# Writers: Facts about my state/region/country you should know.



## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Have you ever been reading a book where the setting is your own state, but the writer got one little thing wrong that you just couldn't let go?

Examples from my home state of Massachusetts:

"Grits" We don't know what these are. Period. I read a book once where the protagonist decided on eating grits for breakfast. WTF are grits? (I know what they are.) Oh and biscuits and gravy...that's like a foreign delicacy.

"Wicked" We use the word wicked a lot, but not by itself. We wouldn't say "That's wicked!" We would say, "That's wicked lame/cool/bad/terrible/annoying/confusing/etc." Basically, it just translates into "very."

It's a "rotary" here...I have no idea what a traffic circle is.

All of our old go to Florida to die...but I think that's true of many states.


So, I know I shouldn't let these things get to me...but they do. What are some of the things that are unique about your state?



(P.S. Tom Brady is Jesus)


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

I'm based in London, England, and even I know you don't have grits in Massachusetts. Hominy grits, right? A Deep South delicacy.

Writers need to develop an eye for detail and an ear for speech if they're going to set fiction in places they don't live. I once read a manuscript (not a printed book, thank heavens) where the writer had his character drive from one part of Manhattan to another via a _bridge_. Ye gods!


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## typo (Jul 30, 2010)

You have Cracker Barrel restaurants, therefore you have grits. LOL.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

No grits in Massachusetts? What do the Pukwudgies eat then?


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Shame on me!

1) I really should have put something more inclusive than 'state', I'll try to correct it (50 lashes with a wet noodle)
2)I have never heard of a Pukwudgie...I hang my head in shame   (But at least I learned something!)


Cracker Barrel

Yes, grits are on the menu there, but that's not a commonly ordered item.

But seriously, no one else has any pet peeves from their region we should know about?


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I'd just be happy if people recognized that the movie "Fargo" is not a documentary about Minnesota.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

QuantumIguana said:


> I'd just be happy if people recognized that the movie "Fargo" is not a documentary about Minnesota.


Darn! There goes the whole plot of my next book!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Not only with writers, I find lots of people from other states think that John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath as a documentary that describes current conditions in Oklahoma in the 2000s!

I once cruelly set up a condescending woman on an airliner by contriving to mention an indecisive donkey starving between two bales of hay, and watching her openly burble over this quaint, rustic Okie expression, before I explained that it came from a French philosopher in the 1400s writing about the limits of pure reason.  I admit it was petty of me, but I would do it again!  :-D 

Less mean, and just plain fun, years ago while in Philadelphia on a high school tour, we convinced a bell boy at our hotel that in Oklahoma we had renegade Indian tribes that routinely raided homes on the edge of Tulsa. He was buying it till I blew it by trying to convince him that our bus had fought off an Apache ambush as we left on our trip! 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

New Jersey is not entirely made up of suburbs of New York City. A good chunk of it is suburbs of Philadelphia. 

Seriously, though, a surprisingly significant part of it is largely undeveloped, in spite of being the most densely populated state in the union. The Pine Barrens cover a huge area of the state, with 1,100,000 acres of it designated as Pinelands National Reserve (the nation's first National Reserve) in 1978, and it was designated a United Nations International Biosphere Reserve in 1988. Also, surprisingly close to NYC in the NW portion of the state is some beautiful hiking/camping territory in the "Delaware Water Gap" (just watch out for the black bears).


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

People from the US especially seem to think that London is constantly beset by heavy fogs. It's not, not these days. Those were actually smogs, and were caused by a prevalence of coal-burning fireplaces, which have mostly gone. You guys have been watching too many old movies!


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Americans: you need to go to a doctor to get codeine in Canada. You can't buy it off the shelf up here. I'm looking at you, Jim Butcher.


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## Amanda Leigh Cowley (Apr 28, 2011)

Tony Richards said:


> People from the US especially seem to think that London is constantly beset by heavy fogs. It's not, not these days. Those were actually smogs, and were caused by a prevalence of coal-burning fireplaces, which have mostly gone. You guys have been watching too many old movies!


I'm British but I lived just outside Los Angeles for a year in the Eighties and I remember people asking if it was always foggy 'back home.' There were a lot of old Sherlock Holmes movies being shown at the time, so that probably explains the perception. And I remember one classmate was amazed to learn people in England actually had washing machines. I think she thought we were still sending little boys down chimneys. 

