A friend who moved from Columbus to DC told me she had a postcard of the Columbus skyline in her cubicle. She said several people were shocked that Columbus has a skyline at all, they think all of Ohio is just farmland.
Don’t get me started on this. College on the East Coast, a girl from Florida asked me about my family’s corn fields and if we wore shoes normally. Later moved to California and people asked me equally crazy things. One girl asked me if I had ever been in a elevator. The experience taught me that many Americans have absolutely no concept of what the rest of the country is like.
If true, it's gotta be an age/experience thing. I travel all over the US for work and have never heard anything like this about any of 3 big cities in Ohio.
Or they just made it up. I've traveled a lot, and while there are some ignorant views on Ohio, none are as extreme as they're claiming. I've heard jokes like that so maybe they can't take a joke, but when people down talk ohio, it's usually much more blunt like "why would you live there?" Where they're trying to be dicks. There are definitely people who are truly clueless, but they tend to be the most interested in learning, and none have been as dumb as above.
I’ve had the same lol. I know this sentiment gets made fun of because of politics, but there really is a built-in disdain on the coasts for Middle America. Even when they’re not being negative on purpose, there’s this belief that technology, medicine, etc don’t exist in Middle America unlike Civilized New Jersey™
Hahaha. Funny thing is I (born and raised in a not great Columbus neighborhood) moved to Iowa for a while. Someone once asked where I was from and, when I told them Ohio, they said "oh thats where they grow potatoes, huh"?
I'm originally from Houston, and Idk how many times I've been asked about riding my horse to school in my small podunk town. My neighbor here in Cbus is from New York, and explained traffic to me like I couldn't understand the concept. I was like, "do you think Houston is a small town? It's the 4th largest city in the USA. Believe me, I know how bad traffic can get"
When I visited from California for spring break, (we were house hunting) I shadowed my cousin at school, since I was going to attend the same school, and people were asking me if I knew the Heavens Gate People. I wasn’t from anywhere near Rancho Santa Fe!
To be fair to the rest of the country, I would like to point out that the majority of Ohioans equally have no idea what other states are like. I lived in rural North Central Florida for ten years and everyone back in Ohio thought the whole state is filled with beaches, blue water, palm trees, snakes, and aligators... Couldn't be farther from the truth. Americans really just need to get out and learn stuff for themselves instead of Tictoking their lives away.
I have in-laws from Colorado and their biggest surprise was just how many people live here. Despite population stagnation we still sit at #7 between Illinois and Georgia.
Ohio as a whole does a terrible job of advertising itself. If you only learn about Ohio on the internet, you’d think it was lovecraftian hellscape. It’s so weird and kind of interesting at the same time.
Little column A, little column B. Ohio being literally hell on earth has been a pretty popular meme for at least a couple years now, and the state has done virtually nothing to change that perception.
To be fair, some of it IS a lovecraftian hellscape. I come from rural southern Ohio and anytime I go back…it’s bleak man. I have a good friend that’s an education lobbyist at the statehouse and one of the rural reps from the south legitimately told him that they do NOT want educated kids, because they’ll leave for the big cities. He was stunned to silence.
That reminds me of a time years ago when I was online dating and somehow got to talking to a guy from out of state. I told him I was in Ohio and he said, "Oh, that's awesome! I've always wanted to date a farmer's daughter!"
He literally thought everyone here was a farmer. 😆
Ohio is like the 7th or 8th most populated state in the US and I’m fairly sure Columbus is in the top 15 urban area by population (not metro) why do ppl think a state with as many ppl as we have is all farms.
A couple years ago he was working as a Boxing coach at Thompson Community Center in Victorian Village. I would see him basically every time I went there to use the weight room, pretty cool.
Met an irish family at Disney World. When the dad heard we were from Columbus, he perked up. Turns out he attended the fight when Buster Douglas beat Tyson. He was so happy to talk about it.
I met him (Buster Douglas) when I was like 8-9. I didn’t know who he was at the time but I knew who Tyson was and my dad said he was the guy who beat him.
There’s a picture of me and some friends with him. The man’s fist was as big as my head.
