Atlanta Off-Topic

[Designerbee]

Well I said at least 45 minutes.. what gets me is the people that are about 1.5-2 hours away that say they are from Atlanta.

If you are right outside of the city limits, thats one thing..

[Topped Out]

Another thing that has to be taken into consideration when saying you are from Atlanta is who you are talking to.

If you are talking to someone from another state or even middle and south Georgia, many people have never heard of all of the suburbs of Atlanta, so its easier to just say Atlanta.

If you are talking to someone from the Atlanta area (this is always open to debate as to what is considered "the Atlanta area"), then you would say the suburb you were from unless of course you live within the perimeter.

[Mr.Marc]

Another thing that has to be taken into consideration when saying you are from Atlanta is who you are talking to.

If you are talking to someone from another state or even middle and south Georgia, many people have never heard of all of the suburbs of Atlanta, so its easier to just say Atlanta.

If you are talking to someone from the Atlanta area (this is always open to debate as to what is considered "the Atlanta area"), then you would say the suburb you were from unless of course you live within the perimeter.

Then why not say I'm from ___________, which is _______ mins. or ________ miles away from Atlanta.

[Designerbee]

Then why not say I'm from ___________, which is _______ mins. or ________ miles away from Atlanta.

Exactly. Thats what I do. Like I said, I don't tell people I'm from DC!

And I've heard this coming from people in Atlanta saying they are from/live in Atlanta when they live about an hour away. They insist that they know what Atlanta is like when they have no idea because they live in a sheltered suburb.

[Mr.Marc]

Exactly. Thats what I do. Like I said, I don't tell people I'm from DC!

And I've heard this coming from people in Atlanta saying they are from/live in Atlanta when they live about an hour away. They insist that they know what Atlanta is like when they have no idea because they live in a sheltered suburb.

I guess those people may like to say they're from Atlanta b/c Atlanta includes them in its metro pop. Atlanta's suburbs and so called suburbs are contiguous and they make Atlanta seem much larger than it really is.

Maybe anyone from outside the city limits should say they're from Metro Atlanta while the in town residents could refer to themselves are Atlantans.

[krazeeboi]

It's also a bit different for Atlanta than for other cities, like Charlotte, because Atlanta's suburbs/satellite cities basically have no identification of their own; that's due to the sheer size of the metro area. But for me, I tell people that I'm from Rock Hill, SC, which is a few miles outside Charlotte, NC. But then it's a little different in my case, because I want to keep my association with my state, even though many people still say that I'm their friend "from NC." Oh well....

[Mr.Marc]

It's also a bit different for Atlanta than for other cities, like Charlotte, because Atlanta's suburbs/satellite cities basically have no identification of their own; that's due to the sheer size of the metro area. But for me, I tell people that I'm from Rock Hill, SC, which is a few miles outside Charlotte, NC. But then it's a little different in my case, because I want to keep my association with my state, even though many people still say that I'm their friend "from NC." Oh well....

[ironchapman]

If any of you have been keeping up with the pending sales of the Atlanta Braves and Turner South to a company over the past few weeks (yes, that's right, Time Warner is getting rid of them, but don't worry the Braves won't be going anywhere! ), some of you will be happy or at least interested that Turner South has now been bought by Fox.

It's really a bittersweet move, as the channel will now likely drop the Turner Name and will have an increased emphasis on sports. However, the good news is that, despite the loss of the Southern tinge to its programming, the network will now be anchored by games from three of Atlanta's sports teams.

Fox agrees to buy Turner South (AJC)

Fox Cable Networks has agreed to buy Time Warner's Turner South, most likely to convert the channel from being a home of Southern-tinged entertainment to a sports-heavy operation anchored by games of three Atlanta professional teams.

The pending sale, which had been expected, was announced Thursday by Fox, a unit of News Corp., and Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System. People familiar with the deal said the transaction is worth about $375 million, nearly double what one analyst had expected. Additional details about the agreement are likely to be disclosed today.

Now if only we could figure out who will buy the Braves.