On the whole it was a great year. Happy times.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Krista D. Ball said:


> Americans: you need to go to a doctor to get codeine in Canada. You can't buy it off the shelf up here. I'm looking at you, Jim Butcher.


Lies! It's right next to the m&ms.

I worked in pharmacies for years. I can't tell you how many people would threaten to do just that /facepalm


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

QuantumIguana said:


> I'd just be happy if people recognized that the movie "Fargo" is not a documentary about Minnesota.


You betcha!

(And I say that with tongue firmly in cheek. I'm not sure I've ever heard one of my relatives say "You betcha.")

Maybe it's a southern Minnesota expression. 


And don't get Krista started on all the things people get wrong about Canada...please. We don't have enough server space.

Betsy


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> Lies! It's right next to the m&ms.
> 
> I worked in pharmacies for years. I can't tell you how many people would threaten to do just that /facepalm


You used to be able to buy them. I keep hearing you can get T1 up here, but I have no idea where. Hmm let me Tweet someone and ask. Those aren't all that good, though. Why bother?

You can buy Tylenol with caffeine - it's like 65mg of it. I don't use it often, but it does work when I have a specific kind of headache. Problem? If I take it after 3pm, I don't sleep.

You can still (sometimes) buy codeine cough syrup OTC. But it isn't the good stuff that the doctor will give you. That one is a lot stronger. The OTC one doesn't really work all that well.


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## purplesmurf (Mar 20, 2012)

NogDog said:


> New Jersey is not entirely made up of suburbs of New York City. A good chunk of it is suburbs of Philadelphia.
> 
> Seriously, though, a surprisingly significant part of it is largely undeveloped, in spite of being the most densely populated state in the union. The Pine Barrens cover a huge area of the state, with 1,100,000 acres of it designated as Pinelands National Reserve (the nation's first National Reserve) in 1978, and it was designated a United Nations International Biosphere Reserve in 1988. Also, surprisingly close to NYC in the NW portion of the state is some beautiful hiking/camping territory in the "Delaware Water Gap" (just watch out for the black bears).


I flew out of Newark this summer and I found it hysterical that despite clearly being in Jersey there were no hooded sweatshirts and mugs with "New Jersey" they all clearly had New York printed on them.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_fries

One thing many Easterners are unaware of that we DO have in Oklahoma is lamb fries (see link). Actually, the only time I eat them is when I'm having dinner with an out of state visitor and encouraging the visitor to try them! There's a moderately famous restaurant in East central Oklahoma that has as a signature dish spaghetti with lamb fries on the side!

I'm told some places serve lamb fries that are more properly calf fries...


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

The Hooded Claw said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_fries
> 
> One thing many Easterners are unaware of that we DO have in Oklahoma is lamb fries (see link). Actually, the only time I eat them is when I'm having dinner with an out of state visitor and encouraging the visitor to try them! There's a moderately famous restaurant in East central Oklahoma that has as a signature dish spaghetti with lamb fries on the side!
> 
> I'm told some places serve lamb fries that are more properly calf fries...


Oh man, that was not what I was expecting. I was hoping for deep-fried lamb chops.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> Oh and biscuits and gravy...that's like a foreign delicacy.
> .
> .
> .
> ...


I had biscuits and gravy for breakfast at McDonald's this very morning! I had no idea they served foreign delicacies under The Golden Arches. Bitter experience has taught me that it isn't worth bothering to ask for them at McDonald's outside Oklahoma, though. I might try in Texas.

I know what traffic circles are, though I'll also go miles out of my way to avoid them. But if you mentioned a rotary, I'd have to assume you were talking about a very old Mazda.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

I really should get to OK one of these days...I was born there. Plus, I would love to go to an OKC Thunder game.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> I really should get to OK one of these days...I was born there. Plus, I would love to go to an OKC Thunder game.


Come on down and have lamb fries! My treat! . If you'll go to southwest Oklahoma, I will show you (or any KBer who asks nicely and can fit into my work/travel schedule) prairie dogs, bison, and longhorns, as well as Geronimo's grave and an atomic cannon. All in one day...


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Come on down and have lamb fries! My treat! . If you'll go to southwest Oklahoma, I will show you (or any KBer who asks nicely and can fit into my work/travel schedule) prairie dogs, bison, and longhorns, as well as Geronimo's grave and an atomic cannon. All in one day...


You sir, know how to partay!


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

Contrary to popular belief, most of Texas is not desert and tumbleweeds. Most of it is green with lots of trees. West Texas is where things start to get arid.

