Quote Originally Posted by Yachtzee View Post
I can see how Mountaineers can get a little testy about jokes made at their expense. Cleveland has also been the butt of jokes for many years. Ironically, I think the source of a lot of those jokes are people who were once Clevelanders themselves. Some of the most anti-Cleveland people are people who moved away. Once they move away, they start joking around about what it's like to live Cleveland. Then of course others pick up on that and start thinking it's funny to joke about Cleveland. A Bob Hope makes cracks about Cleveland and suddenly everyone who thinks they're funny jokes about Cleveland. A Drew Carey jokes about Cleveland and again, everyone things it's funny to poke fun at Cleveland.

That being said, I think the best thing is to either politely laugh or ignore it. One day, all those outdoorsy yuppie types will realize that WV is a natural playground and will suddenly want to build resorts there. Having driven through the state many times myself, WV is a lot like Vermont, only less expensive.
I agree. And things are getting better. My post wasn't meant to say that I take all of these things personally. I said what I did because it seems that many people don't quite see why we get upset about this stuff, and I understand that.

fwiw, if some of the things said here recently about Terre Haute were said about us, we'd likely get upset about that, too. My father (who was from PA) taught at Indiana State for a little while, and when I went to visit him there, he said the same kinds of things about Terre Haute. There's a natural tendency to do this kind of thing.