YankeeDoodel
I've lived in a lot of different areas in the US. People in the NE and PNW are more guarded and reticent. People in the Southwest/Midwest are more friendly and talkative. Wearing a cross or being the right color makes a big difference in some places.
These are not categorical statements about everyone in a region, but my life experience says that some US stereotypes have some basis in reality. Local communities have different behavioral norms, and that's fine. We can pretend that they don't exist, but we can also acknowledge them to try and help bridge cultural gaps.
Personally, I wish that people were more accepting of Northeast personalities. But the world wouldn't work if everyone was the same.
It's an odd region. Repressed and taciturn by nature, as this sort of article shows. But there's also a strong ethos that people should be free to chart their own course, which stretches back to the nation's birth and eventually overcame the puritanical roots. These days people aren't particularly judgemental, but they are still quite reserved.
John Steinbeck had this to say about getting directions in the area:
>“I seem to be lost, officer. I wonder if you could direct me?”
>“Where is it you want to go?”
>“I’m trying to get to Deer Isle.”
>He looked at me closely, and when he was satisfied that I wasn’t joking he swung on his hips and pointed across a small stretch of open water, and he didn’t bother to speak.
>“Is that it?”
>He nodded from up to down and left his head down.
>“Well, how do I get there?”
>I have always heard that Maine people are rather taciturn, but for this candidate for Mount Rushmore to point twice in an afternoon was to be unbearably talkative. He swung his chin in a small arc in the direction I had been traveling. If the afternoon had not been advancing I would have tried for another word from him even if doomed to failure.
>“Thank you,” I said, and sounded to myself as though I rattled on forever.