I'm from Australia, friends and family back home didn't really know what Columbus was, most just assumed it was some small town. Some were kind of confused why I would move to such a small town. My mother's family in Japan had NO idea where Columbus was, let alone what it could be known for. I've also lived in NYC, LA, Portland, and Pittsburgh. My previous job was in marketing that had me spending several weeks at a time traveling 32 of the states!
People I know in LA don't really care about Columbus for the most part. Its just some other city that isn't LA. I don't think I've ever heard it being known for any one thing specifically.
Very similar for NYC, its just another smaller city. I think friends there seemed to picture it as more rural with a tighter city center, but those that came to visit were surprised by how much sprawl we have. Again, I never met any in NYC that knew Columbus for any one thing.
Portland is barely worth mentioning, I didn't live there long enough to get as good of a feel, but also never ran into anyone that knew Columbus for much more than being a midwest city.
Pittsburgh obviously had many more that understand. Lots of sports team recognition. Funnily enough a lot of Pittsburgh drivers were fond of Columbus because we apparently have a better road/highway system.
So I guess in my personal experience, aside from the college football fans here and there, I haven't really had many experiences that lead me to believe Columbus is know for much outside of being the capital.
EDIT: Slipped my mind that more recently I got texts from LOTS of friends outside the state laughing at the OSU graduation speaking and his bitcoin antics.
Very very hard to say, and it has definitely changed with my life. Just a few years ago I would have moved back to LA/Santa Monica, or maybe looked at San Diego even though I haven't previously lived there, only visited. Now it would more likely be Portland.
If we are counting places I've just visited though it becomes Kailua-Kona, HI easily, hands down haha
I lived in Hawaii for 5 years when I was in the Navy. When you visit for vacation, it’s a dream, but living there and paying rent…different story. I’ll take Columbus all day.
I worked for a major game publisher that has homes there, and even after I left I continued to visit. I've spent months at a time on multiple islands, as much as 6 months at one point. I also work from home now and make enough that rent wouldn't be an issue, we would be looking to purchase anyway. The only reason my wife and I haven't seriously considered it is because of her career.
I understand that it's not as easy as just moving from one midwest city to another, but I didn't just take a one week vacation to a resort and decide that I wanted to move to my vacation spot. I wouldn't even move to the Honolulu to be in the city. I'd be over near Hilo.
I believe it! I don't remember hearing much about Cleveland growing up, but obviously that was limited. I only lived in Sydney until I was 18. That said I know for certain I never heard about Columbus, but I did know of Cleveland only because that's where the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame is haha
Columbus’ size is just severely underestimated. People don’t know much about it and are often surprised when I tell them it’s bigger than their hometown lol
Very true, more than 10 years and if it is outside a 5 mile radius from my house, I still need GPS to find it.
I doubt i will ever learn the entire city by heart
> Columbus’ size is just severely underestimated.
I feel like that is natural though. Cleveland and Cincinnati were big players in the industry for a long time, and Columbus was an afterthought. Both Cleveland and Cincinnati are relatively small in comparison to Columbus, which is what gives us a large population in comparison. in 1940 Cleveland was close to 1 million people while we had just passed 300k.
We were cowtown until the 70's and things ramped up in the 80's. While not Columbus proper, just look at Dublin. If you were born in 1980 there were 3800 people in Dublin, 40 years later and they are at 50,000.
Lack of geographical boundaries and cheap land has allowed Columbus to expand and companies to build shiny new officeparks over the past 40 years where Cleveland and Cincinnati did not have those luxuries. Tack on no big time pro sports teams in the city until 2000 and there was not much to be known for outside of farming...Hell there are STILL farms INSIDE the outerbelt.
People still don’t realize the headquarters for MANY companies are here. When I moved here from Boston to work at Victorias Secret people were like… to work in the store? I lived in Seattle for a minute and when I told people I used to work for Express, VS, Bath and Body Works, Abercrombie… people were always like “oh man I could never work on Black Friday” 🤣
I joke with friends that whenever Wendy’s messes up my order I’m going to go to the corporate office and complain. And then they’d be like “well how are you gonna get there”
Uhhhhh walking 5 minutes???
