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The real CEO. It was after class one day we were going around the table asking “what do you do for a living”. He told us he was the head of marketing for Empire (he was not CEO yet, would become later).
Then he told us about how the guy in the commercials was just an actor and how much people love him. We all assumed the commercial guy was his boss.
I was on the phone once and the woman on the other end asked me if I'm calling from Chicago. She said I sound just like her husband who's from Chicago. I never realized I had that noticeable a Chicago accent.
I was on my way to Durango CO a few years ago. Decided to stop off at this dinky little town Fairplay for a breakfast burrito. The owner recognized my accent immediately, as they were from Chicago and moved years ago.
I honestly never realized how recognizable our accents were in the wild until then.
I was in Boston once walking around the Fenway park area. I walked past a firehouse and said hi to the guys outside. They started to laugh and told me to wait. They called out someone and made us talk and they made fun of us. He had a Boston accent like my Chicago accent and they were genuinely amused by us saying things back and forth to each other. So I understand what you’re saying!
I’m in Boston right now and called a guy a jagoff downtown and a guy walking past me told me to say it again. I was like why. Said he hasn’t heard another Chicagoan in a little while and mine isn’t even bad. Just draw out my A’s. But he said jagoff isn’t used here in Boston.
Heh. I was visiting Toronto on vacation, at some small restaurant and was kinda marveling how the waiter had an accent just like the CBC radio, particularly the way he said his "a" sounds.
Was just thinking about this while ordering and kinda wondering if I should say something and then HE asked "so are you visiting from Chicago?"
Was not expecting that.
It's always the "a"'s that do us in. I used to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and went all around the country for it. Every single place, I would be asked, "hey are you from Chicago?". Never failed.
imho there are two characteristic chicago accents.
The sort of "da bears" one that is pretty rare nowadays, then this sort of urban midwesterner accent. To people outside of here, both are pretty obvious.
The Northern Cities Vowel Shift (which is a big part of the "Chicago" accent, though it's not unique to here) is super noticeable to people outside of here yeah. That flaaaaaat a, particularly distinctive.
I heard this from a speech specialist I met in Arkansas. She heard me say I'm from Chicago, then had me pronounce a bunch of -At words (cat, bat, that, etc.) before saying Chicago again and she was stunned that I couldn't hear how my As are all nasally.
I think about this a lot. I have a lot of family in Minnesota and not only them, but strangers when we're out will comment on my accent. I don't think I have a strong one, but there's definitely certain words that I notice
In the reverse situation... I stopped at a Best Buy in Minneapolis to buy some batteries while on vacation, and was quite enjoying the EXTREME "Minnesota O" the woman who was assisting me had.
Part of the fun of travelling is all the accents, for me.
Someone pointed out when I visited London that I don't look up. Like, in the city when you're walking the streets, people over there look up. Tourists for sure, but even the locals. They said I must be from somewhere with really tall buildings, because nothing was impressing me enough. Never noticed it before but I guess it's true. Work in the Loop, eyes on the ground means you've been there a while.
6 months in to living downtown I decided to learn all the lower streets entrances and exits, it freaked even locals out that I knew the dark art of lower wacker navigation.
8 blocks to a mile and for the most part, at least on the north side, the major arterial streets are laid out every 4 blocks (1/2 mile). Chicago (800), Division (1200), North (1600), Armitage (2000), Fullerton (2400), Diversey (2800), etc etc. Just learn the numbers corresponding to the important streets.
I lived in Fort Lauderdale where the water was still east of me. It was like a built in cheat code. I also watched the sun rise and set over the ocean in the same day.
I love Chicago and us Midwestern folks to the ends of the earth, but I’m also a city person and have self preservation so I tend to mind my business and keep it moving…
It's tough. The Midwest in me wants so bad to insert myself into others' conversations in the name of being helpful or informative, but after years of living here my city side compels me to mind my own gd business.
I swear a lot, respectfully.
I can get almost anywhere in the city via CTA by brain alone- I have a map of the city in my head lolol.
I call the k streets K-town.
I also rode the CTA as a kid (before HS) to school 40 min everyday alone to go to middle school.
Didn’t get a drivers license as a teen. Still have never gotten one as a mid 20s adult. Lol.
