Americans Share Biggest Culture Shocks In US States

19.

“Sometimes there’s actual culture shock within the same state. As a native of Western Pennsylvania, traveling to Eastern or Central PA entails a weird change in culture mostly centered around what food I can find readily available. Here in Pittsburgh? Nobody’s ever heard of birch beer but over in Harrisburg, the stuff is EVERYWHERE. Same goes with things like Middleswarth potato chips, various restaurant chains, Hershey’s ice cream, and supermarket chains that exist on the other half of the state, but don’t exist here.”

“It does give me a weird ‘Isn’t this the SAME STATE?’ feeling, and I’m having a difficult time articulating why the two halves of the same state feel so distinct from one another, even though I live here. 

1) You also have the whole Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish culture, that simply stops existing on the western half of the state, but is absolutely everywhere to the east.

2) If you were to check that old ‘soda’ vs. ‘pop’ map, this state is divided right down the middle, with pop on the west and soda on the east. 

3) It’s divided that way too for sports teams (Steelers/Penguins/Pirates to the West, Eagles/Flyers/Phillies to the East), and it’s divided that way for convenience stores (Sheetz on the west, Wawa on the east), and too many other weird little things to list.

4) Even dialects and accents vary wildly between the two halves of this state; take your average joe from Philadelphia and someone from downtown Pittsburgh, and you’d think they were from two different countries.”

—u/Nulion