve years now and that's enough to be "local" by many peoples' definition, but it depends on neighborhood. In Avondale (where I live) or Lgan Square, say, that's plenty local. If you're in some south side neighborhoods like Beverly or Hegewisch, twelve years and you're probably still considered like you just showed up.

I've always found the "where are you from" question to be problematic, as I'm not entirely from any one place and it really depends on who's asking and why. I'm from Venezuela, but I haven't lived there since the early 80s. Half of my family is from Colombia, but I'm not and despite that many USians think I'm "Colombian". I grew up after that in Atlanta, but I'm not sure I feel like I'm from there. I spend ten years in Detroit and I love it to death but I'm not from there. I've been in Chicago got twelve and I do feel like it's also where I'm "from" because it's where I live and where I've lived for a long time.

Yep...and change everything after they arrive.

To make it just like the sewer they are running from...

Yeah, you have kind of a native understanding, shared experiences. It may be expressed in language. You can feel a kinship with folks by the way they express themselves.

She's right. Unless your parents were from there and you were born while they were on vacation?

The irony here is Nick is from the Black Swamp which geographically has nothing to do with hill country Appalachians, but he’s still good people. SmileWavy