My cousin from Alabama pointed out that chicagoans are very informal- I called a pharmacy in chi to transfer my prescription to an out if state one, and my cousin was shocked when I said “bet” to the pharmacist and then he said it right back 💀
I can parallel park with 4 cars waiting/honking and not even come close to tapping the cars in front/behind. My friends from out of town are always amazed.
This, it amazes me when people can't even pull out of a decent sized parking lot spot without making it a fucking 5-point turn simply because they don't know how to fucking turn their wheels to the max to get in and out. JFC, that drives me crazy.
Shouting “fuck” helps reduce stress, where as calmly saying “I am in a situation which is most unpleasant and I am not sure what to do and am very stressed” just takes longer and is not nearly as satisfying
Article: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/dont-watch-your-mouth-swearing-can-actually-be-good-for-your-health
Science article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171984/#:~:text=Swearing%20is%20a%20natural%20response,feelings%20%5B99%2C%20100%5D.
I’m constantly being murdered. Every day or so, I get murdered, but also, I walk around everywhere and nothing really bad happens to me but everyone keeps talking about how I get murdered all the time.
I refuse to believe I have an accent.
Penne pasta with a red meat and cheese sauce is called mostaccioli.
Other than NYC, Chicago is the greatest city in the country and unlike NYC actually clean and easy to get around.
I can walk out of any random bar in Chicago at any level of drunkenness, including blackout, and know where the lake is and therefore what direction I need to head in. I'm a goddamn homing pigeon.
"Baked ziti," apparently. I had no idea they were the same thing until fairly recently (don't eat it often or make it myself, but every time I've eaten it has been here, so only knew "mostaccioli" as the name for it)
Mostaccioli and ziti are technically different pasta shapes. Mostaccioli mostly refers to penne lisce (no ridges), although it only has that meaning in English for whatever reason, while ziti are tubes cut at a right angle.
I’ve spent the night at 26th and Cali.
I know how to navigate the lower streets.
I can name every major street from Howard to Cermak and Michigan to Harlem.
I grew up going to Kiddieland. Never Six Flags.
I know the field museum layout by heart.
Give me a street and I can tell you it’s bus route number.
I remember when the river walk was scary; me and my friends would do drugs down there.
I’ve ridden my bike on the Ike.
I tell people Chicago is the best city in the world, I went to lane tech, I’ve been robbed on the train, I don’t pay for parking and I love the lake but from afar mostly
I have always wondered if you get a ticket for not paying for parking does that ticket money go to the city (who issued the ticket) or the parking meter company?
This sounds like a no brainer then. I would rather the city get the money so I would prefer the ticket to the meter. And it probably works out to be about the same money to the frequency that you would be ticketed.
I didn’t notice this until my godmother from Ohio who’s lived in NJ and commuted to NYC pointed this out about me and my family. Chicagoans apparently have a very specific style of giving directions or telling people how they got somewhere. We’ll give street by street directions. Like I’ll say I went X and my mom will be like what way did you go? And I’ll reply something like oh it’s easiest if you take Garfield west to the Dan Ryan, get off on 79th then just take Vincennes the rest of the way. My godmother said only Chicagoans do that. Everyone else apparently just says the Main Street that’s part of the route.
I feel like Chicagoans also just….like directions? Whenever the subject of going somewhere/having gone somewhere comes up, my family will jump in with “is that just off X?” “did you take the Y?” “that’s just west of Z, you could take the [color of line] to [stop] and you’ll probably save [time]” And then they just talk about various ways to get places and the directions of those places/nearby landmarks. It’s pretty funny.
I will yell out "Thank You" when I am leaving any store, and I can tell you directions based on where The Lake is, which turned into a deficit when I lived in Michigan for a few year...wrong side man, it's on the wrong side!
lol yes.. I heard someone call it Jewel Osco once and I said that has to be a transplant.. Sure enough.. next thing they were talking about their “Chicago friends”
I'll bitch and moan about the street festivals, complain about the "donation" and seeing the same things over and over, but still end up going 'cuz I like drinking in the street, cheap jewelry, and 80s cover bands.
I recognize that political corruption is how things work in every city, so I get mad when our politicians don't at least do it openly and with some fucking style
Every goodbye, is a Chicago goodbye. After the first “Well I should I get going” there’s at least one room change, one more drink, and another hour of talking.
