[Alta_redneck]

This seems like it should be old but I just saw it for the first time today. Hope it hasn't already been posted here before.


Those who grew up in small towns will laugh when they read this.

Those who didn't, will be in disbelief and won't understand how true it is.

1) You can name everyone you graduated with.

2) You know what 4-H means.

3) You went to parties at a pasture, barn, gravel pit, or in the middle of a dirt road. On Monday, you could always tell who was at the party because of the scratches on their legs from running through the woods when the party was busted. (See #6.)

4) You used to 'drag' Main.

5) You whispered the 'F' word and your parents knew within the hour.

6) You scheduled parties around the schedules of different police officers, because you knew which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn't.

7) You could never buy cigarettes because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow.) Besides, where would you get the money?

When you did find somebody old enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out into the country and drive on back roads to smoke them.

9) You knew which section of the ditch you would find the beer your buyer dropped off.


10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.

11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation.

12) You didn't give directions by street names, but rather by references. Turn by Nelson's house, go 2 blocks to Anderson's, and it's four houses left of the track field.

13) The golf course had only 9 holes.

14) You couldn't help but date a friend's ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.

15) Your car stayed filthy because of the dirt roads, and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason.

16) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or 'snooty,' but was actually just like your town.

17) You referred to anyone with a house newer then 1955 as the 'rich' people.

18) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.

19) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local gas station or the only restaurant.

20) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally.

21) The gym teacher suggested you haul hay for the summer to get stronger.

22) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference.

23) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.

24) Your teachers called you by your older siblings' names.

25) Your teachers remembered when they taught your parents.

26) You could charge at any local store or write cheques without any ID.

27) There was no McDonald’s.

28) The closest mall was over an hour away. (What was a mall)?

29) It was normal to see an old man riding through town on a riding lawn mower.

30) You've pee'd in a wheat field.

31) Most people went by a nickname.

32) You laughed your butt off reading this because you know it is true, and you forward it to everyone who may have lived in a small town.

I would not have wanted to have been raised any other way!!!

[Alta_redneck]

We combined all 4 in number 3. Pasture was becoming gravel pit, old barn was being consumed by said gravel pit, so it became fire wood, fire was built in the middle of dirt road because we didn’t want it to get away on us and burn up the Barley field beside the pasture.

Scratches on your legs is also true, I remember one party in the pasture when a friend thought he’d streak through and see how close he could come to roasting his nutz jumping the fire, and then run off into the darkness. The only part of the plan that failed was when he ran into the meter high grass as fast as he could and found a 12’ wide cultivator hidden in the tall grass, that had been parked and left to rust years before.

You could tell from the 2 blacks eyes, that he probably had scratches of his legs…. and arms…and, well pretty much every part of his body that had skin on it.

I totally agree with # 6, but to add to that, it was also handy to know who’s mom was working the Emergency Room.

[wildrosegirl]

I can relate to just about all of those.

Good one, AR!

[Alta_redneck]

Luckily for me my older siblings are sisters so 24 doesn't apply to me.

And now that township and range roads have numbers, I have no clue where someone lives if the newbies are trying to tell me by road numbers. It's much easier going by grain bins or old country schools and halls.

[wildrosegirl]

True story.

Although... one of the places I lived has developed SO much in the past 10 years, that those range road numbers are the only reason we found our way back OUT!

[kitty]

i got all the way to the bottom said "no" to all of them.
i'm almost sad because it sounds like it could have been fun.

[Tyler_1]

If this was a test I would get an A!

[Lemmy]

Very true. Anyone who grew up with me in rural Victoria County (Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, Coboconk, Kirkfield, Kinmount, Burnt River, Norland, Rosedale, Cameron) would laugh as I have. Thanks, Alta, good chuckle.

[rawmeat]

I don't get it

[Brenda]

A lot of them go for the Dutch countryside too

[Alta_redneck]

Brenda Brenda:

A lot of them go for the Dutch countryside too

I guess that's why we have so many Dutch dairy farmers here, they feel right at home.

They get right in there and become part of the community.

[Yogi]

Been raised both in cities and very small towns. Rural life rocks! That's why I live in a hamlet an hour away from the nearest city. I drive my gocarts all around town and get 'thumbs up', and waves and smiles from everyone. Picture 4 go carts and a couple mini-bikes having timed races all day on main street, and no worries that 'someone' will report me' to the GRC's!

[herbie]

33) You know the first name of every cop in town.
34) Everyone has the same postal code
35) Few people know their street address. The bluse house on 6th, four down from Ash St. on the left
36) The telephone repair man calls to get ADSL installed in the phone company's Central Office and is told it's not available at that address (TRUE!!)
37) You have satellite tv or Welfare TV (an antenna)
38) Most people don't even know they're watching US stations and mention how they're switching to Verizon or AT&T to save money.
39) People justify $60 worth of gas and a 4 hour round trip to 'save' $5 on something, the local store's 'a rip-off'
40) No one knows how to parallel park, what the yellow lines in a parking lot are for, or how a 4 way stop works.

[QBC]

Yogi Yogi:

Been raised both in cities and very small towns. Rural life rocks! That's why I live in a hamlet an hour away from the nearest city. I drive my gocarts all around town and get 'thumbs up', and waves and smiles from everyone. Picture 4 go carts and a couple mini-bikes having timed races all day on main street, and no worries that 'someone' will report me' to the GRC's!

Well alrighty then!... Me thinks Rosie and I will have to come on down yogi...gotta spare gocart?...



Drag race on mainstreet..WooHoo!

[DrCaleb]

33) You got married in the same church, by the same pastor as your parents.

Good stuff A_R! I can relate. Except #22. We didn't have a stop 'light' till the 80's.