Saturday, October 30, 2010

I have all my teeth, thank you.

Having been a military brat for 16 years, I’ve been to many places. I have been settled in West Virginia for years now, though and often hear many misconceptions about this great state. Often people think we are a part of Virginia which hasn’t been true since 1863. I have actually talked to people who didn’t even know West Virginia existed. People that live in America mind you.

Pepperoni Roll
 Has anyone ever had a pepperoni roll? A pepperoni roll is a delicious pepperoni and cheese filled piece of baked dough and is very popular around here. When I lived in Georgia, you couldn’t buy pepperoni rolls anywhere and my mom would make them and send them to my dad’s work where they were a huge hit. Apparently it is illegal in most states to sell pepperoni rolls because the meat actually sits on the counter until someone buys it.

Anyways, the actual point of this post is to talk about common misconceptions and myths of WV. I’ve pretty much heard it all, so allow me to clarify.




Myth- We all inbreed

Truth- You’ve all seen this shirt right? This is probably the biggest misconception about WV. Yeah well we don’t inbreed anymore than the rest of the world. We don’t meet our future spouses at family reunions and our kids don’t come out with feet growing out of their head. Now even in the county I live in people make fun of the people in the county right next to ours for inbreeding. Maybe it was common back in the day? I don’t know. But I've never heard of someone who reproduced with their kin.

Myth- We don't have paved roads

Truth- I assure you, our roads are paved. Sure, you will find the occasional dirt road here and there, but for the most part, they are paved.

 Myth-We don't have running water and use outhouses.

Truth- I’ve never seen an outhouse before in my life. We have running water. We shower. We have toilets. I do however know quite a few people that don’t have city water and must use well water. But still, it’s running water.

 Myth- Most men in WV have sexual relations with their farm animals.

Truth- I’ve actually heard of people doing this. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes and don’t care to, but apparently is has happened. Does it happen often? I don’t think so. Someone once told me that in WV it is legal to have sex with animals as long as it doesn’t exceed 40 pounds. Safety issue maybe? Who knows. While researching, I couldn’t find any actual truth in that.

Myth- We eat road kill.

Truth- While it is legal to take home road kill, I don’t think many people do so because there is a lot of it on the roads. Animals are suicidal around here.

 Myth- We always walk around barefoot.

Truth- I walk barefoot ANYTIME I get the chance. Flip flops are my best friends, too. So do we walk barefoot? Sure why the hell not? Do we because we can’t afford shoes? No. We do it because the grass feels nice between the toes and because a majority of West Virginians work on their feet 40+ hours a week. When we can take the work boots off, we are glad to do it.

Myth- We are missing most, if not all of our teeth.

Truth- {Checks mirror} Yep, still got ‘em all. So does everyone I know. We also have one of the best dental education programs in the country. And maybe because of that very misconception, a lot of us are a bit anal about keeping our teeth cleaned.

 Myth-We are all poor white trash

Truth- Eh, most of us are poor. White trash? Some, but I can’t imagine anymore than any other part of the world. We don’t have hookers on the streets... I guess that’s a plus. But there are mansions, castle like houses , huge houses with elevators and tons of bedrooms. You get the idea right? Like most of the world, West Virginia has a lower, middle and upper class.

Now here are some truths that I found pretty interesting.
  • Mother’s Day was founded in WV in 1908.
  • The first state sales tax in the United States went into effect in West Virginia on July 1, 1921.
  • The first federal prison exclusively for women in the United States was opened in 1926 in West Virginia.
  • Nearly 75% of West Virginia is covered by forests.
  • The first brick street in the world was laid in Charleston, West Virginia, on October 23, 1870, on Summers Street, between Kanawha and Virginia Streets.
  • West Virginia University has been named #1 Party School by the Princeton Review 7 times in 15 years.
 Know any of these West Virginians?
  • Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
  • Jennifer Garner
  • Brad Paisley
  • Don Knotts (his niece was my English teacher in school)
  • Mary Lou Retton
  • Jerry West
  • Randy Moss
  • Steve Harvey
The list of athletes that hailed from WV is pretty extensive.

I know this post was long, but I love my state and hate people talking shit on it. I’m sure all of you have heard misconceptions about where you live, too. So let’s hear ‘em! Comment about it. Blog about it. Whatever. I’d like to hear some!

15 comments:

Jon Hanson said...