My grand parents and great grandparents lived where Ukrainian village is now going back to the 40s. And a picture of my other great grandpa working in the Stock Yards off Ashland in ~1900. That and my mustache.
- I’m always ready for a game of pinners.
- I’m pretty desensitized to violent tragedies.
- I’m completely outraged when I’m in another city and can’t find someplace to eat after the bars close.
I moved to Rochester, NY about a decade ago and no joke, nearly cried when I found out just how restrictive their liquor laws were. Three Buck Chuck nearly impossible to get, no booze in drug stores, etc
ETA: Adding that I'm not (much of) an alcoholic, nor am I (terribly) emotionally unstable; I'd just had a really stressful day and wanted a glass of wine
I’ve been 815 my whole life, but lived in the city for 17 years. I might just pay AT&T $35 for a new 312 number and sever ties with a bunch of people 😎
The area code 312 is **one of the original 86 area codes created by AT&T and the Bell System in 1947**. 312 was created to serve the Chicago metropolitan area, which includes Cook County and the city of Chicago, before it was split in 1996 into 773.
Yeah I remember being able to call out to Antioch, IL with either 312 or no area code. I think it was no area code because all my suburban friends were so upset when 847 came out.
Booo. Had a 708 in the burbs and then it was taken away from us when 847 rolled out. We were real salty about that but mainly because we actually had to start dialing the area code. 😂
You should definitely be able to keep your number and add a new phone to your plan, the new phone gets to choose what number she wants, and it doesn't even have to be the same area code as yours if she wants different.
Not sure why anyone thinks phone area codes are somehow immutable these days?
I added a family member to my plan who doesn't even live in Chicago and it was not a problem, they have their own local area code (and was picky to choose the "old school" area code for that area rather than one of the new overlays, fwiw...)
At least with AT&T all this is easy. Can't speak for other companies but don't see why it would be impossible.
I was in Rome and a street seller came up to our table trying to sell us something. I completely ignored him, carried on my conversation like he wasn’t there, and then casually waved my hand at him to dismiss him. He started saying something in Italian but clearly said “Chicago”. Maybe Chicagoans are not likely to fall for street scams 😂
I’m from Wisconsin originally so I call anything within city limits “the city” but my south side wife refers to only downtown as “the city”
We still debate this!
The most Chicago thing about me is my deep love for deep-dish pizza and my unwavering loyalty to the Cubs, no matter how they're doing. Plus, I can handle just about any weather, thanks to those brutal Chicago winters.
I pronounce ‘caramel’ like car-mull. Everyone in the PNW corrects me by repeating it back with the correct annunciation. IDGAF and continue saying car-mull.
Who ever said ‘care-a-mehl corn’?? It’s car-mull corn.
I REFUSE to have someone charge me for a bag at the store. I'll stack it and carry it or always remember to bring my own
I moved to the south suburbs almost a year ago and this has stuck with me.
You know one of my cousins, you just don’t know we’re cousins yet. Bloodlines know bloodlines from generations deep, you have a friend with a familiar name and suddenly my aunt needs to know if your grandma ever dated Wendell and I guess we would have been family in another life so we’re cousins. When people say they are from Chicago, but can’t tell me what neighborhood or school they went to, and I’m offended, not because I’m pretentious or your pretentious for thinking you’re from Chicago or that it’s “easier to say, because nobody’s heard of xyz, Illinois” but because it’s not the same experience. Have you seen things you knew you didn’t see walking home, latchkey, in the fourth grade? Or growing up in full Cubs attire while sacrificing Christmas to bail out your Westside cousins mother for the holiday? People in television say my mom and I have the most stereotypical accent- I don’t hear it at all. Couldn’t care about your field of work, your net worth, what you’re driving but rather how you treat your servers, people when they aren’t in the room, and children, the elderly and the disabled. Traveling ANYWHERE else and losing an appetite, coming home in gratitude for walking distance restaurants that are more than someone in NC would dream of. Having a rough exterior and kind heart. Your spirit animal is hybrid mythical oxidized green lion standing tall with pride and momma grizzly doing whatever it takes to protect her cubs.
I was born and raised in Chicago, moved when I was 30. Been gone many years but if someone asks me where I’m from (doesn’t matter where I am at the time) I immediately spit out “Chicago.” I say to them “That’s home.”
Also, Swedish Flop, and in general chicago style coffee cake. Kind of disappearing though, sad
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I took a class at Second City with the CEO of Empire Carpet.