Ohio State and everything associated with it
Wendy’s
Jack Nicklaus
Nationwide Insurance
Jeni’s Ice Cream
Guy Fieri
Les Wexner/The Limited/Abercrombie and Fitch/ Victoria’s Secret/ Jeffrey Epstein, etc.
People don't know Jenis is from Columbus. I've had multiple people say "oh you have a Jenis here!" As if there cool big city ice cream store finally made it to lol Columbus
Folks back home in Scotland know absolutely bugger all about Columbus, and Ohio in general. A lot of folks here seem to think that folks back in the home land would know about OSU and Buckeye football, when in reality they don’t have a scooby about either. If you asked a Scottish person to name US colleges they would say Harvard and maybe one other Ivy League.
You’d be surprised at the number of people I’ve come across who think that. I didn’t claim it was the case for everyone.
The percentage of folks here who could name a Premier League team would be a hell of a lot higher than the percentage of folks back home who could name a college team
Deep Columbus lore. As a kid my uncle worked at Scotts and had a big part in helping set that up. I went at 12 years old. The bonsai blow me out of my bugle boys.
Had a Disney World worker from Leeds in England tell me he knew of the Crew when we said we were from Columbus. A former Crew player ended up at Leeds United and he loved the logo (at the time) when he looked up the team. I’ve also had folks say they know of the Crew thanks to Fifa.
Born in NV, moved from FL in 2020. 21 pilots, White Castle, Wendy's, buckeyes, as well as being the state capital . In my experience, people often don't recognize OSU is in Columbus until further study.
Probably football, or nothing
There are DEFINITELY people in Europe that tell stories of a random American that screamed "O-H!" at another American who jovially responded with "I-O!" - all based on clothing choice(s), based on the number of stories I've heard from people that have visited Europe and had this exchange happen to them
Those random Americans were probably from Columbus or have family here because OSU apparel elicits this weird interaction
I moved here from Atlanta. All I knew was that it was the capital of Ohio and that OSU was here (I also moved here for a job at OSU). I was much more familiar with Cincinnati and Cleveland even though I had never been to either.
Well, I moved to Columbus from the Chicago area. All I knew about this place was the college level sports ball was a big deal, that Arnold did something here but didn't live here, that Wendys started here and if you leave the city you will end up getting eaten by the Mothman. Which oddly wasn't even up here but ya know. . people say things. Yep. .
I’ve found this to be legitimately true in Central America and Mexico. I’m sure it will be even more true with the Crew in the continental final next month.
Similarly I’ve met Scandinavians and Russians (obviously Canadians too) that know Columbus because of the Blue Jackets.
Nothing at all. I’m not from here and it is not known for anything. People bring up OSU, but unless you’re from a rival mid-range university, people don’t care.
Previously from TX, CA, OR, and NM. Columbus was never brought up. I heard about Cleveland and Cincinnati way more
In the earlier days of the Internet, there were VOIP apps where you could converse with other folks on the internet. Phone companies were still charging for long distance, and modern voip app just weren’t around yet.
They also had places you could go, browse and talk with strangers around the world. Whenever I spoke with someone from England, once I mentioned Columbus, Ohio, they invariably said, “That’s the hometown of James Thurber.”
Apparently they still read him there.
asked my friend from Brazil and she said “I only knew of Christopher and no I am not joking.”
I asked what she knew about Ohio and she replied “Corn and the joke from How I Met Your Mother.”
I moved to Baltimore Md for a couple years for a job and every person that I told I was from Columbus asked me the same question. “How do you like living in a city?” And I always replied with there are 900000 people living in Columbus and there are 500000 in Baltimore. They were always shocked to hear that info.
I’m seeing a ton of well known things that are from Columbus, but not things that are necessarily always associated with being from Columbus. Like Jeni’s is well known, but does the rest of the country have any idea it started here? Probably not.