[teshadoh]

But then it's a little different in my case, because I want to keep my association with my state, even though many people still say that I'm their friend "from NC." Oh well....

I truly hate that. But sure I'm a turncoat, I have turned my back on SC, but at least it's not NC - that would be like pushing the knife in just that much deeper.

[Hybrid0NE]

Exactly. Thats what I do. Like I said, I don't tell people I'm from DC!

And I've heard this coming from people in Atlanta saying they are from/live in Atlanta when they live about an hour away. They insist that they know what Atlanta is like when they have no idea because they live in a sheltered suburb.

Can I say I'm from Atlanta? I don't have an Atlanta mailing address but if I went the equivalent of 4/5 blocks south or east of my home I would be in an Atlanta zip code. I also tell locals I live in Greater Vinings since Cumberland doesn't roll off the tongue as easy.

[Mr.Marc]

I truly hate that. But sure I'm a turncoat, I have turned my back on SC, but at least it's not NC - that would be like pushing the knife in just that much deeper.

If you turned your back on SC, I don't think we would be seeing so many posts from you in the SC threads.

[teshadoh]

If you turned your back on SC, I don't think we would be seeing so many posts from you in the SC threads.

That's true, I most likely will never live in SC again but I'll always consider myself a Sandlapper first wherever I move. But I better leave Atlanta soon - in 3 years I will have lived in Atlanta as long as I have in SC (a year was spent in Tennessee).

[ironchapman]

Well, it looks like an Atlanta icon is finally retiring:

End of an era: Turner leaving the board of Time Warner

Severing official ties to the TV networks so closely linked to his identity and that of Atlanta, Turner isn't running for reelection to the board of Time Warner, the New York media giant to which he sold his Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting.

Time Warner announced the news Friday and said Turner was not pushed to leave. Despite sales and philanthropic giving of his shares, he remains the company's largest individual shareholder, with more than $500 million in stock.

With all this said, I wonder what will happen to CNN, TBS, and all the other Turner Networks? I'm sure CNN will stay here (they've tried before to move operations out of the city, but something was missing without Atlanta...or at least that's how I understood it).

We'll miss you, Ted!

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

That drives me crazy! Everyone says they are from Atlanta but they're really at least 45 minutes away from the city. I actually live IN Atlanta and find it really frustrating at times.

Calling Metro Atlanta, "Atlanta" is cultural. Most Georgians refer to Atlanta and its environs as "Atlanta". When I've met Georgians fom other parts of the state, they always have a cousin or sister who lives in "Atlanta". The proper response is to ask where they live. Of course, it's almost always a place like Marietta or Duluth or even Conyers. In Georgia, we tend to view the suburbs more like neighborhoods. In many of our minds, Inman Park and Buckhead are the same as Decatur or Riverdale. We just see it as one enormous city.

In my experience, Georgians outside the metro area are familiar with the suburbs. Atlanta news is carried all over the state, so people hear about Alpharetta or Roswell or whatever pretty frequently. (Plus, EVERYONE has a cousin or sister or friend that lives in the suburbs!) It's the intown neighborhoods that aren't familiar to most people in the state.

[Newnan]

That's very true. I'll always ask people where they're from and of course, if they live in a 30 mile radius of the city, they'll say Atlanta. But people who also live in Metro Atlanta know to then ask where do they live in Atlanta, and then they'll probably name some suburb and in some cases an exurb

[ironchapman]

Calling Metro Atlanta, "Atlanta" is cultural. Most Georgians refer to Atlanta and its environs as "Atlanta". When I've met Georgians fom other parts of the state, they always have a cousin or sister who lives in "Atlanta". The proper response is to ask where they live. Of course, it's almost always a place like Marietta or Duluth or even Conyers. In Georgia, we tend to view the suburbs more like neighborhoods. In many of our minds, Inman Park and Buckhead are the same as Decatur or Riverdale. We just see it as one enormous city.

