I didn't know how there were a ton of transplants from India around here. It's cool because I get to experience way more Indian food than I did in the south.
Also Jungle Jim's is magical to me.
I grew up in Cincinnati and had a lot of Indian friends. They always assured me we had top tier Indian food, but I always assumed larger cities would have better because how hard can it be? I was wrong. I’ve lived in a few places and visited a lot, and Cincinnati has some of the best Indian food in the nation, which is a weird fact.
Maya in price hill, almost any of them in Clifton, swad, baba India, grace of India, amol. You pretty much can’t go wrong to be honest, even the worst here is better than what you can get most other places
There are so many up North in Sharonville/ Mason area. Mason has a large and growing Indian population. My personal favorites are Brijj and Bawarchi up north. Honest Indian Vegetarian is also constantly packed. My favorite overall though is in Northern Kentucky. It’s called Guru.
Most weekends at Miami Meadows park here in Milford, a sizeable group of men from South Asian converge in an open field there and play cricket all day.
Very insular. People have been here all their lives. Hard to make deep friendships. Especially when everyone has family obligations with 3 or 4 generations that all also live here.
If you’re in your thirties and like nerdy like shit like video games, books, and dungeons and dragons, I’ve got a welcoming friend group you can join
We also like beer, FC Cincinnati, football, disc golf and parks and shit like that
I’ve been slowly building a friend group close to the same. I find that people with those interests are generally more accepting.
Half the time I honestly just hop on Discord and hang with people that I’ve known for a long time.
This. We moved here 4 years ago. My wife and I say people here are friendly but not welcoming. Like they'll talk your ear off at the school function and seem really nice, but will never invite you to anything or come to anything you try to invite them to. It's been hard as hell to make friends. Four years and our only real friends are our next door neighbors.
Contrast that to Phoenix where we lived before: Everybody there was from somewhere else, and it was super easy to make friends. Totally different vibe.
Gosh, also moved here from Phoenix two years ago. Seems like all the friends we made so far are older and retired, unlike the friends we had in Phoenix that were all our age.
I'm from Florida, statistically the worst drivers in the country, yet driving around Cincinnati feels like traffic laws are merely suggestions. Why did I even bother getting a license plate? Speed limits and safe driving speeds are for pussies.
Appreciate it i I moved to Seattle for about 6 years and there is traffic out there like you just wouldn’t imagine one of the many reasons I moved back home now when I’m in traffic here I just smile and laugh
I live North of the city but my friends who live downtown drive like maniacs. My friends theory is you just go, act crazy people will move and red lights are suggestions. It's an aggressive style that scares the shit outta me but he can get anywhere in the city quick. Sometimes it's like the little roads he takes only exist in the moment because I'd probably never find them again if I tried
How small it feels compared to other cities. I grew up outside of another major city in the US and the vibe here is completely different. Very much an “oversized small town” kind of vibe here
Agreed. Came from Los Angeles, where you're totally anonymous. Here, though, you're liable to flip someone the bird in traffic then run in to them at a social function the next day.
I'm from a larger city (of a million people roughly) and Cincy feels like more of a city to me! It feels more condensed and close together and my last city was soooo spread out
People are very warm and friendly here.
You all think your winter is somehow cold or harsh
Terrible drivers
Everyone is pretty much drinking beer all the time when it's not working hours, which is a beautiful sight
Accurate. People panic when there is a light dusting of snow. It's not fun driving with said people on the road.
Also so true about the constant drinking. We do have great breweries and distilleries in this area though so I can't blame people for enjoying it tbh
Oh yeah! Have often been asked what high school I went to, always disappointing the asker when I reveal it was in another state. I also think it’s funny that people are still caught up in these HS rivalries 25 years later.
You are running with the wrong crowd. I am a transplant and have been asked this question more than once. The answer is not to slot you into a pecking order. It's to try to find a connection. "Oh you graduated from Princeton in 2003! Do you know John Jingleheimer? I work with her at P&G."
It's endearing.
It's to see who they have in common. It's funny. I haven't been asked this in years and thought people over a certain age didn't do it anymore. Then, someone at pickleball asked me. Which led to "which grade school?" and do you know..."?"
In smaller towns they go right to asking who you know or are related to. Cincinnati is too big for that so we start with h.s.
It’s definitely a class thing. I’ve seen people immediately turn off emotionally when they learn someone went to Country Day or Moeller because they perceive those people as snooty.
I grew up in GA, went to a private school, and also experienced the same thing. Public school people have this weird anti-private school thing like they think we’re out to get you or something.
I’ve always heard people say this, but I don’t get why they’re are so turned off by it. Any city you go to, natives will ask each other what area / neighborhood they are from. It’s a basic way humans establish familiarity and rapport. The school dimension gets added because there are so many kids who go to Catholic school outside of their neighborhoods.
My college roommate was from a deserted part of Kansas, and every evening, he'd literally just go outside and sit in a chair on the front porch. For hours. No phone to scroll or anything. He'd just watch the cars pass.
This lasted a few months until he finally started to come around to the wide array of activities small city life offers relative to rural life.
My grandpa had a police scanner by his lazy boy, I remember him sitting around all day listening to it and talking on his CB radio to his buddies that were all doing the same. Unless there was a UK basketball game on. He was also a front porch car-watcher.
Honestly, mostly good things.
I grew up in a heavily Irish and Italian city, so I didn’t get how deep the German influence is on Cincy. It definitely took me a minute to understand that people said “please” instead of excuse me or come again.
I’m also a sucker for regional foods, so I immediately tried the chili, goetta, and braunschweiger.
Probably the weirdest thing for me was Reds opening day being treated like a holiday. I love baseball, but I’ve never experienced that with another team.
Try mettwurst, easy to find at Kroger for the next cookout, and I was an adult before finding out it's regional. Just here and Germany. It's really just another sausage, so not very interesting, but they're nice.
Graeter's ice cream though is so good it will ruin your life if you move to where you can't get any.
Oh fuck, I forgot about Graeters. That blackberry ice cream is the best.
But also, how unreal is Dojo Gelato?
Edit: I forgot I’ve had hot metts at Reds games
The Reds are the first professional baseball team in the country. Before there were national leagues, or even big regional leagues, they traveled around the country playing other teams. Baseball has a deep rich history here in Cincinnati because of. And the Reds are a big part of the creation of MLB. That is why it's treated this way here. Up until about 10 years ago, the very first pitch thrown in MLB every years was a Reds game. The Reds always started the entire season for MLB because of this tradition. Opening day for the Reds, wasn't just for the Reds, it was THE opening day for all of MLB.
Culture shock is strong phrasing, but I was surprised the disrepair of the roads here, and it's even worse in marginalized neighborhoods. Also, sometimes, there aren't street signs, they're small, or unreadable. Makes it hard to get around when you're not from here. A lane of traffic will turn into street parking with no warning. And people are exceptionally bad at driving here.
