You know you're from Virginia when........

Speed limits are just suggestions (I dont drive but it seems true)

You have at least two friends who have no idea what their relatives do...because its "top secret" government work
(Hell yeah no doubt)
Most of your senior class wend to Mason, JMU, Tech, VCU or UVA
(For sure ha)
When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain
(Ive done that once or twice)
You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern," "central," or "southern" in front of it (See above.)
(Yes I like to emphaise the fact I am Northern Virginian)
It's not actually tailgating unless your bumper is touching the car in front of you.
(I dont drive)
You know yellow light means at least 5 more cars can get through. (Yeah, man...at least. Probably also happens everywhere else.) A red light means 2 more can.
(YES!)
You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for.
(No I dont)
Despite the fact that Virginia fought for the south in the Civil War, you are not, under any circumstances, a "southerner"
(I am NOT a southerner, ha but yeah)
You are amused by visiting relatives who are actually excited to see Washington, DC
(Yeah but most of my relatives do live around here)
You took a field trip to Williamsburg as a kid
(Yes, I did and it was neat)
You are amazed when you go out of town and the people at McDonalds speak English
(Yeah man, its a unique experience)
You or someone in your family has a Smart Tag
(No but a guy in my carpool does)
An inch of snow and you miss 3 days of school
(haha oh yes)
All the potholes just add a little excitement to your driving experience
(see above, I dont drive)
Crown Victoria = undercover cop
(No, Ive never used this)
Subway is a fast food place. The transportation system is known as Metro, and only Metro.
(Yes, subway is where I eat and I get around via subway)
They just tore down the old farm house across the street and put 12 new McMansions in its place
(I am not near where the farms were so no)
For the cost of your house, you could own a small town in Iowa
(Hmmm yeah sure)
If you stay on the same road long enough, it will eventually have three new names.
(Hah oh yeah)
You have to dial the area code to call your neighbor
(Gah! Yeah!)
"Vacation" means spending a day at King's Dominion or Busch Gardens.
(Yes, thats true)
"Going to the River" means any stream with water.
(Yeah Ive done that)
You have never been served tea without the waitress asking "sweet or unsweetened?"
(I don't drink tea but Ive seen people do it)
Your favorite past time is telling West Virginia jokes.
(not my favorite past time but I have done it)
Anyone who can't trace his or her ancestry back to at least four generations in Virginia is an outsider.
(Well I am only 2nd generation Virginian myself)
"Going to the beach" means anywhere from Ocean City to Virginia Beach to Myrtle Beach.
(A little but we got a little more north in to Dewey, Delaware)
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Virginia.
(If a Virginian reads this then yes)

And at one time most police cars were Crown Vics. BIG car, lots of power.

I think you need to add "Going to the city" means anywhere from Leesburg to Baltimore. When I was little my dad said we were "going to the city". Until I was in HS I thought the entire area was one big city.

Yeah, I always say I'm from Arlington although most of my life was in Woodstick. I mean stock. Everyone thinks that is in NY anyway. I didn't like it here at first, but I am happy to be surrounded by other liberals instead of having to keep my mouth shut. And really, this neighborhood is just as safe as the subdivision in the sticks.

Tempe has Chevy Impalas, lucky bastards.

like the first one - my dad worked in the pentagon for 30 years. i have no idea what he did there.

I really dont know what my mom does even.

. . . FYI, are red-light cameras. You enter the intersection after the light has turned red, it snaps a photo of your license plate, and a week later you get a nice ticket in the mail.

There was a rumor floating around a while ago about that, but they aren't snapping photos of your license plate. They are timers for the DOT to regulate the flow of traffic and coordinate the lights. Interesting because once when I was at the ER with my little girl, I came home at 3AM and all the lights on a major strip of road were green. Didn't hit one red light.

Or at least they were three years ago -- I have the ticket to prove it.

--relate to most of your list except the heavy traffic. And I can understand why if you're a liberal, you'd want to always put the "Northern" in front of VA. While there are significant pockets of Democratic voters in southern VA they still don't outnumber the conservatives.

If you come from southern VA you are definitely a southerner, although "Mid-Atlantic" is more accurate in referring to the whole state these days. VA/NC line marks The South (regionally speaking, not historically). In southern VA, vestiges of the Old South clearly remain (not only bad vestiges, good ones too). My Mom always said, "air-conditioning ruined the South." Maybe it's not quite that simple, but true in a sense. She loved the slower pace of her era.

LOL--yes "the beach" is still a vast expanse from Ocean City MD to Myrtle Beach SC, if you live in VA. You could write a little book about VA, johnkleeb, keeping it humorous with pix, it would sell.

You're really annoyed by this list because NoVA people aren't real Virginians, they're just DC suburbanites. ;)

But you know it's true!


(I'm from deep SoWeVA)

I don't even sound southern just non northern.

Northern charm and Southern efficiency.

don't mean the PBS program... and everyone you're talking to know you don't, either...

"I;m going to NOVA this weekend to shop at IKEA."

I live in CENTRAL VA...

Northern Virginia Community College but called NOVA where the N stands for Nowledge and the O for Onor, its a joke :), a good one, and its my future place of education.

You call Thomas Jefferson "TJ," and talk about him like he's still alive.

Don't think of a big fish if someone talk about a "Wahoo."

The UVA students drive nicer cars than you.

Everyone you know works at UVA, is retired from UVA, or just got a job at UVA.

(sorry to hijack your thread, Kleeb!)

Ha we say TJ around here in reference to the high school.

That's where all the county high schools held their graduation ceremonies. At least back when I got out.

It's been since I've heard the names for neighborhoods called Arlandria (Arlington/Alexandria by Four Mile Run and Mt. Vernon Ave) and Del Ray. When I moved back Potomac Yards which had been a working rail yard had been turned into another shopping mall.

Yeah the Patriot Center at GMU is where they have the ones for Fairfax County.

My sister went to UVA and I remeber seeing that all over the place.

when someone asks where I'm from. Although, I was born in Fredericksburg, but we left when I was like 2 (moved to Fairfax Co). Did spend 4 years in Manassas ('90 - '94), been back in Fairfax Co since summer '94

And you can also add: When someone says they are going downtown, you know that they mean DC

we never called ourselves Southerners and I am from North Central MD.

We are in Dixie!

Geographically yes but culturally Maryland isnt Dixie at all, for one you guys havent gone red like most if not all of the south, you werent part of the confederacy, and you guys have sizable ethnic diversity.

Utah is red and it ain't south.

and signed in to law. True about Utah btw.

People talk about it in the open like it ain't shit. A week ago my girlfriend and I were driving in the country out in Orange County. We stopped by the little train station Visitor center and get to chit chatting with the volunteer who was an elderly woman. We get to talking about Mt. Pony in Culpepper and all it's secrets. She blurts out that Porter Goss lives just outside of town near Rapidan in an estate called "The Retreat". Ten minutes later we are driving around, low and behold there is "The Retreat". Weird shit man, and that ain't the half of it.

:)

A bunch live out here.

Hampton Roads. The Richmond one is HYPER-local (i.e. anything not in west end doesn't count).