Top Ten Ways to Know If You're From the Pacific Northwest

Parabeagle

1. You use the term 'sunbreaks' and know what it means.

2. You know more than 10 different ways to order coffee.

3. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.

4. You know the difference between Coho, Chinook and Sockeye salmon.

5. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Samamish, Oregon, Yaquina, Alsea and Yachats.

6. You have no concept of humidity without rain.

7. You know that Boring is a town and not just a state of mind.

8. You put on your shorts when the temperature breaks 50F, but still wear hiking boots and your Gore-Tex parka.

9. You switch to sandals when the temperature hits 60F, but keep the socks on.

10. You measure distance in hours.

ritaanz

Hey Beagpuss! Sandals and socks? Who would name a town Boring? Shorts and a parka?

I guess one is never to old to learn something new, even if it is weird. Happy boating.

Whirlwind

On #5, you forgot "Willamette."

Whirlwind

Yeah, but I bet that ol' gal Willamette was called WillaMETTE, not WiLAMmet. I'll defer to Beagle on the latter and you on the former. I just know I was sharply corrected on the pronunciation of that river in Oregon (and please, for God's sake, we must NOT say OreGON lest we be written off as complete, hopeless rubes) many years ago and I've never forgotten it.

Parabeaglex2

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-27-05 AT 11:54PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Whirlwind, I commend you on your command of PNW pronunciation! Why are you a Texan when you could easily be from Oregon (as in, "Orygun). Peter Jennings finally got it right about 10 years ago when he was pointing out some of our corrupt politicians on national TV. x;-)

Personally, I was never able to comprehend why Bexar County in Texas was pronounced "bear" county. But, I guess all states have their idiosyncrasies. I am getting finger-cramp from all the multi-syllabic words I've been forced to type here.

It is, indeed, Will-A-mette (accent on the short 'a') but I chose not to include it in the list because I didn't want to give anyone brain cramps over the correct pronunciation.

And, for the record, Willem is an old, respected Welsh given-name for a male. I forgot what Don posted re the female name, but I suspect it had its origins in some non-Southern context. x;-)

And, Don, with regard to your #12, don't think I haven't done exactly what you suggested on more than one occasion - I've thought about it several times over the last five years because of my friend down there - I'm just afraid that being a Yankee I might be run out of town on a rail. x;-)

Whirlwind

Actually the one in Texas is Nacogdoches, but you got the pronunciation close (it's really Naca-doe-ches). Others call it Naca-nowhere; I just say it's behind the Pine Curtain.

Probably the most mispronounced place in Texas is Pedernales -- the river, the state park, or the general area. That's LBJ country, Don, so I don't expect you to be familiar with it x:-). Texans almost unfailingly relocate the r from the second to the first syllable.

And Beagle, the simple explanation for Bexar being pronounced bear is because the name is of Spanish origin....like Pedernales and about umpteen gillion other places in Texas.