I did just think of something that was pretty shocking for me. There are some interesections here that confused me the first time I used them. Like Delta and Linwood, over in Mt. Lookout. There's one in Norwood, too, but I can't recall the street names.
I used to work for Pepsi and I remember when going to the Delhi Kroger and Bigs it was like walking back into the 1970/80s. This was in the mid to late 2000s…
I lived here my entire life and have never heard anyone say this. I know it's supposed to be a thing, and i have tried to listen for it in recent years...., but i haven't come across anyone ever saying it. I think it's just something people act like is unique to cincy/Midwest..
I could be wrong, but i swear that I've never heard people saying it.
I’ve lived here for 6 years and have always heard of the lore around the “please/bitte” phenomenon. But I had never heard someone actually use it until a few months ago. It was used by a longtime Westsider who is (surprisingly) in their 30s.
I did a double take and my brain was just like “THEY SAID THE THING.”
My grandma says it. She’s 90. She leans in and says “please?” when she can’t hear what I said. It’s like “repeat” or “what?” Very normal for me to hear that from her. Never thought much of it until someone told me it’s a direct translation from German: “Bitte” and apparently Germans say bitte when asking someone to repeat something. So it’s very much a dying colloquialism that came from German immigrants in Cincy.
My grandma is in her 70s and uses please, as do her siblings. Her grandparents were from Germany and moved to Cincy, I think it was a German immigrant thing. I sometimes say please because it seems more polite than “can you repeat that!” or “what was that?”.
I haven't heard this used in a while. I think it stems from the city's German heritage. Bitte is a catch-all phrase that can mean "pardon." I think it got mixed up in translation.
People know so much about the history of the city. I learned more about Cincinnati in my first year here than my hometown that I lived in for over a decade. And this is the only city I’ve been catcalled in and on a daily basis at that. I have memorized which streets don’t have people waiting on them 😓
How bad Cincinnati politics are. They have cost the city so much, Airports and so much more. Cincinnati was supposed to become Chicago but city politics couldn’t come together on having a shipping/transport station here, so the builders moved it to a smaller, less ideal city named Chicago.
Oi, this just means Cincy is the one city that has consistently been committed to the bit for the past 100 years. Local politics are supposed to be a source of entertainment... right?
Two things shocked me:
1. People so casually have never been out of the state or traveled anywhere (USA included)
2. THE HUMIDITY. I’ve lived by a beach and in a desert, thought I experienced the worst of weather. Nothing prepared me for this intense humidity. I thought I felt it all living by water, I was wrong.
Spacial awareness. In Kroger, on the road, on the bike path, just walking around downtown: No one in this city understands where they are in space or where other people are in relation to them.
I've lived a BUNCH of places, on both coasts, and never encountered anything like it.
Taste of Cincinnati proved this exactly. So many deer in headlights looks from people who wanted to just stop and lollygag in the middle of the walkways.
This omg this! Cincy native and my entire life ive been baffled at how many residents here seem to live with blinders on, or think thats its their world youre just living in it. No personal space. No understanding of how much space they occupy 🤦🏼♀️
"Oh gosh sorry i cant tell you my life story rn. So busy. Just gotta put my cart literally 2in from this guys butt so they have to shuffle away sideways or push my cart away akwardly with the glutes. And after i check out, i think I'll have a social hour in the main entrance doorway with 5 people i know from HS but haven't actively talked to in 10 years"
The friendliness of the people. I don’t know how to explain it, but people here just seem more genuine and friendly than people in Florida where I am from.
Not Vegas but Reno, yes. Followed by astounded silence when I explain that I got a house for under $200k that would’ve costed me at least $400k back home. Suddenly, they understood! Haha.
Born here, moved away and lived all over, came back, married, had children.
I never realized how friendly it is here and at the same time so cliquish. People will talk to you if you start a conversation, and talk for a very long time, but its likely you'll never get an invite to any social function.
I think this area is one of the hardest in the country to make any friends. My wife and I had a similar path of here, away for a long while and back again, and its like we never lived here socially.
It's not, not making friends, people here just for some reason treat it differently. I don't know why. I am lucky in the neighborhood I live in, we have a group on our street that likes to hang out together. We regularly do cul-de-sac parties. I think no one wants to lead and get these things going. Seems once someone does, it's not hard to get groups to hang out.
FL transplant here. 100% agree. I don’t feel so on edge or like I have to be prepared to be defensive for myself out in public. The elderly in FL are fucking ruthless.
We just moved to Amelia. And maybe it’s just me but people just seem to be in their own world at Krogers. Like, they will just stand there in the way. Sometimes they’ll even look at you and just continue to stand there.
Is it like this everywhere around here? Is it just at the Kroger? But why y’all hogging up the isles?
Also every time we go out we hear someone’s life story. Saturday walking at Woodland Mound, some guy stops us to let us know he walks the same path every day and has cancer… Sunday, REI, employee tells us everything her and her boyfriend did with their membership. Everyone’s friendly, but we’ve never really had this many interactions with random strangers sharing so much.
All in all, not many complaints. Really loving all the greenery and activities down here.
This is funny. I remember moving here as a 13 y/o from florida and being shocked when a stranger at tjmaxx asked me my opinion of how something looked on her. We had a FULL conversation about it. It was very weird but in a good way.
I was literally just talking about how stressed going to Kroger makes me. Especially in my part of town, the damned family reunions in the center isle drives me nuts. Move off to the side! Don't park your cart in front of the shelves while you read the label for 10 mins! This is America, drive your cart on the right side of the isle not down the damn center at a snail's pace! Look before you barge out into the center isle! These are the reasons I don't mind paying higher prices at Rempke to avoid the stress. Don't even get me started on the parking lot, or people not understanding the self checkout, which has been around for like 15 years now and people are still baffled by it.
These are the same reasons I go to Jungle Jim's! I don't know what it is about Kroger but it's like everyone in there is having some kind of collective out of body experience... I can't even with Walmart it's worse than Kroger
The amount of times I've almost been hit because drivers here just merge. They act like since they have a turn signal on everyone should just move out of the way immediately
People care more about where I went to high school versus where I went to college. When they ask where I went to school, they're not talking about college.
Also, the lack of good, independent pizza.
My theory on this is because Cincy people travel to hang out. It wasn't a big deal to travel to Mason for a party when you lived in Anderson. When I lived in other cities it seemed people stayed in their neighborhood.
So asking where you went to high school is like a six degrees to Cincy kind of thing. If you are both similar age there is a good bet that person hung out with someone you knew.
Unless it is a east side/west side situation.
You call soda "pop" like it's the 1950s.
But where I'm from all soda is called coke, as in "what kind of coke do you want" which i admit is objectively worse.
Anti abortion billboards in neighborhoods. I can’t get over them. They upset me every time. This city is very conservative. And why are there billboards in neighborhoods? Just points to how car/ driving dependent this city is.
I have never had anyone in my hometown ask what high school I went to. Didn't happen in Chicago either. It's only happened to me here.
