Observations

I spent the holiday (Independence Day) at home, in Cincinnati, and I made a few observations, about the differences between Cincinnati and Colorado. These observations are, of course, my personal opinion and experiences. YMMV (um, that’s Your Mileage May Vary for those who haven’t chatted or hung out on message boards).

The main difference I noticed was a feeling of gentility that is missing here in Colorado. People here are nice, polite, and incredibly generous as witnessed by the various donation opportunities (9/11, 2004 Tsunami, Katrina, etc), but that gentility is missing. I suppose it’s best described as a southern politeness, different from others. Mostly evident in interactions between men and women. I really never paid much attention to it, but I knew something was missing out here. Let’s say a man and a woman approach a door at the same time. Unless his hands are otherwise occupied, the man will automatically open and hold said door, waiting for the woman to pass through. It’s expected. I’ve even caught myself waiting for it. Now, I’m perfectly capable of opening my own door, and I’ve made a point of saying as much. But I will admit, having a door held is nice. That’s the most common example. I’ve also had men rush to pick up something I’ve dropped. While I’m no troll, no one’s going to mistake me for a super model, either, so it’s not a flirting thing. It just is.

Then there’s the greetings. Whenever you encounter someone, whether walking down the street or wandering through a building, there must always be an acknowledgment of their presence, if not an outright greeting. It might be as simple as a nod, or as elaborate as asking how you are doing that day, even evolving into a brief conversation about the weather or some other inanity, but it must happen. People get offended if it doesn’t. I think that’s another southern thing. It carries over into other interactions, too, like phone calls and sales at a cash register.

Okay, I suppose it’s really only one observation, not multiple ones. Cincinnati is part of Ohio, technically a northern state. And it’s above the Mason/Dixon Line at latitude 39 N. Southwestern Ohio is on the edge of Appalachia. Southeastern Ohio is actually IN Appalachia, complete with people that look like that inbred kid with no eyebrows in Deliverance. To be fair, I’ve seen those in Cincinnati, too. And while I appreciate the Southern and Appalachian influence – the very strong influence – I never really thought it was so prevalent. Not until this trip, when the differences between here and there became so clear to me. That behavior, by the way, crosses class, race, social and economic lines. While not everyone acts that way, those that do don’t seem to fit in one group moreso than any other. Not in my experience, anyway.

Really, that’s all there is about this. There are the other differences, like humidity, lack of infiltrators (out-of-towners), abundance of free city festivals and large concerts and so forth, but the biggest one I noticed was the way people treat others.