I have noticed that with most of my friends. It always amuses me when people talk aboit being afraid to go to anything on main street because it is "downtown" and dangerous. So funny.

 

Yeah I've never understood the fear of Downtown.

3 geographic regions in Kentucky 1) Southern Ohio 2) Southern Indiana 3) Gods Country

 

You win the thread.

Yeah I've never understood the fear of Downtown.

 

Me neither. I love being downtown. Even a walkable neighborhood like the Highlands doesn't have the feel of being in the heart of the city. If I hadn't grown so accustomed to my life in the Highlands, I'd love to live downtown for a while.

Where ever we go and get asked where we are from, Mr. lawildcat always says "Cincinnati" and I go crazy! He says it's easier than saying "northern Kentucky" because then we'd have to explain that it's right outside of Cincinnati, etc. Sorry Ohioans, but I do not want people to think I am from that crazy city!

 

 

My husband also the same thing and it also drives me crazy!

When I was in college I befriended some guys from Mayfield. They set me straight about Mayfield Cardinal football. I never confused Mayfield and Maysville again.

I was at the pool yesterday working out and got to talking to a guy and he said something about his brother living in Cincinnati. Having a couple of aunt's that lived up there I asked him where his brother lived...he said Kenton County.

So, I'm assuming your talking about EKY.

 

:lol2:

 

You know, I was dating a woman from southeastern Kentucky several years ago and used that phrase above... "out in the state." You'd have thought I insulted her grandmother by name. I was instructed never to use the expression in her presence again.

 

That's because some East Kentuckians have a lot of pride in where they're from and they hate the fact they are always getting hated on. I realize there are some folks in EKY that give the state and the region a bad name, I realize that. However, the overblown stereotypes and the refusal to accept anything positive could come from EKY is what drives some east Kentuckians insane. Growing up in the Pike County area and spending four or five years around the Lexington/Louisville area I learned to appreciate where I was from even more. Pike County and EKY in general is a very unique place (positive and negative), the type of place that's almost fiction in today's society. A place where most people are friendly and hospitable and a place where communities stick together. A place where morals and values are still praised and hard work is still praised. There is so much beauty here in the mountains and so many beautiful people it is disturbing that most think it is a stink hole. Outside of your stereotypical hillbillies, hilljacks, rednecks, whatever you want to call us, there are some very well educated and dignified people. If you spend enough time around the Pikeville area and come to know the interworkings of the county you would be amazed. There is so much power and wealth in the area you cannot even wrap your head around it. For a long time Pike County was the wealthiest county per capita in the United States. The coal industry is down, but Pikeville and the county are still on the rise. If you haven't been to the area in twenty years it would blow you away to see the progress it has made. Eventually it can become a top notch city and a top notch place to live (if it isn't already) but the job market will determine that. There are plenty of influential and powerful thinkers in the area and they will eventually see the community prosper even more. People like Pike County Judge Executive Wayne Rutherford (big time player who used to know George W. Bush personally and is responsible for getting a lot of funds pumped into the area from DC and Frankfort), Represenative Keith Hall, Ray Jones, former Governor Patton, and PMC President Walter May. Individuals like that are going to continue to push our area in the right direction. As Keith Hall stated during a previous Bill Clinton visit, he said that Clinton said "You guys could be the Saudia Arabia of the world if you could figure out a way to maximize all these resources". He was obviously talking about coal, natural gas and things of that nature which is true, there is an abundance hence why it is referred to as "America's Engery Capitol". With the reclaimed mining sites the plan is to eventually grow industrial hemp once the US legalizes it federally (which may never happen) which would obviously pump millions into the state economy (as well as our own). Also most of these strip mining sites are reclaimed and use to build schools, golf courses, industrial sites, and all other things we do not have the room to build because of the mountainous terrain.

 

 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a lot more about this part of the state to offer than most of you all could ever imagine. Believe me, when you travel the country the fact you're from Kentucky makes you a hick anyway, just face it. Just because you're from Louisville, Central KY, or NKY doesn't make a difference to them. Kentucky is Kentucky, and unfortunately that caries a lot of false stereotypes (much like EKY). In general you are going to have those who give your area a bad name no matter what, Louisville has them, Lexington has them, NKY has them, we all have them. Unfortunately EKY gets judged more harshly because people mostly only see the negative. If they ever got the chance to see the positive they would be amazed because it is so much different from what they've always thought. Believe it or not there is an abundance of wealth, influence, and a quality of life rivaling anything the rest of the state has to offer. It is a special place, and I am thankful to grow up here. It has made me the person I am today, stronger, more determined, but also a peaceful mind.

