Is There any Merit to Yahoo’s Stereotypes?

State

Stereotype

“They care about football, football, football… and NASCAR. Life revolves around one or the other.”

Alaska

“Many residents are simply burly, ice-fishing fur-wearers who club seals for sport.”

Arizona

“It’s filled with senior citizens who carry their own hot sauce everywhere and claim that finding a parking spot in the shade is more important than the birth of their first child.”

Arkansas

“One of the most common misperceptions of Arkansas is that everyone who lives here is a “hillbilly,” explains Leah DiPetro, communications manager for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. “This misperception was encouraged back in the 1930s through popular entertainment.”

California

“The state is filled with beach bums, bodybuilders, activists, and movie stars. “Everyone thinks we’re all a bunch of laid-back, easy-going surfers. Try visiting the tech hives of Silicon Valley or San Francisco these days and saying that,” says Yahoo Travel editor Greg Keraghosian.

Colorado

“Everyone is a stoner who loves to ski.”

Connecticut

“This state is made up of the country-club-loving, pastel-wearing, helicopter-flying part of the 1 percent.”

Delaware

“People travel here from other places just to shop and avoid paying taxes. That’s it.”

Florida

“Its population is basically made up of retirees, beach bums, and gator hunters.”

Georgia

“It’s overflowing with sweet Southern blond women and the kind of gentlemen who you’d want to bring home to mama.”

Hawaii

“ Everyone surfs — and that’s it. Also, the locals hate the mainlanders, with a passion.”

“Everyone is a potato farmer.”

Illinois

“Everyone talks like Mike Ditka and loves da Bears.”

Indiana

“People here think a tractor is the only necessary form of transport.”

Iowa

“The state is all about corn farmers and a caucus once every four years”

Kansas

“People always assume I live on a farm, am super-religious or racist, and own a gun. I also regularly get asked if I have ever been in a tornado. But the truth is, Kansas is an amazing place. It has great schools, a creative vibe, friendly people, great music, and great food,” says Julie Johansen, a Kansas native.

Kentucky

““Of course there are a lot of people who think we are rowdy, inbred hillbillies, blue-collar workers who don’t wear shoes, who live to fish and hunt. People think we are a decade behind regular social (and fashion) movements … “ says Thomas Jarboe, a Kentuckian.

Louisiana

“Everyone is into voodoo, and it’s home to gumbo-loving partiers who treat every day like Mardi Gras.”

Maine

“Residents of Maine are seafood snobs who mostly wear plaid and can’t pronounce the letter ‘R’ properly.”

Maryland

“Marylanders are known for their obsession with education and politics, at least where I grew up. The public schools are better than most out-of-state private ones. There are a lot of Ivy-Leaguers and preppy kids. But people are very family oriented and polite,” says Marylander Diana Carrier.

“We are self-titled Mass-holes,” says Massachusetts native Melissa Rappaport. “And most people judge the accent. Even if you are from here, it sounds terrible. But we are the most hardcore sports fans. Just don’t mention the Yankees.”

Michigan

“Their hate for Ohio far outweighs their love of anything else. “

Minnesota

“Minnesotans love Prince and the movie ‘Fargo’.”

Mississippi

“Mississippi businessman Rick Looser actually funded an ad campaign to try to dispel stereotypes about his home state after being asked on a plane if he sees those Ku Klux Klan people on the streets every day’.”

Missouri

“Stereotypes I have heard about people from Missouri include the fact they are the kind to shoot first, ask questions later. Own camo furniture and a ‘good’ baseball cap for church. Oh, and they like to play deer-hunting video games,” says Susan Jack of Missouri.

Montana

“Hunting season is more important than Christmas to Montanans, they ride horses to school, and they are total badasses. The badass bit is true.”

Nebraska

“It’s full of call-center workers who love corn and corn-fed steaks and everyone lives on a farm. However, ‘we don’t ride cows to school, our cities have more than one stoplight, and we have indoor plumbing. The first time I touched livestock was at a petting zoo’,” says Yahoo Travel editor Brittany Jones Cooper.

Nevada

“Everyone works in a casino as a cocktail waitress or an Elvis impersonator. And they all have gambling problems. “

New Hampshire

“The people here are overtly happy, religion-shunning vegetable growers, whose No. 1 topic of conversation is taxes.”

New Jersey

“Home of the spray tan, the back-combed bouffant, the ‘Shore’ and steroid abuse.”

New Mexico

“This is the state where meth is made and where everyone has been abducted by aliens”.

“New Yorkers are rude!” Johanna Legaspi told Yahoo.

North Carolina

“North Carolinians will fight you over the best way to make barbecue, and their tea is never sweet enough.”

North Dakota

“People think that we all speak with a German/Scandinavian accent like in the movie and TV series Fargo,” claims Sarah Otte Coleman, director of tourism at the North Dakota Department of Commerce. “You have to look pretty hard to find accents like that in North Dakota!”

Ohio

“All Ohioans actually wish they lived somewhere else. Anywhere else. Especially during an election.”

Oklahoma

“The home of the deep-fat fryer — where people will fry everything from fish to rattlesnake, and everyone is overweight.”

Oregon

“This is the land of overly polite drivers of Priuses who live in communes.”

Pennsylvania

“Everyone thinks we are blue-collar, Rocky-loving, loudmouths who will fight you if you dare say anything negative about the Eagles or cheesesteaks,” says Philly native, Yahoo Travel Managing Editor Jo Piazza.

Rhode Island

“The state where everyone is all up in each other’s business. And they all sound like Peter Griffin from Family Guy. ‘The thing about Rhode Island is that you can get from anywhere in the state to anywhere else in the state in under an hour. So the stereotype is that people think that everyone from Rhode Island considers any drive over an hour a VERY, VERY long road trip,’” says Rhode Island native, Yahoo Travel community manager Annie Daly.”

South Carolina

“Fireball shots for breakfast and cigarettes for lunch? ‘I’m in South Carolina, and I want to banish the belief that we’re all racist and homophobic. Oh, and that we all dress like we’re featured in ‘People of Walmart’,” Eva Fridy Rector told Yahoo.

South Dakota

“People here are simple-minded and easily entertained.”

“Stereotypes about Tennessee are all kinds of country. People think we all wear cowboy boots, jean shorts, and graphic T-shirts with Garth Brooks’s face on it. Our drinks of choice are fireball, more fireball, and cheap beer, and we eat fried chicken, hot chicken, and rotisserie chicken.”

Texas

“Everyone in Texas wears cowboy boots and rides horses.”

Utah

“This is the center of the Mormon universe, where it is OK to cheat on your wife with your other wife.”

Vermont

“In this state, it’s legal to inject maple syrup into your bloodstream, or should be. And everyone talks funny — about cows mostly.”

Virginia

(Apparently,  Yahoo could not come up with stereotypes about Virginians.)

Washington

“People who live here clearly love rain and trees and Big Foot.”

“Most people think Deliverance was filmed here. The state has long had a reputation of inbreeding, which isn’t helped by several suggestive Hollywood movies and documentaries.”

Wisconsin

“Someone once asked me if we get fat in the winter to stay warm. And people think that all we do is drink beer and eat cheese. Well that is probably true in some cases. And I guess people think we all have this awful Midwest accent,” says Wisconsin native and Packers fan Rebecca Soper.

Wyoming

“The people here are all right-wing horse lovers who hate anyone and anything that comes from Colorado.”