In town vs. out of town

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 3:43 pm

This phrase, in town, drives me mad. I don’t know how it came to be that everyone who lives outside of certain communities accepted that they live out of town. You are in town to the town in which you live, no matter where that is. When you go away, you go out of town. If I live in Savannah, that’s considered in town for me. If I go to boulder, CO I am going out of town.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 3:52 pm

Thank you emaof5. Ive wanted to start such a thread so many times. I completely agree with you. Where I live now (doesnt matter where that actually is Smile

) to me that is IN town. Just like where I grew up, that was in town for me for where I grew up in.
Im also not sure how this concept came to be. But I do know that the first time I ever heard it was here on this site. I never heard it growing up. And I grew up in the tri state area.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 3:56 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Thank you emaof5. Ive wanted to start such a thread so many times. I completely agree with you. Where I live now (doesnt matter where that actually is Smile

I had a lot of transpanted NYers in my class growing up, so I heard it already in high school. I didn’t like it then either.

Success10

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 3:57 pm

This is not something to get worked up over. The general Tristate area has been known as "in town" for a while now. And everywhere else is OOT. It's terminology and not meant to undermine the importance of where you live. Heck, I live in the most important city in the world. It's still not "in town" and I'm cool with that.

Lemonade 2323

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:01 pm

I agree. When I leave the place I live in I say I'm going 'out of town' even if I'm going to Lakewood which is considered in town.

It's only in the US that 'in town' & 'OOT' are used. Doesn't exist in EY or Europe.

zaq

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:02 pm

Hear, hear! You are 100% correct. And what's even more insane is that a. so-called "in-town" covers at least three different communities in at least two different states; and b. the so-called "in-town" appellation applies only to certain portions of at least one of those "towns" while excluding vast areas that are, politically and geographically, part of the same town, and cover a larger area than the sector called "in-town."

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:02 pm

Lemonade 2323 wrote:

Its not even in all of the US. Its in a certain area of the US.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:02 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

I had a lot of transpanted NYers in my class growing up, so I heard it already in high school. I didn’t like it then either.

I went to school in new york and never heard it.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:20 pm

Success10 wrote:

Just because it makes me crazy doesn’t mean I’m worked up. The point is just that it’s wrong. Everyone lives in town in THEIR city, no matter where it is. The entire world doesn’t need to revolve around NY.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:25 pm

Lemonade 2323 wrote:

Well, joke’s on me here, because I’m from Miami and I live in NY, but I don’t consider myself a NYer!

BatyaEsther

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:28 pm

Success10 wrote:

That is not even accurate.
Nobody here would refer to Riverdale, Teaneck, or Passaic as “in town”

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:31 pm

BatyaEsther wrote:

That is not even accurate.
Nobody here would refer to Riverdale, Teaneck, or Passaic as “in town”

So why not? Why some specific places in the tri state area and not others? It really makes no sense, if yo uthink about it.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:33 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

I went to school in new york and never heard it.

🤷‍♀️ I don’t think it was as widespread a term as it is now.
What I really want to know is how it became a thing for people to say “I live out of town.”

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 4:33 pm

Pink Flamingo wrote:

One way or another this thread is gonna end with bashing Brooklyn...let's see how long it takes.....

Please take your negativity somewhere else. This is a very light thread.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 5:06 pm

Tova wrote:

Brooklyn
Lakewood
Monsey

What about them? I’m not looking to bash or blame or call out any particular areas. It’s just a statement- the place where you live is your in town.

pinkpeonies

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 5:16 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

What about them? I’m not looking to bash or blame or call out any particular areas. It’s just a statement- the place where you live is your in town.

It’s very simple. The places with the highest number of frum Jews in considered “in town”
Who really cares?
I’m from out of town and now I live in town
They’re not even remotely similar
This exists in the secular world as well. LA or manhattan aren’t the same as Kansas
London and Paris are not the same as small towns in Europe
We live in a microcosm of the wider world
That the way of the world
Not a big deal

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 5:39 pm

pinkpeonies wrote:

But why?
I agree with the op. For most people, in town just means in the town you are living in.
Whh does some random town get to be in or out ?
And it is not the entire frum world who even goes by this.

Ema of 5

Wed, Jan 10 2024, 5:47 pm

pinkpeonies wrote:

That’s a thing that people made up. When the people who live “out of town” go away, what do they say? They say “I’m going OUT OF TOWN” meaning out of where they live. It has nothing to do with city size. Where you live is in town. When you leave that town,you go out of town. If you live in London and you go to LA, you are still going out of town. I have never heard a non Jewish person refer to any place other than where they live as in town.