In my experience, Georgians outside the metro area are familiar with the suburbs. Atlanta news is carried all over the state, so people hear about Alpharetta or Roswell or whatever pretty frequently. (Plus, EVERYONE has a cousin or sister or friend that lives in the suburbs!) It's the intown neighborhoods that aren't familiar to most people in the state.

That's the way most people I know think of it.

Basically, when someone asks me where I'm from, I could give them two possible answers:

Option A

Person: So, where are you from?

Me: I'm from Douglasville, which is a little town about 20 miles west of Atlanta along I-20.

--Now, chances are, most people would scratch their heads at this because most either haven't heard of Douglasville or don't remember it (they might have passed it on the interstate once, but, like most exits, you just forget about them).

Or, I could answer like this:

Option B

Person: So, where are you from?

Me: I'm from Atlanta.

--Now, chances are, most people will recognize this easily because a lot more people know where Atlanta is than where Douglasville is. I say I'm from Atlanta not because I want to say I live in the city but instead am a NIMBY who lives in the suburbs, but because it is the closest major city to where I live. I could also alternately say "I'm from Metro Atlanta."

Now, does anyone get my point, or am I just blowing off a lot of confusing hot air?

[Mr.Marc]

What is a NIMBY?

[Designerbee]

What is a NIMBY?

"not in my back yard" attitude

[ironchapman]

What is a NIMBY?

Someohne else could probably give you a better definition, but here's mine.

NIMBY stands for "Not In My BackYard". It is your stereotypical suburbanite- an almost always bleach white middle class family who owns a McMansion in a cookie-cutter subdivision and does not want any "undesirables" (i.e. anyone who either a) makes less than them b) white trash c) black) moving into their neighborhood for fear of lowering the property value and being associated with that type of person.

Now, there is a little bit of NIMBY in almost everyone, but these people take it to the extreme.

Think the type of people in Desperate Housewives.

[Andrea]

It is your stereotypical suburbanite- an almost always bleach white middle class family who owns a McMansion in a cookie-cutter subdivision and does not want any "undesirables" (i.e. anyone who either a) makes less than them b) white trash c) black) moving into their neighborhood for fear of lowering the property value and being associated with that type of person.

Now, there is a little bit of NIMBY in almost everyone, but these people take it to the extreme.

Think the type of people in Desperate Housewives.

I think it can be just about any old body, IC, not just people living in middle class subdivisions. I would imagine that if you proposed putting low income housing in Druid Hills or Ansley Park or Morningside you'd run into the same howls of protest.

[ironchapman]

I think it can be just about any old body, IC, not just people living in middle class subdivisions. I would imagine that if you proposed putting low income housing in Druid Hills or Ansley Park or Morningside you'd run into the same howls of protest.

Yeah, I think it can too, I was just referring to the stereotypical NIMBY (ones that are almost caricatures of the description I provided), or at least as the stereotypical one had come across to me.

[Andrea]

Yeah, I think it can too, I was just referring to the stereotypical NIMBY (ones that are almost caricatures of the description I provided), or at least as the stereotypical one had come across to me.

Yeah, I only mention it because I hate to bash people with stereotypes.

When it comes to property values and keeping out "undesirable" people and things, my guess is that the townies are just as fierce as suburbanites.

[krazeeboi]

I truly hate that. But sure I'm a turncoat, I have turned my back on SC, but at least it's not NC - that would be like pushing the knife in just that much deeper.

LOL. Well, I plan to be a "turncoat" myself one day, but it won't be in the "other" Carolina.

[teshadoh]

As I hope most people here are familiar with the Atlanta Time Machine web site - http://atlantatimemachine.com/ I also wanted to inform folks of a very rare map (one I have never seen before): http://atlantatimemachine.com/downtown/map1950.htm

Otherwise Sanborn maps are always a great resource to view what existed (like my workplace is on the site of a candy manufacturing plant).

[krazeeboi]

I find it interesting that while many cities seemed to have reached their peak in the 50's, Atlanta's peak population was in the 70's, when it reached ~497,000 in 1970.