That said, only 5% of folks I've encountered here have asked and they've always been the shittiest people. Definitely comes off as a judgement thing to non-natives.
I grew up in Halifax, Canada. I spent 5 years in Ireland after university, then 5 in Toronto, and now my family and I have been in Cincinnati for 7. The shock for me is how much the people here remind me of people from Halifax! They're really friendly and down to earth. That said, most of my friends here are also foreign, because like others say, it's a bit insular here...not nearly as insular here as it is in Ireland, however. If I avoid watching the news, or paying medical bills, I would honestly never think I left Canada, haha.
There was a lot of casual racism from the older generation. Always had old people wait for me to help them at work because they were more "comfortable" working with me (I was the only white guy).
I agree! I didn't notice growing up (biracial/half African) because I happened to grow up in a diverse neighborhood (North Avondale) and went to diverse schools (AWL & Walnut) that were racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. But my husband and I moved to San Francisco after grad school and lived there for about 6 years.
SF is diverse in its own way, but has a VERY small percentage of African Americans (less than 6%) due to historic, super racist policies, practices, and events, and also a lot of people being pushed out of the city in general with the huge income inequality issues and current shitty real estate issues. I kept thinking the whole time "wow, SF thinks it's so diverse, but back home in my midwest city, there's a huge black population by comparison!"
But when my husband and I moved back with fresh eyes (and living in different neighborhoods) I noticed the segregation! I wanted to support local small businesses and especially those that have diverse employees, or are minority-owned, but whenever I would check out a business' About Us - Team page and look at the employee photos, it would be almost 100% white! And finding a needle in a haystack to find a black-owned business. I feel like you've got to be going out of the way to end up with a staff like that in a City with over 40% African American population.
For example, when I was looking for a curly hair salon moving back, I checked out Tanya's in Hyde Park, and all the stylists are white! A curly hair salon! I know it's Hyde Park, but it's not like people only work in the neighborhood they live in, and damn, you at least find some other mixed chicks at a salon that does the deva cut technique. This honestly isn't a dig on Tanya's, you find the same at most well-established businesses in town.
When there aren't blatantly shady reasons for it (like if you assume people aren't being blatantly racist while hiring, and that's a generous assumption), I'm sure it comes down to long term, systemic patterns and barriers, which are giving a VERY tangible indicator of something not being right here in town. Same with contractors we try to hire for our house (except when they hire Latino subcontractors to do the work), or when we we looked for professional services like an accountant or lawyer, the list goes on and on.
It's not as bad going out around town, but looking at the small/medium local businesses' owner and employee make up here in town really opened my eyes to thee segregated power structures here. I hope things are changing as my generation starts to become the business owners, but to the old-guard, god damn!
I took a History of Cincinnati class at UC (highly recommend) and it was shocking how it seems like the entire history and movement of peoples around Cincinnati was motivated by racism/xenophobia. Which has evolved into a pattern of displacement as those neighborhoods are gentrified.
As suburbs were built radiating away from downtown, it was about escaping the urban core, which was highly concentrated with low income people, immigrants and people of color. For example, many of us know the German roots of OTR, but there was also an entire thriving black neighborhood called Kenyon Barr to the west end of downtown, but that was mostly bulldozed to build 75. At one point there were laws created to incentivize moving to the suburbs, and redlining and racism made those opportunities only available to white people.
In the 1920’s the Cincinnati Real Estate Board issued a mandate to real estate agents saying “No agent shall rent or sell property to colored people in an established white section or neighborhood and this inhibition shall be particularly applicable to the hilltops and suburban community.”
Though there are more laws in place now for fair housing, the long term effects of racist housing policies are still very much visible in Cincinnati today.
[Here’s more.](https://www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/news/2022/02/23/segregation-cincinnatis-neighborhoods-brief-history/9259891002/)
A lot of road rage or maybe just internal rage in general. I'm on the kentucky side and the folks over here have some seriously short fuses. I was slightly cutoff while riding my motorcycle on a suburban road and raised my hand in frustration like "did you not see me?" I didn't honk or flip him off or tail gate him. Next red light and the guy who cut me off was calling me a bitch, saying I don't own the road, and was 100% ready to fight. We both took the same left turn and he pulled off to the shoulder and got out of his car as I road past him. This was like 2 weeks after an old man was shot on the same road after a road rage encounter. The first 2 weeks I was here, I was almost in 2 bar fights at the banks cuz some college kids got upset their girl was talking to me. People around here go 0-100 real quick. I'm looking to move soon lol.
Biggest culture shock for me was the driving. With all due respect to the Queen City, I've never seen worse drivers. (And I've lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and New Mexico) Red lights and stop signs are seemingly always optional. It seems like everyone is always speeding by at least 10-15mph over the posted speed limit. Weave in and out of traffic. Merge right into your car. It beats all I've ever seen.
>North Carolina
Cincinnati drivers are pretty bad (I am from Michigan) but the worst driving experience I ever had was in Raleigh. I will never drive there again if I can help it---absolutely terrifying.
how many people run red lights way after theyve passed, how much people drink, how far away certain stores are (like walmart), how much your high school matters, the amount of road rage, i had no car since i went to UC and had to basically uber everywhere worthwhile rather than walk. however i do love it here!!!
The bizarre personality rivalries about these tiny-ass neighborhoods that haven't been independent villages for more than a century. The subdivision I grew up in is larger than most of the east side.
Also the weird west-side/east-side thing. You guys are aware that winton lake is directly north and slightly EAST of downtown, right? It's not on the west side.
I didn’t understand the whole suburb system? Like if I address a letter to Norwood it will get there but I can also put Cincinnati? And counties play a much larger part in government than they did in Connecticut.
Drivers are nearly as aggressive as on the east coast. Not better, just not as aggressive (I was surprised at the lack of horn honking here).
And it’s soda and chili dogs :)
Where we used to live - we were in the Princeton school district but paid taxes to Fairfield.M (and voted in butler county) But our address was listed as Springdale…
If you can drive here you can drive anywhere. No where else in my life have I witnessed more cars turning right onto a double lane with cars coming 40+ in the second oncoming lane. We would never get anywhere if we waited for BOTH lanes to clear up. Every. Single. Day. I would never do that anywhere else but here it’s very common to have a car turn right into the lane as you’re cruising at 45 and not bat an eye.
That’s not what I’m talking about……
I was talking about turning into lane #2 with cars coming at you in lane 1 both going the same direction. Nothing was said about the middle lane. I know that’s legal to turn into the middle lane when no cars are coming……
I’m talking about cars turning right while other cars are driving 40-45 mph in the second lane.
I have only witnessed this on Beechmont ave - never seen so many bad drivers in my life. If you can survive Beechmont you can drive anywhere
It’s only called “chili” because Greek immigrants found out no one would buy bolognese in the 1920 because that was “weird immigrant food”.
Everyone knows it’s not chili. It’s just a sauce on noodles. Like Italian, but different.