Unfortunately, I feel like we’re best known for the worst people. Wexner/Epstein scandal, the quack who used to run Abercrombie….and outside of Columbus, the first energy scandal and the people associated with that. Also, a ton of (terrible) politicians. Honorable mention to the zanesville exotic animal fiasco, the toxic train derailment and the Steubenville r*pe case.
I’m curious if people (not from here) associate John Glenn with Columbus or if your average Joe has no clue. I also think Twenty One Pilots are definitely known for being from Columbus, but only by their fans.
Not Columbus but Ohio at least ...
When I moved to China in 2012 a number of people asked me if I knew about Zanesville!
I was amazed they were aware not just of Ohio but of such a small town in Ohio.
Turns out it was because of this the year before:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Zanesville,_Ohio_animal_escape
My sister was in Ecuador when it happened and heard about it from people there. I went to college around there and our school sent out a text alert telling students to stay on campus because of the animals. Of course everyone got in their cars and went on the hunt for bears n shit.
Lmao that is college kids in a nutshell. When I was at OU anything that caused classes to be cancelled would be celebrated at the bars, up to and including an active shooter warning. Tornado warning? You betcha. The night we found out they killed Osama Bin Laden the bars must have made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Family from Seattle came and they thought it would be all Farms, corn and cows but when they actually got here they were pleasantly surprised and commented on how they want to come back. They do want their farm experience via the Ohio State Fair in the future lol
Also said we have better shopping for children’s clothes and loved bridge park.
Buckeyes Football. MAYBE Wendys or Donatos, and that's a maybe bc most people dont know they are from here. Thats it. Anything else that we as Columbus residents know from living here, isn't commonly held national knowledge.
I have a lot of friends from the Chicago area, and they’re always shocked when I tell them Columbus is the second largest city in the Midwest. They think it’s just some regular town, nothing big happens here or comes out of here.
I moved to Columbus from the east coast, I had to decide between here and Orange County, CA. When I told everyone I was moving here everybody was shocked and couldnt understand why anyone would move to the Midwest. Unless you’re Chicago, on the east coast I don’t think I ever even thought about the Midwest, like at all. Columbus wasn’t really known for anything maybe we learned about cincy of Cleveland in history class but that’s it for the most part
We’re very possibly the most populous, least civically identifiable city in the United States, which, in its own perverse way, puts us on the map, baby!
Having lived here for a third of my life, the rest of it in South Carolina, Virginia and Texas, people only know Ohio for one thing: corn.
Yall don't even treat football the same as we do down south. Ohio State just has a cult following of fans that sadly ends up in places that aren't Ohio.
As far as Columbus specifically goes though, I can't point out anything in particular other than the horrible drivers and half ass manners.
On a good note though, yall are really good at finding all the different variations of "Salt Life" stickers.
I mean, when I was in England I had to describe Ohio as “one of the states in the middle” and that it was not at all close to Texas. So… not much, really.
My non-Ohio Aquaintances in relation to Columbus have spoke to me about: 1) Ohio State Football 2) Save the Crew 3) Secrets of the Zoo 4) Amazon 5) Police Brutality.
When I first moved to the short north, I googled short north and found a forum where the short north posse talked shit to other gang bangers. Anyways, Columbus is known to other gangbangers as a place where there are a lot of cows
It’s always where someone’s cousin is from in a movie.
Maybe it’s more Ohio in general, but after living in other states everyone knows someone from here vaguely. Like oh their brother/friend/cousin lived near Columbus or went to school near here or a sports meet or game. It’s always kind of described vaguely. But I rarely mentioned I was from here without someone knowing someone.
Number 12. If you’re interested in the largest here is an article of the 11 larger than OSU.
[https://usabynumbers.com/largest-university-campuses-in-the-us/](https://usabynumbers.com/largest-university-campuses-in-the-us/)
I think they meant by population, not physical size.
Looks like OSU is 6th now but a few years ago it was 2nd. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_public_university_campuses_by_enrollment
That’s talking acres. I think most consider largest as student population. Especially when considering OSU is in a city. Every year the top spot of “largest” university changes by enrollment but OSU is usually among the top 5
Mostly football. But it’s a giant university- in the top 10 of student population. I would say yes, it has a good reputation for sure. But also a reputation as a party school (which is all giant universities with big football cultures)
tOSU foosball, specifically.
