I used to live in the western 'burbs and worked downtown for 8 years. I didn't like Chicago at all.
Originally posted by Y2KGreenSE:
But Mike, you live in Rockford, LOL!
Used to be that Rockford people [in the jurassic 80's] would cringe if someone said "You near Chicago?"
That reminds me of a story...
My dad and I were at the EAA fly-in in Oshkosh, WI several years ago. An older local gentleman tried to start a conversation with us with the typical pleasantries and then he asked us where we were from.
We said "from Illinois".
He responded by saying "It's always nice to have you folks from Chicago come up here to the show"
Which prompted my dad to say "Yes, it is nice to get up here by Chicago every now and then." Remember, we're in Oshkosh.
The guy got all flustered, and said "oh no, you're not close to Chicago here" to which my dad responded "I'm closer to Chicago here than when I'm at home."
The kind gentleman left all in a huff, seemingly upset that we associated being in Oshkosh, as being close to Chicago. Dad and I both knew we weren't close to Chicago, but also didn't appreciate being categorized as "Chicagoans" just because we said we were from Illinois.