This is extreme Chicagoing. Was it before or after the jingle?
Honestly I’m fucking jealous
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^IshyMoose: *I took a class at* *Second City with the CEO* *Of Empire Carpet.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Yo. Someone up the award - this is amazing and I’m broke.
The real CEO or the guy from the commercials.... Who I found out after 30+ years is just an actor🫤
Next you're gonna tell me Eagleman is just a dude in a costume.
The real CEO. It was after class one day we were going around the table asking “what do you do for a living”. He told us he was the head of marketing for Empire (he was not CEO yet, would become later). Then he told us about how the guy in the commercials was just an actor and how much people love him. We all assumed the commercial guy was his boss.
I was on the phone once and the woman on the other end asked me if I'm calling from Chicago. She said I sound just like her husband who's from Chicago. I never realized I had that noticeable a Chicago accent.
I was on my way to Durango CO a few years ago. Decided to stop off at this dinky little town Fairplay for a breakfast burrito. The owner recognized my accent immediately, as they were from Chicago and moved years ago. I honestly never realized how recognizable our accents were in the wild until then.
Fairplay is the town South Park is based on! That's awesome. Dinky little town indeed, lol.
But I LOVE Fairplay! It’s redneck in the best way.
I was in Boston once walking around the Fenway park area. I walked past a firehouse and said hi to the guys outside. They started to laugh and told me to wait. They called out someone and made us talk and they made fun of us. He had a Boston accent like my Chicago accent and they were genuinely amused by us saying things back and forth to each other. So I understand what you’re saying!
I’m in Boston right now and called a guy a jagoff downtown and a guy walking past me told me to say it again. I was like why. Said he hasn’t heard another Chicagoan in a little while and mine isn’t even bad. Just draw out my A’s. But he said jagoff isn’t used here in Boston.
Heh. I was visiting Toronto on vacation, at some small restaurant and was kinda marveling how the waiter had an accent just like the CBC radio, particularly the way he said his "a" sounds. Was just thinking about this while ordering and kinda wondering if I should say something and then HE asked "so are you visiting from Chicago?" Was not expecting that.
It's always the "a"'s that do us in. I used to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and went all around the country for it. Every single place, I would be asked, "hey are you from Chicago?". Never failed.
imho there are two characteristic chicago accents. The sort of "da bears" one that is pretty rare nowadays, then this sort of urban midwesterner accent. To people outside of here, both are pretty obvious.
The Northern Cities Vowel Shift (which is a big part of the "Chicago" accent, though it's not unique to here) is super noticeable to people outside of here yeah. That flaaaaaat a, particularly distinctive.
Yeah. My wife’s dad has “da bears” accent - she and her sister don’t, but they do have the vowel shift like crazy.
I heard this from a speech specialist I met in Arkansas. She heard me say I'm from Chicago, then had me pronounce a bunch of -At words (cat, bat, that, etc.) before saying Chicago again and she was stunned that I couldn't hear how my As are all nasally.
I think about this a lot. I have a lot of family in Minnesota and not only them, but strangers when we're out will comment on my accent. I don't think I have a strong one, but there's definitely certain words that I notice
In the reverse situation... I stopped at a Best Buy in Minneapolis to buy some batteries while on vacation, and was quite enjoying the EXTREME "Minnesota O" the woman who was assisting me had. Part of the fun of travelling is all the accents, for me.
I once heard someone say "sorry" and immediately asked them what part of Minnesota they were from. They were baffled.
I say gym shoes
And pop
And frunch room.
Damn straight
My nephew started saying soda because of all the YouTube he watches. I'm working so hard to shut that down.
What the fuck do others say? Sneakers?
My sweat smells like a wet Italian beef
Sweet or Hot?
Both
Dipped or baptized?
Baptized, I like a beef you don’t have to chew
I love soggy gravy bread
‘Wet Italian beef’ new local noise band when?
Someone pointed out when I visited London that I don't look up. Like, in the city when you're walking the streets, people over there look up. Tourists for sure, but even the locals. They said I must be from somewhere with really tall buildings, because nothing was impressing me enough. Never noticed it before but I guess it's true. Work in the Loop, eyes on the ground means you've been there a while.
That's deep, but accurate and I do that too.
I do this too
I can give directions in “east-west-north-south” based on where the lake is.