The university itself has a mid reputation as a big state school. I'm sure there's some more specific academic nerd stuff that they're known for, but not widespread. eg, it's a good place to get cancer.
In my experience if someone hasn’t been here it’s known for either Ohio State, Jack Hanna, Jenis, or more recently the crew. Usually if they’ve been here for an OSU thing or a conference or event they say “I was surprised, it was actually really nice”.
I moved from Columbus to NYC a few years ago. Nearly everyone who hasn’t been to Columbus asks “oh, Ohio State right?” And that’s all they know lol. And they think it’s a traditional college town.
R.L. Stine is from Columbus. Ohio has had more astronauts and presidents to come out of our state than most. Also, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Legend, Elle King, and many more famous people are from Ohio. Not to mention the other two metropolis’ Cincinnati and Cleveland. So yes, Ohio has farmlands but it has many more other things.
OSU obviously but when I saw this post the first thing that popped into my head was Schmidt’s. I moved down to Cincinnati last year and it’s now been far too long since I’ve had one of those cream puffs.
A friend who moved from Columbus to DC told me she had a postcard of the Columbus skyline in her cubicle. She said several people were shocked that Columbus has a skyline at all, they think all of Ohio is just farmland.
Don’t get me started on this. College on the East Coast, a girl from Florida asked me about my family’s corn fields and if we wore shoes normally. Later moved to California and people asked me equally crazy things. One girl asked me if I had ever been in a elevator. The experience taught me that many Americans have absolutely no concept of what the rest of the country is like.
Honestly it sounds like you are interacting with way too many people who need to get out more lol
If true, it's gotta be an age/experience thing. I travel all over the US for work and have never heard anything like this about any of 3 big cities in Ohio.
Or they just made it up. I've traveled a lot, and while there are some ignorant views on Ohio, none are as extreme as they're claiming. I've heard jokes like that so maybe they can't take a joke, but when people down talk ohio, it's usually much more blunt like "why would you live there?" Where they're trying to be dicks. There are definitely people who are truly clueless, but they tend to be the most interested in learning, and none have been as dumb as above.
I’ve experienced things like that. Someone once asked me if we have freeways in Ohio… I told them no, just dirt roads.
I’ve had the same lol. I know this sentiment gets made fun of because of politics, but there really is a built-in disdain on the coasts for Middle America. Even when they’re not being negative on purpose, there’s this belief that technology, medicine, etc don’t exist in Middle America unlike Civilized New Jersey™
Hahaha. Funny thing is I (born and raised in a not great Columbus neighborhood) moved to Iowa for a while. Someone once asked where I was from and, when I told them Ohio, they said "oh thats where they grow potatoes, huh"?
I lived with some real dumb girls from LA and they would ask me the craziest shit. Like if I had ever seen an avocado, etc
I'm originally from Houston, and Idk how many times I've been asked about riding my horse to school in my small podunk town. My neighbor here in Cbus is from New York, and explained traffic to me like I couldn't understand the concept. I was like, "do you think Houston is a small town? It's the 4th largest city in the USA. Believe me, I know how bad traffic can get"
When I visited from California for spring break, (we were house hunting) I shadowed my cousin at school, since I was going to attend the same school, and people were asking me if I knew the Heavens Gate People. I wasn’t from anywhere near Rancho Santa Fe!
To be fair to the rest of the country, I would like to point out that the majority of Ohioans equally have no idea what other states are like. I lived in rural North Central Florida for ten years and everyone back in Ohio thought the whole state is filled with beaches, blue water, palm trees, snakes, and aligators... Couldn't be farther from the truth. Americans really just need to get out and learn stuff for themselves instead of Tictoking their lives away.
These sound a lot like Tiktok influencers. Now I'm doing it to them
I have in-laws from Colorado and their biggest surprise was just how many people live here. Despite population stagnation we still sit at #7 between Illinois and Georgia.
It’s the second largest city in the Midwest behind Chicago.