Good to see lots of the myths are not true - but we now know who to blame for sales tax!

SD
simpledudecomplexworld.blogspot.com

Gina said...

I live in FL now, but I come from Arizona. Here's the thing: nobody knows ANYTHING about Arizona. It's really, really strange. They know Phoenix is a city- though everyone is always shocked when they realize how big- and they have heard of the Suns and the Diamondbacks. Otherwise... nothing. A senator about a year ago actually dismissed AZ's immigration problem because (and I quote) "it's not a border state." Der.


So, there aren't really a lot of myths about Arizona, it's just that most people's geographical knowledge of the US goes from Texas to Vegas then LA. Nothing in between.

Leigh said...

I could REALLY go on about the misconceptions about Louisiana. I think I might take you up on the challenge.....

BB said...

JM...my father and his family are West Virginia born and raised. He grew up in Fairmont and used to go ice skating on the Monongahela(?) river in the winter. It's a beautiful state. I've been there a few times when I was younger and some of the most beautiful scenic places I've ever seen were there. My grandparents had a brick street that they lived on. m It was hard to walk on in winter or with high heels but it was beautiful and actually it is still there. And my family isn't inbred either....lol.

hed said...

Wow, I don't incorporate WV at all as "The South"...I mean it's in the spot on the map where things start getting a little more "union" :) I think of The South as like North Carolina to Oklahoma.

Gina had it right-some states to people who have never been there seem to fall off the map. My Aussie hubs always asked me about the other states, and for some I was at a loss on how to describe them...like Delaware. WTF's in Delaware?? Hed hed down under

Canadianbloggergirl said...

I'm from Canada so lets see here....

there are some that live in igloos, but I've never met them since they live way the f*ck up north and you have to fly in to get there.

yes we have cds

yes we have paved roads and houses with natural gas/oil/electricity

we don't all say aboot instead of about

yes we say eh? but we also have other sayings such as hunnie, sweetie, etc, it really depends on where you live just like the USA

it takes longer than a few hours (try a week) to cross our vast country (take a look at a map of North America one day some will be shocked that we are just as wide as northern USA)

yes we speak english and french (not all of us do) but we also have other languages that represent different parts of the world. It's like french is your (USA) spanish

those are just a few

CBG
canadianbloggergirl.blogspot.com

Aimee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kevin Michael said...

I'm now mildly impressed with WV, but I don't know that Stonewall Jackson is the best choice for a proud native son. Lol!

Pragmatic Spector said...

the pepperoni roll sounds like a hot pocket

not displayed said...

try telling someone in the USA that you live in Australia.
First responce. "I have always wanted to visit there"
Second responce "I know someone who moved there, you might know them"
Third responce. "Are you anywhere near Sydney".
Makes me smile. PS I have a friend in WV. She always posts the photos of the best Halloween on facebook, you might know her.....lol

Miss Vicki said...

Lol...They say the same thing about a town name Gore here...seriously where do they come up with the notion...Oh and we have a section of road runs from Clinton to Gore and we call it the "Presidential Highway"...a bit of useless trivia :)

Roberta said...

Hailing from beautiful California, the best myth of all is that it's always sunny with beautiful weather and warm beaches. Granted, I love our weather, but I'm from the Bay Area, so we have distinct seasons...you should go to SoCal (aka southern california) if you want warm beaches and flip flop weather all day everyday. Not all of us are so lucky. :)

I have a friend in Virginia, and it sounds like (from my meager amounts of time visiting) that the two states couln't be anymore different! I definitely got the prominately white, southern state vibe from VA.

One good thing I discoved while I was there was this amazing smoothie place. They served other stuff too...but the green tea smoothie made my jaw drop! I think it's a chain...i'll have to try and remember the name!

Tress said...

Yeah, so I'm definitley not the only one who suffers from stupid rumors. LOL. Thanks all...your comments (as always) are amazing!

amchornetgirl said...

Being from KY, I hear a lot of the same rumors. And thanks to a few stupid politicians, KY is in the news again, looking dumber than ever! For the record, there are democrats in KY. We are the minority, however. I still love my state, even when we are being embarassed all across the nation.

gewuerzgurke said...

Well, I'm German, so yeah. Many people think we're all Nazis. Which is not true. We're also not stricter or more serious than other people.
Bavaria has it's own set of prejudices, but that's another matter.