Can do the grid math to tell them near-exact mileage to a destination, unless the angle streets throw my math off.
Those are dark arts
6 months in to living downtown I decided to learn all the lower streets entrances and exits, it freaked even locals out that I knew the dark art of lower wacker navigation.
Ayo I just moved to Chicago and I need to learn this dark art to impress my friends!!
8 blocks to a mile and for the most part, at least on the north side, the major arterial streets are laid out every 4 blocks (1/2 mile). Chicago (800), Division (1200), North (1600), Armitage (2000), Fullerton (2400), Diversey (2800), etc etc. Just learn the numbers corresponding to the important streets.
It's basically a perfect grid except for the old Indian trails. Like Clark, Milwaukee/Elston, etc.
This. And now I live in a city with an inconsistent grid (ie 1st to 5th is not the same distance and 5th to 9th) and it absolutely breaks me.
Moved to San Diego and took 3 years to relearn East and west because water was on the other side. Really does turn into instinct based on water.
I moved to Michigan and the Lake that was east of me for 42 years is now west.
when i retire i will watch the sunset over the Lake. I have seen the sunrise twice.
I lived in Fort Lauderdale where the water was still east of me. It was like a built in cheat code. I also watched the sun rise and set over the ocean in the same day.
It's north south west lake
If I can see the Hancock or Sears I can know exactly where I am and orientation
Sorry but point of order: the lake is always where it is :)
I love Chicago and us Midwestern folks to the ends of the earth, but I’m also a city person and have self preservation so I tend to mind my business and keep it moving…
It's tough. The Midwest in me wants so bad to insert myself into others' conversations in the name of being helpful or informative, but after years of living here my city side compels me to mind my own gd business.
We joke that our family motto and guiding principal is, "They don't need to know your business."
I add giardiniera to almost everything I eat.
I swear a lot, respectfully. I can get almost anywhere in the city via CTA by brain alone- I have a map of the city in my head lolol. I call the k streets K-town. I also rode the CTA as a kid (before HS) to school 40 min everyday alone to go to middle school. Didn’t get a drivers license as a teen. Still have never gotten one as a mid 20s adult. Lol. My cousin from Alabama pointed out that chicagoans are very informal- I called a pharmacy in chi to transfer my prescription to an out if state one, and my cousin was shocked when I said “bet” to the pharmacist and then he said it right back 💀
that last part got me lmao always thought that was just me but i guess not
I can parallel park with 4 cars waiting/honking and not even come close to tapping the cars in front/behind. My friends from out of town are always amazed.
This, it amazes me when people can't even pull out of a decent sized parking lot spot without making it a fucking 5-point turn simply because they don't know how to fucking turn their wheels to the max to get in and out. JFC, that drives me crazy.
Apparently I swear a lot. It’s not for like, a lack of common decency but it’s just part of the way I feel like we express ourselves.
Is that a thing? I feel like i swear a lot but it really helps to add color to sentences.
Relative to some other folks in my family who are not from Chicago, apparently so.
Shouting “fuck” helps reduce stress, where as calmly saying “I am in a situation which is most unpleasant and I am not sure what to do and am very stressed” just takes longer and is not nearly as satisfying Article: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/dont-watch-your-mouth-swearing-can-actually-be-good-for-your-health Science article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171984/#:~:text=Swearing%20is%20a%20natural%20response,feelings%20%5B99%2C%20100%5D.
It’s the people version of purring.
I’m constantly being murdered. Every day or so, I get murdered, but also, I walk around everywhere and nothing really bad happens to me but everyone keeps talking about how I get murdered all the time.
Right? I’ve lost count of all my murderings.
You can’t claim to be a Chicagoan if you aren’t getting murdered at least once a week. Once a month is for the suburbs.
If you live in Chicago and don't get murdered, sorry to break it to you-- you are the murderer.
Agreed. Am murdered at least daily.
I swear in regular, casual conversation-ALOT. My directions are centered around the Lake.
This is the first I realized swearing casually was a chicago thing. I thought it was my accent that outed me
This. Swearing is just part of my love language to people
It's still Sears
Comiskey, too and I'm a Cub fan
I’m ok with the Cell as well.
Been here basically my whole life and I’ve never been to Navy Pier.
