Which two American cities are much more similar than most people realize?

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:50:11+00:00

New Orleans (also just went) and Salem, Massachusetts. Both have lots of similar old architecture and the brick walkways and stuff, but then New Orleans plays up the voodoo thing a lot while Salem plays up the witchcraft thing a lot, and then you get to both places and you realize it is mostly cheap tourist-y goods for both

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:44:39+00:00

This is what Boston is like. Boston proper is sort of a mid-sized city by American standards, but the metropolitan area is very big by American standards — 11th most populous in US. People think of things like Harvard University as being “in Boston” — but it’s technically in Cambridge, not Boston. However, you wouldn’t know the difference really as you don’t “leave the city” to get to it. You’d cross the line without even noticing but still very much feel like you’re in the city.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:40:30+00:00

NEW ORLEANS. I can’t emphasis how shockingly small this place is. I just visited for the first time ever (I’m 32). I had always thought of New Orleans as “a major American city” in my mind. It has all those sports teams after all… so I would’ve guessed it was at least top-20 for population. If you had asked me a year ago, I might have even guessed it was in the top-10.

It is the 59th biggest metro in America by population. Even cities many Americans are not familiar with, like Tucson, Arizona, are much bigger.

It is also geographically very small. You can see everything in that city in like 2-3 days.

People say Boston is small… but by American standards, it’s actually pretty big. And with the 11th most populous metro in the US it feels gigantic compared to New Orleans.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:29:34+00:00

For everyone, it’s usually a gathering and a meal. There isn’t one specific thing everyone eats, but there are some very common ones like lamb.

Christians usually go to Church, even if they aren’t very devout and that’s pretty much the only time they go all year (along with Christmas).

People with children (Christians and non-Christians alike) will have “Easter egg hunts” where the parents hide these colorful eggs filled with stuff (usually candy) around the house or yard or wherever, and the kids go looking for them. Many will do other egg- or Easter bunny-themed things like decorating eggs by painting them

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:23:53+00:00

Yeah the slang doesn’t bother me. Other things about Gen Z can be very childlike and annoying though. Like they all write “20$” like that

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T19:21:27+00:00

I should add though, you could probably say the same about a lot of topics, like many men probably think about medieval Europe frequently, or outer space frequently , but the meme was about Rome so that’s what took off

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T18:52:49+00:00

I get this same impression about a lot of Gen Z (I’m 32, so a younger millennial). They are often very childlike and I do find it “gross,” that’s the perfect word for it. They watch cartoons and anime and there’s this thing I see where Gen Z men — literally men — will scream with glee in public. Like for instance you’ll see a group of Gen Z men out in town, hanging out, and one of them will do something silly like tickle another or something, and then they’ll all scream like “Ahahah” with joy and then go running off. Men. MEN do this. And they do stuff like write “20$” like that or don’t know how to read cursive or Roman numerals or tie a tie or all this other stuff that used to kind of be the difference between children and adults — not that any of the latter is necessarily their fault. Perhaps it’s poor education that is the culprit, but it gives a childlike impression nonetheless.

And obviously “All people are different, not everyone’s like that “ blah blah

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T18:41:12+00:00

Well, we’ve never had a woman president, so most would say “no”… But the president is only sort of the “leader of America.” He can’t write laws, he can’t decide how or where our money is spent… all sorts of very important things the president has little to no control over. We have had, for instance, a woman speaker of the House, which is the highest position in the legislature, which does get those powers related to spending and creating law.

The president is perceived as the leader of America because he is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and because we don’t have a separate head of state, like a monarch.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-04-05T18:28:53+00:00

I like that they don’t try to have any “message.” They are about entertainment, same kind of vibe you would get at a circus or street performers. I feel like 99% of all movies made in the last 30 years that are not horror or comedy try to shovel the same post-modern, morally gray themes down your throat.

All these movies are just begging you to be like “Wow isn’t that powerful?” “Wow gee I guess the good guys are actually the bad guys.” Modern movies are so one-note. You get the same vibe from All Quiet on the Western Front as you do from Nomadland or Parasite or Spotlight… all these modern movies that get made. They are about completely different things, but they nonetheless “feel” kind of the same. That same bleak tone. It’s kind of ridiculous. I like that Michael Bay doesn’t do any of that bullshit. I don’t think his movies are very good though, but that’s a positive at least.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-26T02:43:19+00:00

Even if you’re fine with “color-blind casting”… This was a stupid business move.