Edited December 11, 201312 yr by dolamite

That's where I was going. From my travels and experience Kentucky is the only state that I know of that people will tell you where they are from by naming the county.

 

If you ask me where I'm from:

1) if its local I'll say Sunfish

2) if its in the state I'll say Edmonson County (or 30 miles north of Bowling Green if they don't know where EC is)

3) if it out of the state I'll say near Mammoth Cave

 

I noticed that a lot while I was in school. My theory is that most of these counties do not have an identifiable city and their town may not be associated with the main city in the county if it has one. Thus it is easier to say I am from such and such county, then say I'm from Greenbriar creek, Elkhorn Creek, Johns Creek, etc.

When people ask me where I'm from I say "Alabama, a little town called Oxford, about 8 miles from Talladega Super Speedway, but I live in Mayfield, Ky. There are a lot of people from all over who have heard of Mayfield football because of the all time wins. I have lived in Ky longer than Alabama now but Bama will always be home.

A branch to this discussion, if you are abroad and ask where someone is from, they will say China, Kenya, Brazil, etc. However, if you are an American, you just simply say what state you are from, people find that more interesting. So I would always say, "I am from Kentucky." The response was always, "oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken; I bet you eat a lot of it." I then proceed to vomit.

A branch to this discussion, if you are abroad and ask where someone is from, they will say China, Kenya, Brazil, etc. However, if you are an American, you just simply say what state you are from, people find that more interesting. So I would always say, "I am from Kentucky." The response was always, "oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken; I bet you eat a lot of it." I then proceed to vomit.

 

The company I work for is owned by a German company that owns over 400 companies in 80 countries. The man who started the company is one the top 200 wealthiest in the world. His daughter runs the company now and a few years ago she and the chairman of the board were in the states and visited our Louisville office. This is a huge deal because they do not come the states very often. I've worked for the company for 17 years and her dad has only been in the states once in those 17 years and never to our company. Because it was such a big deal our people in Louisville had a very nice expensive lunch planned for them and when she got here she said the only thing she wanted was KFC.

^ The provincialism in Louisville itself is crazy. I know lots of East Enders who have never been to large parts of the city not in the East End. Same goes for a lot of South Enders. Since I've moved to the Highlands, I've gotten terrible. If my office was on Bardstown Road, I'd never leave the neighborhood.

 

Outside of college and my time in Mexico, I have always lived w/in 2 miles of downtown Cincinnati. Do not ask me for directions to anywhere in Cincinnati that isn't near a stadium, Mt. Adams, or b/n 4th and 7th streets.

A branch to this discussion, if you are abroad and ask where someone is from, they will say China, Kenya, Brazil, etc. However, if you are an American, you just simply say what state you are from, people find that more interesting. So I would always say, "I am from Kentucky." The response was always, "oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken; I bet you eat a lot of it." I then proceed to vomit.

 

My nickname in Mexico was "Kentucky" b/c it isn't called KFC there, it is called "Ken-too-key." That was how people would get my attention in flag football games when I had no clue what they were saying.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a lot more about this part of the state to offer than most of you all could ever imagine. Believe me, when you travel the country the fact you're from Kentucky makes you a hick anyway, just face it. Just because you're from Louisville, Central KY, or NKY doesn't make a difference to them. Kentucky is Kentucky, and unfortunately that caries a lot of false stereotypes (much like EKY). In general you are going to have those who give your area a bad name no matter what, Louisville has them, Lexington has them, NKY has them, we all have them. Unfortunately EKY gets judged more harshly because people mostly only see the negative. If they ever got the chance to see the positive they would be amazed because it is so much different from what they've always thought. Believe it or not there is an abundance of wealth, influence, and a quality of life rivaling anything the rest of the state has to offer. It is a special place, and I am thankful to grow up here. It has made me the person I am today, stronger, more determined, but also a peaceful mind.

 

It was never meant to be insulting. Truthfully, it's just something I picked up... maybe as a kid. There's Louisville and then there's whatever it is that happens outside the Gene Snyder Freeway. I'm very fond of Eastern Kentucky. My grandfather on my mom's side was born in a very small town in Floyd County and I've visited a couple times. Really beautiful place.

 

It's a shame there's not much left of what it was now. One of my mom's brothers has said more than once that if he had a time machine, he'd take all his kids and all the cousins to Hi Hat in the early 1960s. Said there was just no way to understand how much he loved what that place used to be like.

So I would always say, "I am from Kentucky." The response was always, "oh, Kentucky Fried Chicken; I bet you eat a lot of it." I then proceed to vomit.

 

This happens to me all the time, and I've never been out of the country... It's always about KFC, the Derby, or bourbon. One of the three.