You do not see lots of cowboy hats. In cities, you almost never see them.

We have great roads and highways. Very modern in a lot of ways. Texas is almost like two states. Due to migration from the north over the past twenty five years our cities are generally moderate to liberal while small towns are still much like the Texas of twenty five years ago.

Chicken fried steak is a favorite food here. Biscuits and gravy would be recognized and enjoyed as well.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Contrary to popular belief, most of Texas is not desert and tumbleweeds. Most of it is green with lots of trees. West Texas is where things start to get arid.
> 
> You do not see lots of cowboy hats. In cities, you almost never see them.
> 
> ...


And are football and country music as beloved as they are purported to be?


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> And are football and country music as beloved as they are purported to be?


High school football is big, especially in small town Texas. And both the Cowboys and Texans never have any trouble selling out there stadiums either.

Country music? It's just a music genre. It's probably more popular in the small towns, but kids here like their rap/metal/trance music as much as anywhere else.


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## Not Here Anymore (May 16, 2012)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Contrary to popular belief, most of Texas is not desert and tumbleweeds. Most of it is green with lots of trees. West Texas is where things start to get arid.
> 
> You do not see lots of cowboy hats. In cities, you almost never see them.
> 
> ...


As a Texas native, I would only add that there are actually several people in the state who don't own cattle or an oil well.


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## Not Here Anymore (May 16, 2012)

Sara Rosett said:


> As a Texas native, I would only add that there are actually several people in the state who don't own cattle or an oil well.


Forgot one: or wear white ten-gallon hats.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

I double checked with a coworker who's dad runs a pharmacy. Yes, you can still get T1s in Canada behind the counter. However, you can only get a few, they are a low dose, and you have to give your ID to be entered into a database. AND they are more expensive than the ones you get from the doctor (which are stronger). They also contain caffeine, as most of the T-series. 

However, you can get T3s without caffeine from your doctor. I've gotten them, so I know.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

In the US it's some of the better cold medicine that's kept behind the counter . . .the stuff that can be used to refine some street drug.  I don't know.  I just know we can't buy some sorts of Contac or Sudafed any more -- the kind that work the best! -- without full identification.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> In the US it's some of the better cold medicine that's kept behind the counter . . .the stuff that can be used to refine some street drug. I don't know. I just know we can't buy some sorts of Contac or Sudafed any more -- the kind that work the best! -- without full identification.


We can still buy most of that without ID. I can't get Gravol, though, without ID. Which is dumb.

If I ever come to visit, Ann, I'mm smuggle in a caseload


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

And you can take back some Tylenol.  

Though. . .honestly. . . . . I'm guessing a case of the stuff would look suspicious even to the most dim-witted border guard.


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

OK, I'll give a few comments about New Jersey, where I grew up, and Vermont, where I've lived for the last 11 years.

New Jersey:


Not ALL of the Jersey Shore is like the town depicted in "Jersey Shore". The barrier island beach town I grew up in is actually dry (no alcohol sold on the island, including restaurants). This was in South Jersey, which is decidedly more mellow than the more northern Jersey Shore towns.
It really is the Garden State, at least a lot of it is - particularly the south west part. It was easier to find a farm stand in Jersey than when I lived outside of Boston.
They're called traffic circles in NJ, and they're fairly common.
Don't forget you can't pump your own gas in NJ (and yet it's relatively cheap).
local foods: pork roll, scrapple, birch beer, Tastycakes (which you purchase at Wawa).
It's "cheesesteak", not "steak and cheese"

Vermont:

There are no billboards in Vermont. The sides of barns can sometimes be painted (as an advertisement or political statement) but there are regulations.
We do not all live in quaint B&B's
We do not ALL drive a Prius or a Subaru, but most do...
The state is fairly liberal, but you can still find "Take Back Vermont" signs here and there.
Maple syrup is harvested in early spring. Often there is no snow left and it's mud season.
There are no tollroads in VT.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Canada is not socialist. We only appear that way on TV.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Eltanin Publishing said:


> OK, I'll give a few comments about New Jersey, where I grew up, and Vermont, where I've lived for the last 11 years.
> 
> New Jersey:
> 
> ...


Oh man, when we were in NJ, I told my husband about the gas...but he still pumped it anyway...caused a whole hullabaloo.



Ann in Arlington said:


> In the US it's some of the better cold medicine that's kept behind the counter . . .the stuff that can be used to refine some street drug. I don't know. I just know we can't buy some sorts of Contac or Sudafed any more -- the kind that work the best! -- without full identification.


