I have lived in the Ohio Valley for all but nine years of my life.
However, once you leave the area where you grew up and experience life in another part of the country, you quickly realize how different life is for other people.
And once a person lives in the Upper Ohio Valley, they discover some staples like the steak fry and the fish fry, and that other things are really different here. And I don’t mean in one or two areas. I mean across the board. As in we are a very unique area of the country. Here are a few examples.
We Talk Differently.
When I lived in Ohio I was talking to a co-worker and I said that one of our other co-workers was “nibby.” The co-worker I was talking to looked at me with her brow furrowed. She had never heard the word nibby.
Thinking it was just a word she had never heard, I used it with some other people I knew. None of them had heard of the word. I don’t know if other parts of the country use it, but it wasn’t in this part of Ohio.
“Yins” is also pretty much a local word.
Sidenote, don’t be shocked if you go someplace else and people tell you they like your accent. You might not hear it, but they do.
Our Food.
When I was in college in the lower part of the state, I brought a friend home for a weekend. We went to Coleman’s for lunch on Saturday afternoon. When I said, “I’ll take two fish, two seasoned fries and two tarter,” she looked at me and said, “Huh?”
I just smiled.
We got our order and sat down in a booth. I handed her a sandwich. She unwrapped it and said, “It’s a couple of pieces of breaded fish between two slices of white bread. What’s so special about that?”
Then she took a bite and got her answer.
DiCarlo’s is another concept that confuses people. Pizza is supposed to be round. Cheese is supposed to be melted. Crust isn’t crunchy, but DiCarlo’s didn’t get that memo and many of us are glad. When DiCarlo’s expanded to Columbus, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince people how awesome it was.
No one believed me. Until they tried it.
RIP Louis Hot Dogs
High School Rivalries Don’t End
Not when you graduate from high school. Not ever.
In most parts of the country, once you leave high school all the school rivalries get left behind. But not here in the Valley. People tend to live in the same area where they grew up. In other words, if you went to Park or Central or Linsly, you probably still live in Wheeling. Or you moved to Ohio.
If you went to school in Brooke or Marshall County, you probably still live in Brooke or Marshall County. Or you moved to Ohio.
But it would be frowned upon if someone from Brooke County moved to Wheeling or vice-versa. Okay, so maybe frowned upon is too strong. But it’s still weird.
And don’t think it’s not the same across the river.
Case in point, a friend of mine who grew up in Martins Ferry currently lives in the south. She is thinking about moving back to the Upper Ohio Valley, but when I offered to help her find a place up here, she said, “Cool, I’d love to move back to Ferry, but I’d accept Wheeling, too. But I won’t live in Bridgeport or Bellaire.”
I’m tellin’ ya, those high school rivalries run deep.
If you’re thinking about relocating, there are large groups of people who grew up in the region but now reside in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Arizona. Really, we’re everywhere but there are hundreds of us in those locations.
Three States in One Hour?
Not a problem.
Pittsburgh, PA is an hour to the east and Columbus, OH is two hours to the west, which is pretty cool. But technically, you can go from Ohio to Pennsylvania in twenty minutes. Five Walmarts and three Targets in a 50-mile radius? I’ll take it.
Explaining where I’m from has confused a lot of people. When I lived in North Carolina, I filled out a form that asked for the city, state and county where I was born. Being as I’m from Wheeling, I responded, “Wheeling, WV and Ohio.” I got a phone call from someone about the form. The conversation went a little something like this:
Person on Phone (PoP): Hi, this is (PoP’s name and organization). I have a few questions about your responses to our form.
Me: Okay. Shoot.
PoP: You’re from Wheeling, correct?
Me: Yep.
PoP: Good. Good. And that’s in West Virginia, correct?
Me: Uh-huh.
PoP: Okay. Now, what county are you from?
Me: Ohio.
PoP: I thought you said you were from West Virginia?
Me: I am.
PoP: Okay, so which county?
Me: Ohio.
PoP: So, you’re from West Virginia but your county is Ohio?
Me: Yes. Ohio County. In West Virginia. In the northern panhandle.
PoP: Oh …
I wonder if people from Wyoming County have the same issue?
Anyway, being from the Ohio Valley is a unique existence, from how we eat, to how we talk and live, there is truly no other place like it.
It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. It just means there are more fish sandwiches and square pizza with cold cheese for me. And no, I would never date someone who went to Brooke. Wouldn’t rule out a Big Red grad, though.