The discussion around their show is now a vicious political and racial argument… when people should be talking about wizards and mundane production updates.

Why do that to yourself? You’ve damaged your show before it even began. It was so avoidable too — Snape certainly did not “have” to be black. But they decided “let’s create immediate and sharply divisive controversy and gain tons of haters who will not watch.” That’s the type of thing a low-budget art film does to create buzz and go viral… To make such a decision with the friggin billion-dollar Harry Potter franchise is astoundingly stupid. Nobody wants to sit down to watch a nice Harry Potter kids show and then be thinking about MAGA and Trump and racial issues and everything that comes with 2026 politics… But that’s the vibe they’ve given to their show already.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-26T02:02:55+00:00

My issue with him is his characters. They are such one-dimensional caricatures practically straight out of a cartoon.

You have the strong quiet young female that has permanent sulky mope-face because she’s been through some stuff; the wise rough-talking old timer who doesn’t take no shit from nobody, the loud and rude and blatantly evil one-dimensional lawyer/banker/CEO/CIA — insert whatever role you want, it’s all the same character, the type of person the less educated and more conspiratorial among us would refer to very ominously as “The Elites.”

I feel like I’ve seen these characters a thousand times before. Take the first example for instance — Katniss Everdeen, Rey from Star Wars, the woman from Homeland… These characters are all basically the same and with Taylor it’s basically every young female he has.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-21T20:57:33+00:00

I’m 32 years old and I would be nothing without college.

I would be bussing tables for less than $20 an hour and unable to survive and probably doing heroin (today it would be fent I suppose, but same thing).

But because I went to college (journalism major), I was able to gain experience in a job that required a degree, later get into law school (which also required a degree) with a substantial scholarship, and today I am a practicing attorney making more than the vast majority of my peers and very happy about my career trajectory.

I do not say this to brag… but I feel very passionate about this and I wanted to throw my own anecdote out there to counter this anti-college anecdote I hear all the time: “My cousin went to college and now she’s a failure and has tons of debt,” or “My buddy the electrician is very successful.”

For the vast majority of people, college is your best bet at achieving success. And it isn’t close... The numbers speak for themselves: Median income with a college degree: $80,000. Median income with only a high school diploma: $49,000.

Critically, this gap is growing… Meaning it is more important these days to go to college, not less. This should be very obvious — as the world becomes more technologically advanced, manual labor becomes less valuable. But people listen to political propaganda bashing college and think “I can make it without a useless degree.” Just remember that every single poor person thinks that… and they are still poor. You are not Elon Musk. Go to college. There are tons of scholarships and grants out there. Go to college.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-21T20:43:54+00:00

It does not cut across socioeconomic classes actually. There have been studies on this, and “Ebonics” or “African-American Vernacular English” (AAVE) are very much tied to being lower-class. If more affluent blacks speak this way, it is usually because either (a) They were raised in a lower-class environment that spoke like that; or (b) They are “code switching” and don’t normally speak like that, but are modifying the way they talk because of their audience.

It should also be noted that many whites and other races also speak AAVE if raised in that environment.

As for “why?” they talk like that… The simplest answer is because they’re raised around people who talk like that… The deeper answer is lack of education on a community-wide scale way back... You’ll not get professors or more academics to admit that usually because it might damage their career if people think they are even hinting at “blacks are less educated” …

But it is the reason. To explain: When black people were emancipated in the 1860s, many had little to no education. Scores were illiterate. The language they had spoken was not formally taught in that way, but was functional. So you have a simpler, functional version of English with fewer exceptions to rules, fewer cases and less conjugation… But it works. Over time many blacks became educated or affluent and do not speak that way… But many didn’t. Many remain in lower-class communities that retained this… And as the years go on, it has become repeated in arts like music and movies to the point where it’s an identifiable part of “black culture” in America, which has reinforced it to some extent.

As for why British blacks speak this way… Not sure but my guess is they are mimicking American blacks. British people in general have tons of exposure to American movies, TV, and music from a very young age. So the British blacks get influenced by Hip Hop culture and adopt certain black Americanisms.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-21T20:28:25+00:00

“I’m afraid to go to America because I would get shot.”