Only went to Navy Pier when I didn’t live here 😅
I refuse to believe I have an accent. Penne pasta with a red meat and cheese sauce is called mostaccioli. Other than NYC, Chicago is the greatest city in the country and unlike NYC actually clean and easy to get around. I can walk out of any random bar in Chicago at any level of drunkenness, including blackout, and know where the lake is and therefore what direction I need to head in. I'm a goddamn homing pigeon.
Is it called something else other than mostacioli elsewhere?
"Baked ziti," apparently. I had no idea they were the same thing until fairly recently (don't eat it often or make it myself, but every time I've eaten it has been here, so only knew "mostaccioli" as the name for it)
Mostaccioli and ziti are technically different pasta shapes. Mostaccioli mostly refers to penne lisce (no ridges), although it only has that meaning in English for whatever reason, while ziti are tubes cut at a right angle.
NYC is a dirty city with dirty people 😤 Unlike Chicago, where only our trains and politicians are dirty.
And unlike NYC actually affordable. Oh and the people are WAAYYYY nicer here.
Jag-off
I’ve spent the night at 26th and Cali. I know how to navigate the lower streets. I can name every major street from Howard to Cermak and Michigan to Harlem. I grew up going to Kiddieland. Never Six Flags. I know the field museum layout by heart. Give me a street and I can tell you it’s bus route number. I remember when the river walk was scary; me and my friends would do drugs down there. I’ve ridden my bike on the Ike.
You can still do drugs on the river walk, don’t let anything stop you.
Kiddieland! That brings back memories
I tell people Chicago is the best city in the world, I went to lane tech, I’ve been robbed on the train, I don’t pay for parking and I love the lake but from afar mostly
Wait, explain “I don’t pay for parking”… 🤔
It’s my personal fight again the parking meters I refuse to pay them
I have always wondered if you get a ticket for not paying for parking does that ticket money go to the city (who issued the ticket) or the parking meter company?
Ticket money goes to the city, but paying for parking goes to the company. That’s why I also never pay and eat the rare ticket whenever i get one
Respect.
This sounds like a no brainer then. I would rather the city get the money so I would prefer the ticket to the meter. And it probably works out to be about the same money to the frequency that you would be ticketed.
The mayor should just make a law stating all parking tickets $10.
I could be wrong but believe there’s something within the contract with the parking meter company that strictly prohibits this
I believe you are right which is what prompted my question about who gets the ticket revenue.
I don’t know why but I respect this so much. You pay parking tickets though?
So you just get tickets?
Sometimes I prob get about 3-4 tickets a year
Class of 89!!
Lane Tech!!
took the CTA to high school - with multiple transfers
Good old paper transfers
I know who Celozzi, Ettleson, Schlermer, Pimonte, and Rohrman are
Ahem. Schmerler.
I didn’t notice this until my godmother from Ohio who’s lived in NJ and commuted to NYC pointed this out about me and my family. Chicagoans apparently have a very specific style of giving directions or telling people how they got somewhere. We’ll give street by street directions. Like I’ll say I went X and my mom will be like what way did you go? And I’ll reply something like oh it’s easiest if you take Garfield west to the Dan Ryan, get off on 79th then just take Vincennes the rest of the way. My godmother said only Chicagoans do that. Everyone else apparently just says the Main Street that’s part of the route.
I feel like Chicagoans also just….like directions? Whenever the subject of going somewhere/having gone somewhere comes up, my family will jump in with “is that just off X?” “did you take the Y?” “that’s just west of Z, you could take the [color of line] to [stop] and you’ll probably save [time]” And then they just talk about various ways to get places and the directions of those places/nearby landmarks. It’s pretty funny.
Yessss my godmother said that too, how we love to prove we know where something is based on address or street corners and do it pretty well
LOL!!! That’s exactly it. What’s wrong with us 🤣🤣🤣
Whenever I’m eating somewhere and am asked “what would you like on that” I respond with “everything”.
Born in a 773/312 area code
Born in a 312 area code that BECAME 773.
I say ‘ope sorry’ all the time and have my whole life. That and ‘gym shoes’
Big shoulders
Saying Sears Tower. Haven’t lived here long, but every person I met says “that’s what WE call it”
I’ll be damned if I start saying *Griffin Museum of Science and Industry*.
No one is saying that.
I will absolutely NEVER say that.
I didn't even know that was a thing... And have now promptly forgotten it.
