25 Ways to know if you are a true Floridian
 

25 Ways to know if you are a TRUE Floridian...

1. Socks are only for bowling.
2. You never use an umbrella because the rain will be over in five minutes.
3. A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade.
4. Your winter coat is made of denim.
5. You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.
6. You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65.
7. Anything under 70 degrees is chilly.
8. You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.
9. You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.
10. You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.
11. You dread love bug season.
12. You are on a first name basis with the hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley or Hurricane Frances. You know them as Andrew, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Wilma, Irene, Cheryl, Rita, Mary, Alison
13. You know what a snowbird is and when they'll leave.
14. You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.
15. 'Down South' means Key West.
16. Flip-flops are everyday wear. Shoes are for business meetings and church, but you HAVE worn flip flops to church before.
17. You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.
18. You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.
19. A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.
20. You know the four seasons really are: hurricane season, love bug season, tourist season and summer.
21. You've hosted a hurricane party.
22. You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee , Withlacoochee , Thonotosassa and Micanopy.
23. You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.
24. You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas and New Years.
25. You recognize Miami-Dade as 'Northern Cuba.'

Can someone tell me where number 8 is ?

8. You've driven through Yeehaw Junction

It's in Florida. :shocked:

:1rotfl:

(jus' kiddin' with ya!)

Do a Google Maps search on Yeehaw Junction, FL. Rt. 60 west of Vero Beach, close to the turnpike.

Bill :)

I thinjk it's a4round Orlando-Kissimmee

Yeehaw Junction, Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"20. You know the four seasons really are: hurricane season, love bug season, tourist season and summer"

Thanks Cisco - #20 is my favorite!

I am studying these.
I am making my 2nd trip to FL this year. :a040::a040:
I will be coming with my brother to pickup a 70 Chevelle he got off ebay.

Are the puppies coming?

#100 Unless you ask for "unsweet tea" you know that you will get a glass of sugar water with a trace of tea in it :)

Loved it and very accurate.

Another thing I didn't even think about until I lived up north was air conditioning in the schools. I graduated from St. Petersburg High and we never had A/C, and neither did my jr. high or elementary school. I couldn't believe it when schools in Baltimore would let kids go home when it was too hot, and they had A/C.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._(Florida).jpg

My high school was built in 1926 and I graduated in 1968 and here is a recent photo. It's still going strong and it's not a small school, I just checked and they currently have 2250 students, which was about the same when I attended.

.

No,
I already miss them.
Can you believe I have a brother that is not that into dogs.
I think he was adopted or dropped on his head.

Yeehaw Junction is about as close as you can get to nowhere.

Just off Florida's Turnpike, Yeehaw Junction consists of two gas stations, two shops hawking theme park tickets, a hotel so sleepy roosters run free and tens of miles between there and civilization.

An unfortunate accident. You can't choose your relatives--but you can always choose your pets!

I have driven through Yeehaw Junction many times ... and not on the interstate. I know that until said interstate was going to pass through, it's name was Jackass Junction. I have both eaten & stayed at the Desert Inn (but long after it's "other" legendary services stopped)

I want to slap those guilty of #18!

I judge your level "Florida" by your ability to handle words / places like those in #22

I know that today is ridiculously cold for late March!!!

Cisco - wow you're not from Florida yet you nailed it! I loved your list. I am going to steal shamelessly.

240 students in our high school. No air,Really bad heat in the winter.So close to I-75 being built maybe 100 feet away. Windows would be wide open for some fresh air and your desk would be covered in dirt and sand.No problem for those IHM nuns who kept on teaching.

I wonder how many true Floridians 2 generations or more actually exist here?

every once in a while we meet a native Floridian. I always enjoy asking them what it was like before the invasion from the North. I enjoy even more their eagerness to tell one about it!!!!

btk

The invasion from the north started in 1861! :laugh: ........Must be some mighty old-timers.

I received that list sometime ago in an email from my brother who resided on Key Biscayne for many years. The first native Floridians I ever met were at Ft. Jackson in January of 1965. They both were about 20 old Caucasians and had enviable deep dark tans (in January!) that looked permanent, like I had never seen before in my life! One was a water skier at Cypress Gardens. He was even tanned between his toes. I have met several since and I can truthfully say I have liked every one of them.

I am only good for 52 years in The Sunshine State.