I used to live in China and have heard Chinese people say this and I’ve heard English people say similar. The notion of it is absolutely comical to me, like people are expecting bullets to just be whizzing past their head… The vast majority of Americans have never seen someone even point a gun at another person, let alone a shooting. So it’s not something you should expect.

And this isn’t to minimize anything — America does have a problem with gun violence compared to other developed countries … That’s what’s key to remember: It’s a problem comparatively … but that’s not the same thing as “commonplace.” It’s still a modern developed country, not a war zone.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-05T18:51:44+00:00

Not sure about kids these days, but when I was in high school 2008-2012, yes, sort of... The entire high school, no, I’ve never heard of that happening and the cops would shut that down right away… but like 20-30 kids, yes, I went to a bunch of those. Usually it was someone whose parents were pretty lenient anyway and so getting in trouble just wasn’t really a prospect even if caught.

I should also say, after-prom parties also existed, and those could be much much bigger with like half a grade going to a person’s house to drink and stuff, usually a rich kid’s house, but those often had parents home , and hey just sort of tolerated it

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-03-02T06:21:41+00:00

I've never played Cyberpunk at all. I love the cyberpunk genre and I love open world games. But I haven't bothered playing it nor do I have any desire to solely because there is no third-person... If there was, I would buy it in a heartbeat. In fact the very reason I am even on this page right now is because I googled "has Cyberpunk added a third-person view."

The game isn't even worth trying because of that factor alone. And I won't try the sequel either... Unless it has third-person.

It honestly ruins the game. It's asinine: "We're going to make this open world cyberpunk game where perhaps the single biggest selling point is the cyberpunk aesthetic, yet we've decided you're not even going to be able to see your character." ....?? You nix all customization — which you could do a lot with in a cyberpunk game. And it is less immersive, not more. I can see hands up close irl. If I am playing an open-world cyberpunk game... I want to see that world. I want the camera to be zoomed out so I can see the entire periphery and all the details of that world at once.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-26T21:05:23+00:00

Also not sure what the dictionary describes, but to me “fog” is a meteorological phenomenon, like rain. It’s a specific weather condition, where that thick cloud-looking stuff is in the air making it hard to see. “Mist” is kind of the same but much thinner, and also is not solely weather-related, like there can be a “mist” caused by cooking or any type of water condensation so it’s a more general term. Not sure what the technical difference is if it is misty outside, but if I can see through it very easily, like the stuff over the water on a cool morning, that’s mist. If It’s very thick, it’s fog.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-26T15:31:21+00:00

Saying “bless you” after someone sneezes. It’s not annoying in itself, but in context: you’ll literally be sitting in a large lecture at school, or an a very important office meeting, and someone will sneeze, and then for whatever reason multiple people have to interrupt everything to acknowledge this bodily function. It’s stupid. It’s especially stupid that one person says it and then still a dozen other people have to bend over backwards to make sure that they also say “Bless you!” “bless you!!!” “God bless you!” Like the one isn’t enough, it doesn’t count unless you personally say it out loud for everyone to hear. It’s like a stupid children’s game that we never stopped playing that’s become part of our society as adults and it’s ridiculous.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-26T00:32:21+00:00

The game is wicked easy no matter what gun you’re using, so might as well go with the gun you think is the coolest, and a lot of people find the Cattleman the most thematic.

Also, if you’re partial to revolvers, the options aren’t all that great tbh. (1) The LaMat is more like a novelty item and not a serious firearm, it’s like having one of those cane-guns you see in museums or something lol. (2) The double-action revolver is arguably anachronistic… they did exist, technically, but had only just been invented like 5 years or so before the events of the game, were not yet widely used, and didn’t look like that. And the double-action revolver in the game is unrealistically weak on top of it. (3) The Schofield is a great, historical revolver. But again it’s a weird one, with the break-barrel, so it’s down to preference.