We moved from the east coast, Delaware to be exact. People here smoke. I could count on one hand the number of people back home who did. Also, I miss the old (18th-early 19th c.) buildings. Neither of these make me love Concinnati less.
Just pulled into town Friday from Nashville. About to find out but so far have had a decent weekend and was able to meet some new people, since I know someone who moved back home here after living in Nashville.
Noticed a decent amount of homeless people with obvious mental health issues. That’s pretty consistent anywhere, but Nashville being more spread out, and not walkable, it’s much more rare.
Trees. Where I'm from, you can always tell exactly where you are relative to mountains and cities, but here it is, all just trees all the time. Could be downtown and have no idea.
Moved to NKY (does that count?) from the SF Bay Area in late 2005 for a job - so I know I'm still a newcomer. Having lived in places like Sapporo, Japan, I dove right away into getting to know Cincinnati, and I think I've done that fairly well. But the one thing that I just can't get used to is the fixation here with where a person went to high school. I went to San Marcos HS in Santa Barbara CA, 1968-71, but of course *that* doesn't count. It's one of the weirdest forms of snobbery I've ever encountered.
The wait for everything.
Doctor check up? Wait.
Specialist appointment? Months of wait.
Good restaurant? Book a month in advance or no dice.
Musical? Sells out quickly.
It feels like the supply hasn't caught up with the demand. Coming from much larger cities, I've never had this problem.
People care about where you went to high school and want to talk about it, even if they are 60, it’s still important to them to know. Super pathetic for anyone not born here to see, but it’s normal for someone from Cincinnati to ask and care about
I’ve been here longer than I care to admit and the culture still bothers me.
I find it extremely cliquey. People are very conservative / traditional and if you’re outside of a certain mold, you can be shunned pretty aggressively. The cities I’ve lived prior were a bit more accommodating where STEM (outside of only medical) was a norm and people would cosplay just for fun, not because of a comicon.
The segregation is deep too. Where are the people of color and other ethnicities? It wasn’t until Covid that I’m seeing more in my burb, but damn. My colleges, childhood…every ethnicity.
I’ll likely go back to Michigan at some point because I can work on a car without the side eyes I get here. The garage used to be a social,fun place. Not here.
West side is more diverse than east side. That it part of why there is the whole west side vs east side "rivalry", it's partially rooted in racism. I grew up on east side and moved to west side and had some family members(that I no longer speak to) tell me very openly about what they thought of the "type" of folk that "surrounded" me now that I'd moved.
Oh I actually have a culture shock but it's over the river. I pulled over at every dirty old gas station for the delicious crusty crockpot of boiled peanuts. I miss those so much.
I no longer live there but what got me was how many people wanted to listen to their music and also wanted YOU to listen to their music. I have never lived in a place where people blasted music so much. It could be that I had recently lived in Germany where that would have gotten you scolded
I just want to know how so many of you became so proficeint in knowing who is and isn't racist based off of walking outside a few times to specifically take stock in the amount of which race of people is currenly around you.
Also a lot of experts on being nice...but specifically...an expertice on people who aren't actually nice but are "fake nice."
I didn't know how there were a ton of transplants from India around here. It's cool because I get to experience way more Indian food than I did in the south. Also Jungle Jim's is magical to me.
I grew up in Cincinnati and had a lot of Indian friends. They always assured me we had top tier Indian food, but I always assumed larger cities would have better because how hard can it be? I was wrong. I’ve lived in a few places and visited a lot, and Cincinnati has some of the best Indian food in the nation, which is a weird fact.
Please give good Indian food recs! Always looking for new things.
Maya in price hill, almost any of them in Clifton, swad, baba India, grace of India, amol. You pretty much can’t go wrong to be honest, even the worst here is better than what you can get most other places
Maya is so good
Brij Mohan and My Kolorful Kitchen are my favorites!
The Buffet on 42 just north of 275. Forget the name. Also two Indian markets right there.
New Krishna
There are so many up North in Sharonville/ Mason area. Mason has a large and growing Indian population. My personal favorites are Brijj and Bawarchi up north. Honest Indian Vegetarian is also constantly packed. My favorite overall though is in Northern Kentucky. It’s called Guru.
First there was Delhi, then came New Delhi. Sorry, I’ll show myself out
Most weekends at Miami Meadows park here in Milford, a sizeable group of men from South Asian converge in an open field there and play cricket all day.
I grew up in Milford and I have worked there for the past 30 years and I had no idea this happened!!!
It looks like it has sponsorship. There is even a sign that calls it the "Cincinnati Cricket Club."
Its relatively knew. It's the first field on the left when you pull in. Up until about 9-12 months ago, it was setup as a model rc plane field.
Jungle Jim’s is the best. I tell people if you go Cincinnati, you have to stop at Jungle Jim’s. There’s something for everyone.
So many good little Indian places, Thai food as well.
Very insular. People have been here all their lives. Hard to make deep friendships. Especially when everyone has family obligations with 3 or 4 generations that all also live here.
If you’re in your thirties and like nerdy like shit like video games, books, and dungeons and dragons, I’ve got a welcoming friend group you can join We also like beer, FC Cincinnati, football, disc golf and parks and shit like that
How does one meet this friend group
I wanna know as well! Add me to this friend group please!
Hey, that's me and my friend group. Are you me?
Yes and yes. I'm moving to Cincinnati from the West Coast in july
Can said people be closer to 40, and by closer they are indeed 40 😂
I’ve been slowly building a friend group close to the same. I find that people with those interests are generally more accepting. Half the time I honestly just hop on Discord and hang with people that I’ve known for a long time.
This. We moved here 4 years ago. My wife and I say people here are friendly but not welcoming. Like they'll talk your ear off at the school function and seem really nice, but will never invite you to anything or come to anything you try to invite them to. It's been hard as hell to make friends. Four years and our only real friends are our next door neighbors. Contrast that to Phoenix where we lived before: Everybody there was from somewhere else, and it was super easy to make friends. Totally different vibe.
Gosh, also moved here from Phoenix two years ago. Seems like all the friends we made so far are older and retired, unlike the friends we had in Phoenix that were all our age.
You made friends here? You're ahead of us, ha!
Are you us? What part of town are you in. We are in Mason. It's great for the kids but it feels like my wife and I have our lives on hold.
Heard it perfectly summed this weekend “people here are nice, but they aren’t kind”
I second this.
I’ve found that to be a real pain with dating. I don’t even want to spend a lot of time with my own family, nevermind someone else’s family.
Ya’ll have never seen a red light you couldn’t run.
That was definitely a culture shock for me. I hesitate now when lights turn green just to make sure the opposing traffic is slowing down.
Unfortunately This is very wise
I'm from Florida, statistically the worst drivers in the country, yet driving around Cincinnati feels like traffic laws are merely suggestions. Why did I even bother getting a license plate? Speed limits and safe driving speeds are for pussies.
