No matter what state you’re from, there are always going to be little things—some people might call them stereotypes—that distinguish what state you are from. Being from Washington state, we definitely have our fair share of rather true stereotypes.
1. What are umbrellas?
As you may have heard, it rains quite a bit in western Washington. The majority of us are rather used to it. And the majority of us don’t even tend to bother bringing, or even owning, an umbrella. Give me a hood rather than an umbrella on any sort of rainy day; the umbrella will just slow me down!
2. Recycling.
We’re very used to recycling just about everything we absolutely can here. Washington is a rather green state, if you ask me. We’re really used to just throwing all our recyclables in one bin and having it picked up every other week by the garbage man. So if we go or live any other state or place that either doesn’t recycle, or separates all their recyclables, then we get kind of weirded out.
3. 12, and Skittles, and green, and blue, and ah!
One thing that separates Washington state sports fans from other state sports fans is our dedication to our teams, no matter how bad they are doing this season. Between our sudden love for Skittles when one of our football players announced their love for them, our “12th Man” mantra and our Blue Fridays, you definitely cannot say that Washingtonians don’t love their sports team (even if we can’t win a single game).
4. Weather.
To branch off of the little umbrella spiel above, Washington weather is something that can only be classified as rather bipolar. I’m currently sitting on the bus on my way home from work writing this, and it went from rather sunny, to absolutely pouring down rain and hail in a matter of ten seconds. There was so subtle ease into it. There was no warning. It just came out of nowhere. This kind of unpredictable weather sucks for many reasons; one being you never know what to where or bring with you when you leave the house in the morning. You might bring a jacket because it says it’s going to be cold out all day and it ends up being seventy degrees and immensely sunny and you’re stuck carrying around a coat you don’t want or need. Which is another reason as to why we don’t take umbrellas anywhere. Because we probably won’t end up needing them and we’ll just be stuck carrying them around with us!
5. Sriracha, and beards, and Kombucha, oh my!
As you may have heard at some point or another (or maybe you just have no idea), Seattle is often referred to as the hipster capital. Well, if you have heard someone say this, they are not wrong. Seattle is a hippy dippy, Sriracha eating, tea drinking, beard having place that drives us all a little crazy (but we still follow the trends just like the people we occasionally mock). We still, for some odd reason, love the stupid trends we hate. But hey, who doesn’t occasionally follow the stereotypes they are cursed to?
6. PNW 'till we die.
There is not doubt in the pride we have for the Pacific Northwest and it’s beautiful, one-of-a-kind nature. Almost anyone from Washington state will agree that you won’t find any of the same scenes anywhere else. While we might complain about the rain or God knows what else, we know the rain is what makes the state so beautiful and what makes us love it all so much.
Well, there you go; a little look-see into the world of Washingtonians. We’re all a little crazy and water logged, but that’s alright. It’s what makes us who we are. It’s how we distinguish us from all the other states and their crazy antics as well. And if you don’t like it, well, you’re definitely friends with the wrong people.