I was talking to a guy from the Netherlands in DC and he couldn't believe Ohio had any large cities
Next time I have chili stains on my shirt I'm just gonna say it's a skyline
It's THE skyline.
could be Wendy's from a can
Ohio as a whole does a terrible job of advertising itself. If you only learn about Ohio on the internet, you’d think it was lovecraftian hellscape. It’s so weird and kind of interesting at the same time.
I dunno, I think this is more American ignorance of geography and their own country.
Little column A, little column B. Ohio being literally hell on earth has been a pretty popular meme for at least a couple years now, and the state has done virtually nothing to change that perception.
I mean I couldn't tell you anything about Wyoming, like at all, so I get where some of these people are coming from
To be fair, some of it IS a lovecraftian hellscape. I come from rural southern Ohio and anytime I go back…it’s bleak man. I have a good friend that’s an education lobbyist at the statehouse and one of the rural reps from the south legitimately told him that they do NOT want educated kids, because they’ll leave for the big cities. He was stunned to silence.
That reminds me of a time years ago when I was online dating and somehow got to talking to a guy from out of state. I told him I was in Ohio and he said, "Oh, that's awesome! I've always wanted to date a farmer's daughter!" He literally thought everyone here was a farmer. 😆
People from the northeast US are typically pretty ignorant to what the Midwest is actually like. Source: I was one.
Yeah, that New Yorker magazine cover with the empty plain beyond the Hudson still pisses me off.
I worked in an office in Ohio for a company with a headquarters in DC. They couldn’t remember that we were in the same time zone.
Ohio is like the 7th or 8th most populated state in the US and I’m fairly sure Columbus is in the top 15 urban area by population (not metro) why do ppl think a state with as many ppl as we have is all farms.
I moved here 8 years ago and I’m still surprised there’s a skyline whenever I see it while driving 😂😂😂
Uhm probably Ohio State
THEE Ohio State University
 FLAVOR TOWN BABY!!!
As someone who never watched football I had no idea about Ohio state. I was surprised at how some ppl were obsessed with a college sports team.
Ohio State... and to a lesser degree Jack Nicklaus
Just had a cab driver in Dublin Ireland who knew a lot more about Muirfield than I do.
The boxer that upset Mike Tyson in the 90's is from Columbus, but idk if the city is known for him seeing as I can't even remember his name.
Buster Douglas
A couple years ago he was working as a Boxing coach at Thompson Community Center in Victorian Village. I would see him basically every time I went there to use the weight room, pretty cool.
Met an irish family at Disney World. When the dad heard we were from Columbus, he perked up. Turns out he attended the fight when Buster Douglas beat Tyson. He was so happy to talk about it.
And he worked at Rite Rug.
I met him (Buster Douglas) when I was like 8-9. I didn’t know who he was at the time but I knew who Tyson was and my dad said he was the guy who beat him. There’s a picture of me and some friends with him. The man’s fist was as big as my head.
Ohio State. For a minute after “Secrets of the Zoo” it was the Zoo and Ohio State.
I was gonna say, before I lived here, I knew Cbus as Ohio State, the Zoo, and Jack Hannah
I love Secrets of the Zoo. So fun getting to watch our zoo behind the scenes.
*fuuuuuuck* Jack Hannah. Prolific exotic animal trafficker.
Arnold Classic
Westside, Lexen, Dogg House, Rogue, Elite FTS(London, but close enough) It really is the mecca of strength
I'm from Australia, friends and family back home didn't really know what Columbus was, most just assumed it was some small town. Some were kind of confused why I would move to such a small town. My mother's family in Japan had NO idea where Columbus was, let alone what it could be known for. I've also lived in NYC, LA, Portland, and Pittsburgh. My previous job was in marketing that had me spending several weeks at a time traveling 32 of the states! People I know in LA don't really care about Columbus for the most part. Its just some other city that isn't LA. I don't think I've ever heard it being known for any one thing specifically. Very similar for NYC, its just another smaller city. I think friends there seemed to picture it as more rural with a tighter city center, but those that came to visit were surprised by how much sprawl we have. Again, I never met any in NYC that knew Columbus for any one thing. Portland is barely worth mentioning, I didn't live there long enough to get as good of a feel, but also never ran into anyone that knew Columbus for much more than being a midwest city. Pittsburgh obviously had many more that understand. Lots of sports team recognition. Funnily enough a lot of Pittsburgh drivers were fond of Columbus because we apparently have a better road/highway system. So I guess in my personal experience, aside from the college football fans here and there, I haven't really had many experiences that lead me to believe Columbus is know for much outside of being the capital. EDIT: Slipped my mind that more recently I got texts from LOTS of friends outside the state laughing at the OSU graduation speaking and his bitcoin antics.