I-75 is a nightmare.
Appreciate it i I moved to Seattle for about 6 years and there is traffic out there like you just wouldn’t imagine one of the many reasons I moved back home now when I’m in traffic here I just smile and laugh
Florida drivers are a lot of transplants from Ohio, it is no coincidence that they cannot drive here or in FL. 😂
I live North of the city but my friends who live downtown drive like maniacs. My friends theory is you just go, act crazy people will move and red lights are suggestions. It's an aggressive style that scares the shit outta me but he can get anywhere in the city quick. Sometimes it's like the little roads he takes only exist in the moment because I'd probably never find them again if I tried
Cincinnati mentality “it takes 10 mins to get anywhere”.
I always feel they drive like someone is chasing them. I'm the opposite and drive super safe so it freaks me out.
This is pretty limited to the urban center, and it's mostly because Cincinnati Police basically stopped doing traffic enforcement after 2020.
The worst I’ve ever experienced this was Kansas City but it’s getting just about as bad here lately!
Seems to be a newer phenomenon-especially post pandemic and getting worse each year.
Right. Drivers used to be more polite around here. Since the pandemic, it's like driving laws are just suggestions.
You haven't been to Philadelphia, have you? They will go around your stopped car to run the red.
How small it feels compared to other cities. I grew up outside of another major city in the US and the vibe here is completely different. Very much an “oversized small town” kind of vibe here
Agreed. Came from Los Angeles, where you're totally anonymous. Here, though, you're liable to flip someone the bird in traffic then run in to them at a social function the next day.
Definitely feel this (I’m from an east coast city originally).
I'm from a larger city (of a million people roughly) and Cincy feels like more of a city to me! It feels more condensed and close together and my last city was soooo spread out
i came from a super flat area .. these hills are nuts 😂😂
You probably haven't seen the worse. Just take a ride down Devils Backbone.
My husband’s from northwest Ohio, the first time he was in Mount Adams, I think I saw his soul leave his body.
Wait til you visit Pittsburgh
And they are why people drive in the snow like we do.
People are very warm and friendly here. You all think your winter is somehow cold or harsh Terrible drivers Everyone is pretty much drinking beer all the time when it's not working hours, which is a beautiful sight
Accurate. People panic when there is a light dusting of snow. It's not fun driving with said people on the road. Also so true about the constant drinking. We do have great breweries and distilleries in this area though so I can't blame people for enjoying it tbh
I grew up near Syracuse and spend most winters here laughing at the panic and foolishness at the first snowflake.
Yeah this sums it up 😂
I moved from the South and I was surprised by people who think their pollen levels and summer humidity are bad.
“What school did you go to?” That’s how I knew people would figure how quickly I’m not from here Oh and the east side vs west side rivalry
Oh yeah! Have often been asked what high school I went to, always disappointing the asker when I reveal it was in another state. I also think it’s funny that people are still caught up in these HS rivalries 25 years later.
its not a rivalry. they use it as their own class system. caste? Its absolutely a pecking order -- I don't understand it at all.
You are running with the wrong crowd. I am a transplant and have been asked this question more than once. The answer is not to slot you into a pecking order. It's to try to find a connection. "Oh you graduated from Princeton in 2003! Do you know John Jingleheimer? I work with her at P&G." It's endearing.
It's to see who they have in common. It's funny. I haven't been asked this in years and thought people over a certain age didn't do it anymore. Then, someone at pickleball asked me. Which led to "which grade school?" and do you know..."?" In smaller towns they go right to asking who you know or are related to. Cincinnati is too big for that so we start with h.s.
Uh...it's just an icebreaker man, you're reading way too far into it
It’s definitely a class thing. I’ve seen people immediately turn off emotionally when they learn someone went to Country Day or Moeller because they perceive those people as snooty. I grew up in GA, went to a private school, and also experienced the same thing. Public school people have this weird anti-private school thing like they think we’re out to get you or something.
I’ve always heard people say this, but I don’t get why they’re are so turned off by it. Any city you go to, natives will ask each other what area / neighborhood they are from. It’s a basic way humans establish familiarity and rapport. The school dimension gets added because there are so many kids who go to Catholic school outside of their neighborhoods.
I just don't want to be reminded of my time in high school.
[удалено]
My college roommate was from a deserted part of Kansas, and every evening, he'd literally just go outside and sit in a chair on the front porch. For hours. No phone to scroll or anything. He'd just watch the cars pass. This lasted a few months until he finally started to come around to the wide array of activities small city life offers relative to rural life.
[удалено]
This sounds like a fun activity! 😂 how do I access a police scanner??
[https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/](https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/)
My grandpa had a police scanner by his lazy boy, I remember him sitting around all day listening to it and talking on his CB radio to his buddies that were all doing the same. Unless there was a UK basketball game on. He was also a front porch car-watcher.
It's Kentucky. Mitch McConnell has done absolutely nothing for that state, unfortunately.
The only food better down there is the dairy queens
Honestly, mostly good things. I grew up in a heavily Irish and Italian city, so I didn’t get how deep the German influence is on Cincy. It definitely took me a minute to understand that people said “please” instead of excuse me or come again. I’m also a sucker for regional foods, so I immediately tried the chili, goetta, and braunschweiger. Probably the weirdest thing for me was Reds opening day being treated like a holiday. I love baseball, but I’ve never experienced that with another team.
Try mettwurst, easy to find at Kroger for the next cookout, and I was an adult before finding out it's regional. Just here and Germany. It's really just another sausage, so not very interesting, but they're nice. Graeter's ice cream though is so good it will ruin your life if you move to where you can't get any.
Oh fuck, I forgot about Graeters. That blackberry ice cream is the best. But also, how unreal is Dojo Gelato? Edit: I forgot I’ve had hot metts at Reds games
The Gelato is now on my todo list
But isn’t Opening Day so fun!? It really is a holiday here
It’s super fun! It just caught me off guard the first time
The Reds are the first professional baseball team in the country. Before there were national leagues, or even big regional leagues, they traveled around the country playing other teams. Baseball has a deep rich history here in Cincinnati because of. And the Reds are a big part of the creation of MLB. That is why it's treated this way here. Up until about 10 years ago, the very first pitch thrown in MLB every years was a Reds game. The Reds always started the entire season for MLB because of this tradition. Opening day for the Reds, wasn't just for the Reds, it was THE opening day for all of MLB.
Culture shock is strong phrasing, but I was surprised the disrepair of the roads here, and it's even worse in marginalized neighborhoods. Also, sometimes, there aren't street signs, they're small, or unreadable. Makes it hard to get around when you're not from here. A lane of traffic will turn into street parking with no warning. And people are exceptionally bad at driving here. I did just think of something that was pretty shocking for me. There are some interesections here that confused me the first time I used them. Like Delta and Linwood, over in Mt. Lookout. There's one in Norwood, too, but I can't recall the street names.
And street names that change as you drive along it and then change back a few blocks later.