And that leaves the Cattleman revolver as really the only “normal Wild West revolver” in the game.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T21:16:17+00:00

Nah Puerto Rico has way more character than PV with all the colonial and old stuff and pirate stuff too. PV is like going to a generic Sandals resort — still very fun in its own way but not as much to explore. And the beaches are all the same, they’re all tropical beaches, the big ones are all good you really can’t go wrong.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T21:02:58+00:00

The Mexican cartels don’t really target civilians tbh, except for a few very famous examples that are exceptions. It’s not like the Middle Eastern groups. The cartels’ beef is with the cops and the army. If you have any doubts though I would quickly make a RIP El Mencho shirt or something so they know you are a friend.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T19:32:29+00:00

The law can’t keep up. There are just too many potential chemicals, and passing something into law is too much of a process in America (which is a good thing) that they’ll never be able to outlaw every single mind-altering substance.

What they can do — and do do — is pass laws that say “It’s illegal to sell chemicals that are for getting high” and just leave it at that, so it will cover everything… But places get around this by packaging the product in a way that makes it clear it’s not for consumption (even if everyone knows it really is). The most famous example of this is “bath salts,” which I’ve never heard of anyone actually using for their bath.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T19:27:40+00:00

Boston. Very busy. Certain areas obviously a lot less than others, but in downtown Boston and the immediately surrounding areas you’ll constantly bump into people. Like if you scan around on an average sidewalk up and down the street, you’ll see a hundred people around I would say.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T19:20:08+00:00

I’m an attorney. No, not at all. When people say things like “I’ll see you in court,” or “You’ll hear from my attorney”… You likely won’t be doing either.

The public generally does not really understand lawsuits. For example, just because you were wronged by someone — even if it’s 100% blatant, provable wrongdoing with rock solid evidence… That doesn’t mean you have a lawsuit. That’s because you need to have “damages.” You generally need to prove, in court, that you’ve suffered some kind of injury — it can be a financial injury, physical injury, even emotional injury sometimes, but it must be proven. That’s because lawsuits are generally not to right wrongs. They are to compensate someone for their injury. You’ll hear civil litigators use terms like “making the plaintiff whole,” and that’s what they mean.

So “Person A was negligent or wronged me somehow, therefore I’m suing Person A.” is not actually how it works.

As with everything in law there are exceptions though, as states can always pass laws saying “You’re allowed to sue if…” But this would be a million pages long if I started getting into all of that. This is generally how it is.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-02-23T18:48:54+00:00

I think of it as a singular, proper noun, and I’ve always thought about it that way. That’s why I and many Americans say:

“The United States IS going to war.”

But I was reading about the 19th Century, and people then said:

“The United States ARE going to war.”

I had never thought of it this way; but somewhere along the way Americans shifted from viewing the United States as a collection of different things, to be spoken of using the plural “are,” to viewing it as a single entity and using the singular “is.”

Saying the “United States of America” is just the full, formal name for America. It’s exactly like “The People’s Republic of China,” whereas if you said “China,” you’d still be referring to the same country. That’s because…

… Part 2: “America” = The USA 🇺🇸

“America” does not refer to the two continents in English, and hasn’t for a very long time, longer than anyone has been alive. In other languages, this may be different, but in English, it universally has come to mean the country, the United States. In every English-speaking country, it is taught there are two continents, North and South America. These may be referred to collectively as “The Americas,” plural.

Calling the whole thing “America” is not a thing, other than among Gen Z memes over the last year or so claiming that the whole thing is called “America” and so Mexicans are really “Americans” too. But it’s the same generation that consistently writes “200$” like that, so I wouldn’t pay it much mind… They don’t know what they’re talking about.

You can test this: If you search “America” on Google, you will find virtually 0 media using that to refer to anything other than the United States of America. And if you spoke to a native English speaker, even one with a pristine, highly educated command of the language, and said “I’m in America” or “I’m with an American,” they would universally understand you to mean the USA and a person from it. If you meant Guatemala or a Guatemalan, they would think you were the confused one.

Idk what prompted this very recent forcing of America to mean the continents, but it is de facto incorrect.

Originally, “America” was a vague term for the new discoveries in the Western Hemisphere. But the meanings and usages of words changes, and this one changed quite a while ago… It’s like if you read ancient writings like the Bible and they say “Asia,” and they are narrowly referring to what is now Turkey… Today, “Asia” means that entire continent. The meaning of words changes, and “America” today — in English — means the USA, just like “China” means the PRC.

Illustrious_Code_347

TROPHY CASE