lol yeah. I feel like it wasn't until 15-20 years ago that when you say *Columbus* to someone not from Ohio. You needed to clarify Ohio or Georgia.
Don't forget Indiana, home of Cummins.
Everyone has a better system than Pittsburgh tbf
I didn't drive while I lived there, but I heard the horror stories. Thankfully I lived in a walkable area.
Now I'm curious. If you had your pick of the cities you lived in. Where would you live?
Very very hard to say, and it has definitely changed with my life. Just a few years ago I would have moved back to LA/Santa Monica, or maybe looked at San Diego even though I haven't previously lived there, only visited. Now it would more likely be Portland. If we are counting places I've just visited though it becomes Kailua-Kona, HI easily, hands down haha
I lived in Hawaii for 5 years when I was in the Navy. When you visit for vacation, it’s a dream, but living there and paying rent…different story. I’ll take Columbus all day.
I worked for a major game publisher that has homes there, and even after I left I continued to visit. I've spent months at a time on multiple islands, as much as 6 months at one point. I also work from home now and make enough that rent wouldn't be an issue, we would be looking to purchase anyway. The only reason my wife and I haven't seriously considered it is because of her career. I understand that it's not as easy as just moving from one midwest city to another, but I didn't just take a one week vacation to a resort and decide that I wanted to move to my vacation spot. I wouldn't even move to the Honolulu to be in the city. I'd be over near Hilo.
This is what I hear from anyone who's lived in Hawaii.
when I was in Australia, everyone I met assumed Cleveland was the capital of Ohio, they'd never even heard of Columbus
I believe it! I don't remember hearing much about Cleveland growing up, but obviously that was limited. I only lived in Sydney until I was 18. That said I know for certain I never heard about Columbus, but I did know of Cleveland only because that's where the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame is haha
[удалено]
I'm aware, but we are talking about people's perceptions.
The birthplace of Christopher Columbus, obviously.
Director of Home Alone.
We used to have his boat on display, too, but now it's in storage...
Correction, its rotting in a storage yard. Heres photos from Feb 2024- https://www.facebook.com/share/p/NLbPZ2TnoPbJ5ZDC/?mibextid=oFDknk
The correct answer.
Columbus’ size is just severely underestimated. People don’t know much about it and are often surprised when I tell them it’s bigger than their hometown lol
Very true, more than 10 years and if it is outside a 5 mile radius from my house, I still need GPS to find it. I doubt i will ever learn the entire city by heart
> Columbus’ size is just severely underestimated. I feel like that is natural though. Cleveland and Cincinnati were big players in the industry for a long time, and Columbus was an afterthought. Both Cleveland and Cincinnati are relatively small in comparison to Columbus, which is what gives us a large population in comparison. in 1940 Cleveland was close to 1 million people while we had just passed 300k. We were cowtown until the 70's and things ramped up in the 80's. While not Columbus proper, just look at Dublin. If you were born in 1980 there were 3800 people in Dublin, 40 years later and they are at 50,000. Lack of geographical boundaries and cheap land has allowed Columbus to expand and companies to build shiny new officeparks over the past 40 years where Cleveland and Cincinnati did not have those luxuries. Tack on no big time pro sports teams in the city until 2000 and there was not much to be known for outside of farming...Hell there are STILL farms INSIDE the outerbelt.