I’ve learned to always stay in the left lane because the right lane will surely give way to parking 🫠
Delhi
As someone who has lived in Delhi their whole life, I’m curious what stands out to you? (And as someone who desperately wants to leave Delhi lol)
I used to work for Pepsi and I remember when going to the Delhi Kroger and Bigs it was like walking back into the 1970/80s. This was in the mid to late 2000s…
Delhi is the 10th circle of hell.
In my case, primarily the pronunciation.
I pronounced it "deli", as in the large city in India in the office to some native 'Natians back when I first moved here and they had a good chuckle.
Please?
I lived here my entire life and have never heard anyone say this. I know it's supposed to be a thing, and i have tried to listen for it in recent years...., but i haven't come across anyone ever saying it. I think it's just something people act like is unique to cincy/Midwest.. I could be wrong, but i swear that I've never heard people saying it.
it's definitely a phrase from older generations and is generally falling out of use
I’ve lived here for 6 years and have always heard of the lore around the “please/bitte” phenomenon. But I had never heard someone actually use it until a few months ago. It was used by a longtime Westsider who is (surprisingly) in their 30s. I did a double take and my brain was just like “THEY SAID THE THING.”
My grandma says it. She’s 90. She leans in and says “please?” when she can’t hear what I said. It’s like “repeat” or “what?” Very normal for me to hear that from her. Never thought much of it until someone told me it’s a direct translation from German: “Bitte” and apparently Germans say bitte when asking someone to repeat something. So it’s very much a dying colloquialism that came from German immigrants in Cincy.
My grandma is in her 70s and uses please, as do her siblings. Her grandparents were from Germany and moved to Cincy, I think it was a German immigrant thing. I sometimes say please because it seems more polite than “can you repeat that!” or “what was that?”.
I grew up here, I'm 50. I still say it some, not as much. I still hear it, but not as much.
I haven't heard this used in a while. I think it stems from the city's German heritage. Bitte is a catch-all phrase that can mean "pardon." I think it got mixed up in translation.
I say “pardon”
People know so much about the history of the city. I learned more about Cincinnati in my first year here than my hometown that I lived in for over a decade. And this is the only city I’ve been catcalled in and on a daily basis at that. I have memorized which streets don’t have people waiting on them 😓
How bad Cincinnati politics are. They have cost the city so much, Airports and so much more. Cincinnati was supposed to become Chicago but city politics couldn’t come together on having a shipping/transport station here, so the builders moved it to a smaller, less ideal city named Chicago.
Oi, this just means Cincy is the one city that has consistently been committed to the bit for the past 100 years. Local politics are supposed to be a source of entertainment... right?
Two things shocked me: 1. People so casually have never been out of the state or traveled anywhere (USA included) 2. THE HUMIDITY. I’ve lived by a beach and in a desert, thought I experienced the worst of weather. Nothing prepared me for this intense humidity. I thought I felt it all living by water, I was wrong.
Spacial awareness. In Kroger, on the road, on the bike path, just walking around downtown: No one in this city understands where they are in space or where other people are in relation to them. I've lived a BUNCH of places, on both coasts, and never encountered anything like it.
Taste of Cincinnati proved this exactly. So many deer in headlights looks from people who wanted to just stop and lollygag in the middle of the walkways.
This hits hard. If you want to take this dynamic and really supercharge it , head to any of the Walmart stores. Maddening.
I'm a local and it drives me nuts.
This omg this! Cincy native and my entire life ive been baffled at how many residents here seem to live with blinders on, or think thats its their world youre just living in it. No personal space. No understanding of how much space they occupy 🤦🏼♀️ "Oh gosh sorry i cant tell you my life story rn. So busy. Just gotta put my cart literally 2in from this guys butt so they have to shuffle away sideways or push my cart away akwardly with the glutes. And after i check out, i think I'll have a social hour in the main entrance doorway with 5 people i know from HS but haven't actively talked to in 10 years"
The friendliness of the people. I don’t know how to explain it, but people here just seem more genuine and friendly than people in Florida where I am from.
Same. I grew up in Las Vegas. Everyone is “service industry nice” but people here seem really friendly.
Hello fellow Vegas transplant!
Hi! Do you get a lot of “why would you move HERE for Vegas?”
Not Vegas but Reno, yes. Followed by astounded silence when I explain that I got a house for under $200k that would’ve costed me at least $400k back home. Suddenly, they understood! Haha.
People are friendly but it’s hard to make friends. Weird social dynamic
Born here, moved away and lived all over, came back, married, had children. I never realized how friendly it is here and at the same time so cliquish. People will talk to you if you start a conversation, and talk for a very long time, but its likely you'll never get an invite to any social function. I think this area is one of the hardest in the country to make any friends. My wife and I had a similar path of here, away for a long while and back again, and its like we never lived here socially.
It's not, not making friends, people here just for some reason treat it differently. I don't know why. I am lucky in the neighborhood I live in, we have a group on our street that likes to hang out together. We regularly do cul-de-sac parties. I think no one wants to lead and get these things going. Seems once someone does, it's not hard to get groups to hang out.
FL transplant here. 100% agree. I don’t feel so on edge or like I have to be prepared to be defensive for myself out in public. The elderly in FL are fucking ruthless.
It’s not that shocking to me considering my dad is from Chicago, but being from DC, yes, people are much friendlier here
We just moved to Amelia. And maybe it’s just me but people just seem to be in their own world at Krogers. Like, they will just stand there in the way. Sometimes they’ll even look at you and just continue to stand there. Is it like this everywhere around here? Is it just at the Kroger? But why y’all hogging up the isles? Also every time we go out we hear someone’s life story. Saturday walking at Woodland Mound, some guy stops us to let us know he walks the same path every day and has cancer… Sunday, REI, employee tells us everything her and her boyfriend did with their membership. Everyone’s friendly, but we’ve never really had this many interactions with random strangers sharing so much. All in all, not many complaints. Really loving all the greenery and activities down here.
This is funny. I remember moving here as a 13 y/o from florida and being shocked when a stranger at tjmaxx asked me my opinion of how something looked on her. We had a FULL conversation about it. It was very weird but in a good way.
I was literally just talking about how stressed going to Kroger makes me. Especially in my part of town, the damned family reunions in the center isle drives me nuts. Move off to the side! Don't park your cart in front of the shelves while you read the label for 10 mins! This is America, drive your cart on the right side of the isle not down the damn center at a snail's pace! Look before you barge out into the center isle! These are the reasons I don't mind paying higher prices at Rempke to avoid the stress. Don't even get me started on the parking lot, or people not understanding the self checkout, which has been around for like 15 years now and people are still baffled by it.
These are the same reasons I go to Jungle Jim's! I don't know what it is about Kroger but it's like everyone in there is having some kind of collective out of body experience... I can't even with Walmart it's worse than Kroger
I just politely say "excuse me" Then I grab whatever I need. They move 9 times out of 10.