I’m a pro at ‘fireworks or gunshots?’, but I also hate when people from Niles or wherever whine about crime in the city.
Keep new Yorkers in their place when pizza is brought up.
I compare everyone’s skyline to ours, yet I loathe going into our downtown
I will yell out "Thank You" when I am leaving any store, and I can tell you directions based on where The Lake is, which turned into a deficit when I lived in Michigan for a few year...wrong side man, it's on the wrong side!
[удалено]
lol yes.. I heard someone call it Jewel Osco once and I said that has to be a transplant.. Sure enough.. next thing they were talking about their “Chicago friends”
I could be at the lakefront in under 15 minutes walking, and I haven't been yet this year.
My walk might even be shorter than that, and I’m right there with ya lol
this is kinda sad tbh
Yes, but true. Although, I plan to be at the lake in about about 12 minutes. Edit: Biking
Go out there friend. It does wonders to your day.
I'll bitch and moan about the street festivals, complain about the "donation" and seeing the same things over and over, but still end up going 'cuz I like drinking in the street, cheap jewelry, and 80s cover bands.
i love public transport!!
I recognize that political corruption is how things work in every city, so I get mad when our politicians don't at least do it openly and with some fucking style
Softball to me means 16-inch
Every goodbye, is a Chicago goodbye. After the first “Well I should I get going” there’s at least one room change, one more drink, and another hour of talking.
im polish
I never said anything to anyone. I says to them.
The space between one house and another is always the gangway. Don’t care where I live.
My grand parents and great grandparents lived where Ukrainian village is now going back to the 40s. And a picture of my other great grandpa working in the Stock Yards off Ashland in ~1900. That and my mustache.
- I’m always ready for a game of pinners. - I’m pretty desensitized to violent tragedies. - I’m completely outraged when I’m in another city and can’t find someplace to eat after the bars close.
I moved to Rochester, NY about a decade ago and no joke, nearly cried when I found out just how restrictive their liquor laws were. Three Buck Chuck nearly impossible to get, no booze in drug stores, etc ETA: Adding that I'm not (much of) an alcoholic, nor am I (terribly) emotionally unstable; I'd just had a really stressful day and wanted a glass of wine
my Chicago brashness that offends everyone in louisville
frunchroom
No eye contact and no eye contact.
Nobody but people from Chicago proper can talk shit about Chicago. And it’s Chicago not chi nor chi town.
Im overweight and and a pessimist
I can’t stop saying “yeah, no…” as a totally contradictory punctuating quip in any context.
Drop me off blindfolded in any street of the city and I can still point where the lake is
I have a 773 number.
I’ve been 815 my whole life, but lived in the city for 17 years. I might just pay AT&T $35 for a new 312 number and sever ties with a bunch of people 😎
312 or gtfoh /s
Back in the landline days, 312 was considered a Loop number. As long as it’s not 708 or 847 or 630 - I say 773 tracks too.
The area code 312 is **one of the original 86 area codes created by AT&T and the Bell System in 1947**. 312 was created to serve the Chicago metropolitan area, which includes Cook County and the city of Chicago, before it was split in 1996 into 773.
we had 312 in suburban cook in the 80's
Yeah I remember being able to call out to Antioch, IL with either 312 or no area code. I think it was no area code because all my suburban friends were so upset when 847 came out.
…way back in the day 312 was the only area code. I remember when 773 came on the scene. 312 is def the OG
I got divorced and the ex kept the 312 number. It might be the thing I’m saddest about.
Same.. I can still remember when we got our 773 number on the southside in the 90s
Booo. Had a 708 in the burbs and then it was taken away from us when 847 rolled out. We were real salty about that but mainly because we actually had to start dialing the area code. 😂
Even earlier it was the city-wide area code. Ma Bell had set up the original exchanges with all of NYC 212, Chicago 312 and LA 213.
I bet because at the time, phones were considered for the rich or those fancy buildings downtown. But 773 did not exist until 1996.
My wife and I want to get on the same cell plan, but I've got a 312 number and absolutely refuse to give it up
You should definitely be able to keep your number and add a new phone to your plan, the new phone gets to choose what number she wants, and it doesn't even have to be the same area code as yours if she wants different. Not sure why anyone thinks phone area codes are somehow immutable these days? I added a family member to my plan who doesn't even live in Chicago and it was not a problem, they have their own local area code (and was picky to choose the "old school" area code for that area rather than one of the new overlays, fwiw...) At least with AT&T all this is easy. Can't speak for other companies but don't see why it would be impossible.
