"Where'd you go to high school?" - Is it really just a St. Louis question?

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"Where'd you go to high school?" - Is it really just a St. Louis question?

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Started 3 months ago by jungaroo
Latest reply from GCrites80s

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jungaroo
Italian Village
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Interesting article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, touching on issues of attracting and retaining talent (e.g. transplants, young professionals). The local media there has covered this topic previously, but in general I don't think it's a question unique to St. Louis. Probably applicable to most cities of a certain size that don't have a certain threshold of people from elsewhere.

So what are people's experiences with this question in Columbus? In other cities? Have you ever asked it or been asked yourself?

Posted 3 months ago #
dubdave00
Dublin
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Interesting article...

I generally ask or get asked, "Where are you from", first.
High school only seems to come up if we share a similar hometown or knowledge of the area.

Never noticed a "high school pride" issue with Columbusites (save during High School). I think a lot of people simply assume you're not from Columbus originally. :-)

Posted 3 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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I'm usually asked, "where are you from" not about high school.

When I ask it, I ask people, "did you grow up in Columbus?"

Posted 3 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Yeah, I've rarely been asked about my High School. Not really a common thing around here.

Though I've heard from several other people that it's a question more commonly asked in Cleveland and even more so in Cincinnati.

Posted 3 months ago #
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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I always ask if if it's someone around my age who is from Columbus, but it's mostly to see if we have any friends or acquaintances in common. I do feel a connection to other people with my alma mater (CAHS) however.

Posted 3 months ago #
Displaced Columbusite

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The only time I got asked or asked was while I was in college at OSU (which really ended up being more of a where are you from question). After college, whenever someone asked "where did you go to school," it meant where did you go to college. I can honestly say that I don't recall the high school subject ever coming up after college.

Posted 3 months ago #
leftovers

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'Are you originally from here' seems to come up, but the highschool question would seem a bit odd unless there was more of a backstory.

Posted 3 months ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I think the way this is applied is probably pretty uniquely St. Louis. That question is asked instead of where are you from. It's not judgemental, but does provide a lot of probable information. In Columbus, you may learn which neighborhood someone lives in early in a conversation with someone you meet. You don't decide whether you like the person based on that information, but you do probably make some generalizations (to be later confirmed or denied). Instead of that, folks from St. Louis ask OTHER ST. LOUISANS what high school they went to. It tells even more than neighborhood, but it's just a common question. I've never asked anyone who wasn't from St. Louis that question, since I wouldn't know anything about their high school. However, it's almost always the second question when I'm not in St. Louis, but I meet someone from St. Louis. For example, a guy who lives on Buttles is from St. Louis, and went to Lindbergh high school, and I learned this the first time I met him.

I'm not sure if the reference to size is maybe thinking St. Louis is small. 100 years ago, St. Louis was the 4th largest city in the US. It's just, St. Louis went the direction of sprawl in a shocking way. If you drive from the riverfront in downtown, and stay on highway 70, you will drive through 3 counties of continuous development. It's like if the suburbs of Columbus continued to Dayton. This may be why I think the high school question will probably die out of the culture of younger generations...

Like any city large or small, there are a large number of very specific cultural quirks to natives. St. Louisans can often differentiate which region a person is from by the way they talk (I used to have a west county accent). Natives pronounce "or" as "ar": so we say "highway farty-four" without so much as a smirk or giggle :) And lots of other fun bits that give us identity. The trick is to enjoy these local customs, without making outsiders feel, well, like outsiders.

Chris (Parkway North)

PS: I love Columbus every bit as much as St. Louis -- and am just as big a pain talking about the cool things about Columbus to St. Louisans as I am when talking about St. Louis to others ;) It just seems my old stomping grounds have been mentioned on CU a lot lately...

Posted 3 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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So the real question now is....

Where did everyone go to Middle School?

Posted 3 months ago #
leftovers

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I think Chris brought up some really valuable points.

I do actually find myself wanting to know where someone lives in Columbus and I sometimes make assumptions from that (which is flawed). I realize this is wrong, but if someone says they live in the SN I tend to think they are more into nightlife and a bit edgy and VV makes me think YP with a good job. UA makes me think families and retired people etc...

Posted 3 months ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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Walker said:
So the real question now is....

Where did everyone go to Middle School?

Oh, but see, the question isn't phrased "Where'd ya go to high school?" It's just "Where'd ya go to school?" It's why other's don't understand the question.

Typical conversation:
Person I've met: "I'm originally from St. Louis."
Me: "Me too! Where'd ya go to school?"

Don't want you to feel on the outside ;)

Posted 3 months ago #
peanutnozone
Baltimore MD
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It most certainly isn't just a St Louis thing. Here in B'more I heard two coworkers talking about where they went the other day, and I've heard it alot during my time here, as alot of my friends are natives.

I know when I lived in Columbus, even then I felt like an outsider. Most of my friends had grown up in Clintonville, a few were from suburbs like Picktown...I always had to say "well, it's a small town like 30 mins east of Columbus.." (I was born in Newark, and lived south of there for my formative years.)

My friend circle in Columbus was not from my school (OSU) so it was mostly locals, and that question got tossed around alot...although alot of people went to Whetstone, a few went to Fort Hayes, and one went to CSG...what a rich girl! But I always felt left out of those conversation as my high school was in the middle of cornfields. Literally...cornfields surrounded it on all sides.

I did meet a good friend at OSU from Mason (Cinci area) and the high school question was UBER common there according to her.

Posted 3 months ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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@peanutnozone. Yep, could be common. Makes sense. It gives folks from the same area information like neighborhoods does. However, do they have to say "high" school in the question? If you ask what school of someone from your city, do they assume college, or high school? I think that's the St. Louis thing. Of course, even for St. Louis, it depends on context...

Posted 3 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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leftovers said:
I do actually find myself wanting to know where someone lives in Columbus and I sometimes make assumptions from that (which is flawed). I realize this is wrong, but if someone says they live in the SN I tend to think they are more into nightlife and a bit edgy and VV makes me think YP with a good job. UA makes me think families and retired people etc...

But the neighborhood where you live in Columbus speaks more to your own personal choices whereas discussing High School speaks more to the choices of your parents.

Posted 3 months ago #
drew

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Walker said:
Yeah, I've rarely been asked about my High School. Not really a common thing around here.

Though I've heard from several other people that it's a question more commonly asked in Cleveland and even more so in Cincinnati.

Ding! It is the question in Cincinnati in particular. I've known friends who have moved there and felt like permanent outsiders among the Cinci 'lifers' due to the frequency and nature of the query.

In Columbus, the first question seems to be regarding whether or not you're from Columbus, or more generally just a 'where are you from?'.

Posted 3 months ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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Cool. So it's at least Cincinnati and St. Louis :) Maybe it's a semi-midwest thing, although St. Louis has considered it a sign of a native for as long as I remember. Wonder how many folks from Cinci are transplants to St. Louis and vice versa?

Posted 3 months ago #
GCrites80s
5xNW
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Cincinnati, absolutely. When I lived down there, most people who didn't know I was from the Columbus area would ask me what high school I attended. I'd always say "Teays Valley" without any kind of warmup or explanation. Of course, they'd never heard of it except maybe on the high school sports show with Ken Broo. They'd be totally thrown off. It was one of my favorite tricks. Also, I'd confuse their school with other schools in the state. "Oak Hills? Or Oak Hill?" or accidentally calling Walnut Hills Walnut Ridge. All in fun, of course.

Posted 3 months ago #