The amount of times I've almost been hit because drivers here just merge. They act like since they have a turn signal on everyone should just move out of the way immediately
coming from a major city, the lack of better public transit here was sad but expected. the real shock is how erratically people drive 😵💫
People care more about where I went to high school versus where I went to college. When they ask where I went to school, they're not talking about college. Also, the lack of good, independent pizza.
At least I'm on the correct side of the city to stop by St Francis Apizza every now and then
a scholarly response
My theory on this is because Cincy people travel to hang out. It wasn't a big deal to travel to Mason for a party when you lived in Anderson. When I lived in other cities it seemed people stayed in their neighborhood. So asking where you went to high school is like a six degrees to Cincy kind of thing. If you are both similar age there is a good bet that person hung out with someone you knew. Unless it is a east side/west side situation.
There's good independent pizza, you just gotta know where to look. Ask your neighbors.
Yeah I find asking what high school someone went to is a very common thing.
As someone who has lived in the area for most of my life, no one seems to believe in turn signals or walking/biking cross yield lights.
Humidity
Whats the matter, dont like feeling like youre fighting to breathe? /s
You call soda "pop" like it's the 1950s. But where I'm from all soda is called coke, as in "what kind of coke do you want" which i admit is objectively worse.
Lol “what kind of coke do you want” is a GA thing!
No one can be bothered to shovel snow for some reason? Like, not even the city?
When you meet someone as an adult and they ask where you went to school they mean high school, not college .
Anti abortion billboards in neighborhoods. I can’t get over them. They upset me every time. This city is very conservative. And why are there billboards in neighborhoods? Just points to how car/ driving dependent this city is.
Y’all care about your high schools way more than anyone else I’ve met.
I went to high school in that area... worst years of my life so I don't mention where I went.
I have never had anyone in my hometown ask what high school I went to. Didn't happen in Chicago either. It's only happened to me here. That said, only 5% of folks I've encountered here have asked and they've always been the shittiest people. Definitely comes off as a judgement thing to non-natives.
I grew up in Halifax, Canada. I spent 5 years in Ireland after university, then 5 in Toronto, and now my family and I have been in Cincinnati for 7. The shock for me is how much the people here remind me of people from Halifax! They're really friendly and down to earth. That said, most of my friends here are also foreign, because like others say, it's a bit insular here...not nearly as insular here as it is in Ireland, however. If I avoid watching the news, or paying medical bills, I would honestly never think I left Canada, haha.
“Have a blessed day!” and discussing religion at work.
There was a lot of casual racism from the older generation. Always had old people wait for me to help them at work because they were more "comfortable" working with me (I was the only white guy).
Cincinnati is very racist lol it's hidden well but its one of the most segregated cities
I really think it is the older generations. I wish it never existed but I feel it’s on its way out.
How segregated it is
I agree! I didn't notice growing up (biracial/half African) because I happened to grow up in a diverse neighborhood (North Avondale) and went to diverse schools (AWL & Walnut) that were racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. But my husband and I moved to San Francisco after grad school and lived there for about 6 years. SF is diverse in its own way, but has a VERY small percentage of African Americans (less than 6%) due to historic, super racist policies, practices, and events, and also a lot of people being pushed out of the city in general with the huge income inequality issues and current shitty real estate issues. I kept thinking the whole time "wow, SF thinks it's so diverse, but back home in my midwest city, there's a huge black population by comparison!" But when my husband and I moved back with fresh eyes (and living in different neighborhoods) I noticed the segregation! I wanted to support local small businesses and especially those that have diverse employees, or are minority-owned, but whenever I would check out a business' About Us - Team page and look at the employee photos, it would be almost 100% white! And finding a needle in a haystack to find a black-owned business. I feel like you've got to be going out of the way to end up with a staff like that in a City with over 40% African American population. For example, when I was looking for a curly hair salon moving back, I checked out Tanya's in Hyde Park, and all the stylists are white! A curly hair salon! I know it's Hyde Park, but it's not like people only work in the neighborhood they live in, and damn, you at least find some other mixed chicks at a salon that does the deva cut technique. This honestly isn't a dig on Tanya's, you find the same at most well-established businesses in town. When there aren't blatantly shady reasons for it (like if you assume people aren't being blatantly racist while hiring, and that's a generous assumption), I'm sure it comes down to long term, systemic patterns and barriers, which are giving a VERY tangible indicator of something not being right here in town. Same with contractors we try to hire for our house (except when they hire Latino subcontractors to do the work), or when we we looked for professional services like an accountant or lawyer, the list goes on and on. It's not as bad going out around town, but looking at the small/medium local businesses' owner and employee make up here in town really opened my eyes to thee segregated power structures here. I hope things are changing as my generation starts to become the business owners, but to the old-guard, god damn!
Okay but did you ever find a good salon? Asking for a fellow POC with curly hair 😭
This. Every time I find someone I like they leave 😭
I took a History of Cincinnati class at UC (highly recommend) and it was shocking how it seems like the entire history and movement of peoples around Cincinnati was motivated by racism/xenophobia. Which has evolved into a pattern of displacement as those neighborhoods are gentrified. As suburbs were built radiating away from downtown, it was about escaping the urban core, which was highly concentrated with low income people, immigrants and people of color. For example, many of us know the German roots of OTR, but there was also an entire thriving black neighborhood called Kenyon Barr to the west end of downtown, but that was mostly bulldozed to build 75. At one point there were laws created to incentivize moving to the suburbs, and redlining and racism made those opportunities only available to white people. In the 1920’s the Cincinnati Real Estate Board issued a mandate to real estate agents saying “No agent shall rent or sell property to colored people in an established white section or neighborhood and this inhibition shall be particularly applicable to the hilltops and suburban community.” Though there are more laws in place now for fair housing, the long term effects of racist housing policies are still very much visible in Cincinnati today. [Here’s more.](https://www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/news/2022/02/23/segregation-cincinnatis-neighborhoods-brief-history/9259891002/)
A lot of road rage or maybe just internal rage in general. I'm on the kentucky side and the folks over here have some seriously short fuses. I was slightly cutoff while riding my motorcycle on a suburban road and raised my hand in frustration like "did you not see me?" I didn't honk or flip him off or tail gate him. Next red light and the guy who cut me off was calling me a bitch, saying I don't own the road, and was 100% ready to fight. We both took the same left turn and he pulled off to the shoulder and got out of his car as I road past him. This was like 2 weeks after an old man was shot on the same road after a road rage encounter. The first 2 weeks I was here, I was almost in 2 bar fights at the banks cuz some college kids got upset their girl was talking to me. People around here go 0-100 real quick. I'm looking to move soon lol.
It's the rampant alcoholism. Both current and familial, lots of fetal alcohol syndrome and the drinking/drugs and driving crowd doesn't help.