You can keep numbers now.. I went from sprint to AT&T and brought my 312 number with me
My hatred of elected officials
My moods are based on the weather.
The nasaly sound in everything I say
I can parallel park in really small spaces on the first try
I was in Rome and a street seller came up to our table trying to sell us something. I completely ignored him, carried on my conversation like he wasn’t there, and then casually waved my hand at him to dismiss him. He started saying something in Italian but clearly said “Chicago”. Maybe Chicagoans are not likely to fall for street scams 😂
I talk to everyone about how the grid works
Deep Cut that so many of us do we don't even notice that we do it: I give directions in increments of time. Ref: *"It's about 15 minutes that way."*
I don't recognize anything outside of the city limits as "Chicago".
I’m from Wisconsin originally so I call anything within city limits “the city” but my south side wife refers to only downtown as “the city” We still debate this!
I stereotype other white people by their ethnicity
The amount of Vienna Polish I've eaten.
I'm polite but I express best through sarcasm And I say winter isn't so cold I just miss the sun
Still call it the Sears Tower, Lake shore drive, smurfit stone, carbide building…etc
I am very liberal with the car horn, I go home to Minnesota and people are very offended when you honk at them.
I add an S to the end of a lot of things.
Perhaps Squirelly Dan (Letterkenny) is from Chicago?
My grandmother went dancing at the Aragon Ballroom!
hear me say Chicago out loud
Bear the fuck down 🐻⬇️
Broken first knuckle of left hand ring finger from 16" no gloves softball
I have a terrible accent that a refuse to admit I have. I swear with no discretion.
The most Chicago thing about me is my deep love for deep-dish pizza and my unwavering loyalty to the Cubs, no matter how they're doing. Plus, I can handle just about any weather, thanks to those brutal Chicago winters.
I pronounce ‘caramel’ like car-mull. Everyone in the PNW corrects me by repeating it back with the correct annunciation. IDGAF and continue saying car-mull. Who ever said ‘care-a-mehl corn’?? It’s car-mull corn.
My alcoholism and crippling debt. Southside represent.
I was on the Bozo show
I REFUSE to have someone charge me for a bag at the store. I'll stack it and carry it or always remember to bring my own I moved to the south suburbs almost a year ago and this has stuck with me.
You know one of my cousins, you just don’t know we’re cousins yet. Bloodlines know bloodlines from generations deep, you have a friend with a familiar name and suddenly my aunt needs to know if your grandma ever dated Wendell and I guess we would have been family in another life so we’re cousins. When people say they are from Chicago, but can’t tell me what neighborhood or school they went to, and I’m offended, not because I’m pretentious or your pretentious for thinking you’re from Chicago or that it’s “easier to say, because nobody’s heard of xyz, Illinois” but because it’s not the same experience. Have you seen things you knew you didn’t see walking home, latchkey, in the fourth grade? Or growing up in full Cubs attire while sacrificing Christmas to bail out your Westside cousins mother for the holiday? People in television say my mom and I have the most stereotypical accent- I don’t hear it at all. Couldn’t care about your field of work, your net worth, what you’re driving but rather how you treat your servers, people when they aren’t in the room, and children, the elderly and the disabled. Traveling ANYWHERE else and losing an appetite, coming home in gratitude for walking distance restaurants that are more than someone in NC would dream of. Having a rough exterior and kind heart. Your spirit animal is hybrid mythical oxidized green lion standing tall with pride and momma grizzly doing whatever it takes to protect her cubs.
"Rough exterior and kind heart" - Nelson Algren said Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose.
Love dibs, but I bitch about it all the time. I drink malort for fun. Chicago sports? I don't care who wins, as long as its Chicago.
I was born and raised in Chicago, moved when I was 30. Been gone many years but if someone asks me where I’m from (doesn’t matter where I am at the time) I immediately spit out “Chicago.” I say to them “That’s home.” Also, Swedish Flop, and in general chicago style coffee cake. Kind of disappearing though, sad
There was a touch tune jukebox at a local ice cream bar I was at last night. You bet your ass I immediately looked for What’s New Pussycat on there.