Yeah that whole pseudoephedrine thing really made lives for pharmacy employees/customers more miserable. Really the whole process of making the street drugs was so unstable...many people blew their hands off <--I'm a fan of survival of the fittest here. And considering phenylephrine (what you can still get OTC) is only about 1/20 the strength...it really sucks for any late night runs.

One thing I forgot about MA, which I'm actually curious about other state. We use 'pizza' to describe the whole thing, and a 'piece of pizza' (generally) to describe one slice. NY it's a 'pie' and 'slice'

Oh and in MA we frequently call subs (the sandwiches) 'grinders'


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## Todd Young (May 2, 2011)

Australia is a police state, run along the lines of Orwell's 1984. You ought to keep this in mind if you're planning on setting a book here.

The only exception to this rule is that you can buy codeine from the chemist (in painkillers and cough medicine), though you will have to let them put a label on it. No ID is required for this. A pseudonym is acceptable.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Todd Young said:


> Australia is a police state, run along the lines of Orwell's 1984. You ought to keep this in mind if you're planning on setting a book here.
> 
> The only exception to this rule is that you can buy codeine from the chemist (in painkillers and cough medicine), though you will have to let them put a label on it. No ID is required for this. A pseudonym is acceptable.


NOOOOO! I always thought if I visited it would be like living inside a Men at Work music video.


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## Todd Young (May 2, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> NOOOOO! I always thought if I visited it would be like living inside a Men at Work music video.


Strangely enough, it's one of the world's most urbanised countries. 70% of the population live in the ten largest cities.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

In Canada, this is soda:










This is pop:


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Todd Young said:


> Strangely enough, it's one of the world's most urbanised countries. 70% of the population live in the ten largest cities.


Considering the high percentage of poisonous snakes and spiders, ants, a mollusk, and even a mammal with nasty stings in your country, I'd probably stay in the city too if I lived in Australia!

SNAKE AND SPIDER WARNING ON THE VIDEO!!!!!!!


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## MadCityWriter (Dec 8, 2011)

In Wisconsin:  
- it's not true that the water pressure of Wisconsin cities fails during half time of Packer games--only when they play the Superbowl.
- it's not true we wear cheese hats all the time--just most of the time.
- it's not true brown cows give chocolate milk--any cow that eats chocolate grass can give chocolate milk.
- it's not true that beer is considered one of the four food groups here -- well, okay maybe it is true.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

MadCityWriter said:


> In Wisconsin:
> - it's not true that the water pressure of Wisconsin cities fails during half time of Packer games--only when they play the Superbowl.
> - it's not true we wear cheese hats all the time--just most of the time.
> - it's not true brown cows give chocolate milk--any cow that eats chocolate grass can give chocolate milk.
> - it's not true that beer is considered one of the four food groups here -- well, okay maybe it is true.


Just don't make those cheese hats using the chocolate milk cows!


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## RuthMadison (Jul 9, 2011)

I try to only write books featuring scenes with places I have lived. Luckily, I've lived in quite a few places! But most of my books are Massachusetts focused, since that's where I grew up.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

woot woot Massachusetts!


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## RuthMadison (Jul 9, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> woot woot Massachusetts!


Represent! 

I actually just heard today that "dove" as the past of "dive" is a New England thing. Apparently in midwest it's "dived." 

I should amp up the MA stuff in my writing even more than it already is!


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

RuthMadison said:


> Represent!
> 
> I actually just heard today that "dove" as the past of "dive" is a New England thing. Apparently in midwest it's "dived."
> 
> I should amp up the MA stuff in my writing even more than it already is!


Huh that's pretty neat. yeah, saying "dived" sounds extremely unnatural.


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## Gareth K Pengelly (Aug 25, 2012)

I'd be quite happy if writers began to realise that there are places other than London in England, haha!


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Gareth K Pengelly said:


> I'd be quite happy if writers began to realise that there are places other than London in England, haha!


Impossible!


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Not all of Canada is cold. There are plenty of places in Canada that are warmer than the US - even when excluding Alaska from that statement.


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## MalloryMoutinho (Aug 24, 2012)

Krista D. Ball said:


> Not all of Canada is cold. There are plenty of places in Canada that are warmer than the US - even when excluding Alaska from that statement.


how are the beaches?


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

MalloryMoutinho said:


> how are the beaches?


There are some nice beaches around Vancouver, and Vancouver Island.


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