Loved it!!!!! :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Pronunciation primer:

Okeechobee - Oak-ah-cho-be

Kissimmee - Ka-sim-e

Withlacoochee - With-la-who-chee

Thonotosass - Tho-no-ta-sas's

Micanopy - Mic-a-no-pee


Your welcome :smiley:

Mic-a-no-pee-in-Lake-Sumter:22yikes:

25 Ways to know if you are a true Floridian
 

Native Floridian here. I can remember when RT 301 was THE highway that you used to go north and south in Florida (no interstates). Took many trips in the 50s between Tampa and Jacksonville on Rt 301 and Dad always stopped for huge cheeseburgers in Wildwood. I believe it was that little restaurant on 301 that is still there in Wildwood. Back in those days it was just us poor rednecks who lived in this state. Few snowbirds, no money, separate black and white schools, no air conditioning, bicycles came from parts found at the dump, Gators were still the favorite team but games were only on radio, everybody went to church, no Disney, Silver Springs was THE attraction for tourists, WAPE was the new rock and roll station in Orange Park and a "tool of the devil", you could support your family with a 9th grade education, not much crime, no one knew the sun was bad for you, we bleached our hair with peroxide to be cool, penny loafers and white levis were worn, no shorts were allowed in church, we played outside in the woods with the snakes, all the girls were crazy for the Beatles, my wife and I started going together when she was 10 and I was 13 and that was not that unusual although we were not allowed to display public affection such as holding hands or kissing. It was a simpler time.

FYI, Micanopy was named after some old male Villagers with prostate problems (Me Can No Pee).

:1rotfl: :1rotfl: :1rotfl:

Bill :)

Spent the first night of my honeymoon there....:wave:

I live in Gainesville where UF trains journalism students on radio news. I laughed my a.. off when I heard what should sound like MickanOpey pronounced liked MycanOpee.

re number 5: fire ant bites are usually on the feet or ankles and make a blister with white pus. I always pop them. It's fun. :0

One true Floridian here. My family settled in Florida in the 1700s.

My family moved from Baltimore to St. Petersburg in 1959. We would go north every summer for a couple of weeks and we would pick up Hwy 301 at the Jim Walter Building in Tampa and it went right through Baltimore. We would stay at my grandmothers on St. Paul St., which was also Hwy 301. So we never had to change routes. Nowadays Hwy 301 goes through Annapolis and over the Bay Bridge and doesn't go near Baltimore, you have I-95 for that.

I can remember one of those summer trips in the 60's going up Hwy 301 through Ludowicki, Georgia and the Klu Klux Klan was on the corner handing out brochures. I saw that kind of stuff as late as 1985 when I went to Chapel Hill, SC (a real nice college town). I was picking up a new bicycle at Performance and arriving in town the night before there was a large cross burning on the side of the road as you entered Chapel Hill.

in 1968 I studied Hotel Mgmt at St. Petersburg Jr. College and in my second year the folks at Disney came and interviewed all of us for future jobs at the soon to open Disney World. I lost interest in hotel work and found myself joining the Army instead of pursuing a Disney job.

In 1972 I was stationed in Savannah and at that time when going home to St. Petersburg I could not take I-95. The interstate southbound stopped at Hardeeville, SC and didn't start again until south of Brunswick. That was about a 100 miles of two lane Hwy 17, such a pain to drive that road. It was bumper to bumper with tractor trailers, locals and tourist headed to Florida. That stretch of I-95 finally opened around '73 or '74. I also remember while in Savannah listening to the 'Big Ape' radio from Jacksonville 120 miles away, it was a 50,000 watt AM station and was better than anything we had in Savannah and we could pick it up clear as a bell.


.

I so want to buy you a beer and listen to some of these stories.

I'm not a native Floridian but I first visited FL in the early to mid 1950s. Then moved here in 1969. I got $1.00 haircuts from an old-timer in Trilicoochee, FL and he told me some very interesting stories. He remembered when he was a boy that there were lots of Indians in the area and he remembered when people were dropping dead from malaria. He said they couldn't build coffins fast enough. And I talked to some other old time Floridians who said they remembered when you could buy an acre of land for about $20. And Hwy. 301, at that time, was just a dirt road.

The old "plank house" I bought in central FL was built by farmers when Hwy. 301 was just a dirt road.

And here's something interesting: When I first moved to Pasco County, in central FL, you could build a house without getting any permission from anyone. You didn't need an architect to draw up any plans, you didn't need a licensed contractor, electrician, plumber etc.. You could even make your own septic tank out of concrete blocks and you could drill your own water well without permission. You just needed to notify the county that you were there for property tax purposes and to get your mail.