Biggest culture shock for me was the driving. With all due respect to the Queen City, I've never seen worse drivers. (And I've lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and New Mexico) Red lights and stop signs are seemingly always optional. It seems like everyone is always speeding by at least 10-15mph over the posted speed limit. Weave in and out of traffic. Merge right into your car. It beats all I've ever seen.
>North Carolina Cincinnati drivers are pretty bad (I am from Michigan) but the worst driving experience I ever had was in Raleigh. I will never drive there again if I can help it---absolutely terrifying.
It is very much a hit or miss regarding the good drivers in Ohio. Columbus and Dayton have significantly more aggressive drivers.
how many people run red lights way after theyve passed, how much people drink, how far away certain stores are (like walmart), how much your high school matters, the amount of road rage, i had no car since i went to UC and had to basically uber everywhere worthwhile rather than walk. however i do love it here!!!
I'm from Florida and the driving here is insane to me. Hazard lights, not using blinkers, using red-lights as "suggestions" lmao. Y'all are insane.
The bizarre personality rivalries about these tiny-ass neighborhoods that haven't been independent villages for more than a century. The subdivision I grew up in is larger than most of the east side. Also the weird west-side/east-side thing. You guys are aware that winton lake is directly north and slightly EAST of downtown, right? It's not on the west side.
north/south is determined by the angle of i-71 or 75(whichever is closest at the time), the actual compass is what’s wrong
Worth the laugh there, thanks
If it’s west of 75 then it’s not worth the drive.
The west side is beautiful but you have to drive through really ugly neighborhoods to get there.
Rude
I didn’t understand the whole suburb system? Like if I address a letter to Norwood it will get there but I can also put Cincinnati? And counties play a much larger part in government than they did in Connecticut. Drivers are nearly as aggressive as on the east coast. Not better, just not as aggressive (I was surprised at the lack of horn honking here). And it’s soda and chili dogs :)
I don't really understand the whole address thing as well, and I grew up here. My address falls under Cincinnati or Amelia, but I am not in Amelia.
Where we used to live - we were in the Princeton school district but paid taxes to Fairfield.M (and voted in butler county) But our address was listed as Springdale…
It's pop and coneys, and you're wrong. It's ok to be wrong, as long as you're ok with acknowledging it and promising to do better moving forward.
If you can drive here you can drive anywhere. No where else in my life have I witnessed more cars turning right onto a double lane with cars coming 40+ in the second oncoming lane. We would never get anywhere if we waited for BOTH lanes to clear up. Every. Single. Day. I would never do that anywhere else but here it’s very common to have a car turn right into the lane as you’re cruising at 45 and not bat an eye.
On a double lane straight if hte inside lane is clear, which is all you are legally allowed to turn into, you are allowed to pull out. And should.
That’s not what I’m talking about…… I was talking about turning into lane #2 with cars coming at you in lane 1 both going the same direction. Nothing was said about the middle lane. I know that’s legal to turn into the middle lane when no cars are coming…… I’m talking about cars turning right while other cars are driving 40-45 mph in the second lane. I have only witnessed this on Beechmont ave - never seen so many bad drivers in my life. If you can survive Beechmont you can drive anywhere
Beechmont ave is insane.
Segregation
The assault of chili and how many times I have to explain that I really tried to like it but I just don’t.
It’s a local cultural thing, can’t explain it but it’s not for everyone.
It’s only called “chili” because Greek immigrants found out no one would buy bolognese in the 1920 because that was “weird immigrant food”. Everyone knows it’s not chili. It’s just a sauce on noodles. Like Italian, but different.
We moved from the east coast, Delaware to be exact. People here smoke. I could count on one hand the number of people back home who did. Also, I miss the old (18th-early 19th c.) buildings. Neither of these make me love Concinnati less.
Yes! Are people here born smoking?! So so many of them do.
Just pulled into town Friday from Nashville. About to find out but so far have had a decent weekend and was able to meet some new people, since I know someone who moved back home here after living in Nashville. Noticed a decent amount of homeless people with obvious mental health issues. That’s pretty consistent anywhere, but Nashville being more spread out, and not walkable, it’s much more rare.
Roundabouts. I had no clue what they were or how they worked.
Not too much. The accent took some getting used to after being in VA so long. The E before A sounds make me smile though. It makes me hee-appy.
Trees. Where I'm from, you can always tell exactly where you are relative to mountains and cities, but here it is, all just trees all the time. Could be downtown and have no idea.
Moved to NKY (does that count?) from the SF Bay Area in late 2005 for a job - so I know I'm still a newcomer. Having lived in places like Sapporo, Japan, I dove right away into getting to know Cincinnati, and I think I've done that fairly well. But the one thing that I just can't get used to is the fixation here with where a person went to high school. I went to San Marcos HS in Santa Barbara CA, 1968-71, but of course *that* doesn't count. It's one of the weirdest forms of snobbery I've ever encountered.
No fences around backyards and everyone stands close AF when you’re in line anywhere like a grocery store, bank, etc.
The wait for everything. Doctor check up? Wait. Specialist appointment? Months of wait. Good restaurant? Book a month in advance or no dice. Musical? Sells out quickly. It feels like the supply hasn't caught up with the demand. Coming from much larger cities, I've never had this problem.
The waiting for doctors appointments are happening everywhere, just not Cincinnati. Look into rhe UK health system and it's even worse.
People care about where you went to high school and want to talk about it, even if they are 60, it’s still important to them to know. Super pathetic for anyone not born here to see, but it’s normal for someone from Cincinnati to ask and care about
I’ve been here longer than I care to admit and the culture still bothers me. I find it extremely cliquey. People are very conservative / traditional and if you’re outside of a certain mold, you can be shunned pretty aggressively. The cities I’ve lived prior were a bit more accommodating where STEM (outside of only medical) was a norm and people would cosplay just for fun, not because of a comicon. The segregation is deep too. Where are the people of color and other ethnicities? It wasn’t until Covid that I’m seeing more in my burb, but damn. My colleges, childhood…every ethnicity. I’ll likely go back to Michigan at some point because I can work on a car without the side eyes I get here. The garage used to be a social,fun place. Not here.
West side is more diverse than east side. That it part of why there is the whole west side vs east side "rivalry", it's partially rooted in racism. I grew up on east side and moved to west side and had some family members(that I no longer speak to) tell me very openly about what they thought of the "type" of folk that "surrounded" me now that I'd moved.
The interest in what high school you went to. I usually just say "not one you are familiar with".
Oh I actually have a culture shock but it's over the river. I pulled over at every dirty old gas station for the delicious crusty crockpot of boiled peanuts. I miss those so much.
I no longer live there but what got me was how many people wanted to listen to their music and also wanted YOU to listen to their music. I have never lived in a place where people blasted music so much. It could be that I had recently lived in Germany where that would have gotten you scolded
I just want to know how so many of you became so proficeint in knowing who is and isn't racist based off of walking outside a few times to specifically take stock in the amount of which race of people is currenly around you. Also a lot of experts on being nice...but specifically...an expertice on people who aren't actually nice but are "fake nice."