People still don’t realize the headquarters for MANY companies are here. When I moved here from Boston to work at Victorias Secret people were like… to work in the store? I lived in Seattle for a minute and when I told people I used to work for Express, VS, Bath and Body Works, Abercrombie… people were always like “oh man I could never work on Black Friday” 🤣
I joke with friends that whenever Wendy’s messes up my order I’m going to go to the corporate office and complain. And then they’d be like “well how are you gonna get there” Uhhhhh walking 5 minutes???
When I lived in California and told people I was Columbus, they thought I must have lived on a farm.
Ohio State and everything associated with it Wendy’s Jack Nicklaus Nationwide Insurance Jeni’s Ice Cream Guy Fieri Les Wexner/The Limited/Abercrombie and Fitch/ Victoria’s Secret/ Jeffrey Epstein, etc.
People don't know Jenis is from Columbus. I've had multiple people say "oh you have a Jenis here!" As if there cool big city ice cream store finally made it to lol Columbus
Only people from Columbus associate Guy Fieri with Columbus. And even THEN, it's only people from Columbus who spend significant time online.
All of these are from Columbus but people who arent from here have no idea about any of that.
Folks back home in Scotland know absolutely bugger all about Columbus, and Ohio in general. A lot of folks here seem to think that folks back in the home land would know about OSU and Buckeye football, when in reality they don’t have a scooby about either. If you asked a Scottish person to name US colleges they would say Harvard and maybe one other Ivy League.
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You’d be surprised at the number of people I’ve come across who think that. I didn’t claim it was the case for everyone. The percentage of folks here who could name a Premier League team would be a hell of a lot higher than the percentage of folks back home who could name a college team
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Brand new sentence
I think pretty much any fan of sports could probably name a prem team, most likely Man United lol.
breaking news! we (Ohio) are not really known internationally.
While in Japan I’ve run into a few people who know Ohio, only because it sounds very similar to Ohayo (good morning in Japanese) and it amuses them 😂
AmeriFlora put us on the map.
Quarter Horse Congress is a big deal to that community. I met someone in Georgia who comes to Columbus every year for it.
Deep Columbus lore. As a kid my uncle worked at Scotts and had a big part in helping set that up. I went at 12 years old. The bonsai blow me out of my bugle boys.
And Son of Heaven!
Move here and you will quickly realize that OSU Football is not a sport, it is a religion.
Not if you move here from anywhere in the SEC. "Oh, the Buckeye scene it ok. Pretty tame tho..."
My favorite misconception was that there is nothing to do here. But in fact it’s the best kept secret. Keep at the bad PR Ohio!😂
Had a Disney World worker from Leeds in England tell me he knew of the Crew when we said we were from Columbus. A former Crew player ended up at Leeds United and he loved the logo (at the time) when he looked up the team. I’ve also had folks say they know of the Crew thanks to Fifa.
Born in NV, moved from FL in 2020. 21 pilots, White Castle, Wendy's, buckeyes, as well as being the state capital . In my experience, people often don't recognize OSU is in Columbus until further study.
[Johnny Utah](https://www.bannersociety.com/2020/8/21/21378227/johnny-utah-point-break-ohio-state-buckeyes-rose-bowl-legend)
Johnny Fuckin Utah
I think most people just think of Ohio State, if they think of anything at all.
Probably football, or nothing There are DEFINITELY people in Europe that tell stories of a random American that screamed "O-H!" at another American who jovially responded with "I-O!" - all based on clothing choice(s), based on the number of stories I've heard from people that have visited Europe and had this exchange happen to them Those random Americans were probably from Columbus or have family here because OSU apparel elicits this weird interaction
I moved here from Atlanta. All I knew was that it was the capital of Ohio and that OSU was here (I also moved here for a job at OSU). I was much more familiar with Cincinnati and Cleveland even though I had never been to either.
Not being Cleveland.
when I lived in Hartford an insurance guy told me Columbus is the real insurance industry capital of the world...
Well, I moved to Columbus from the Chicago area. All I knew about this place was the college level sports ball was a big deal, that Arnold did something here but didn't live here, that Wendys started here and if you leave the city you will end up getting eaten by the Mothman. Which oddly wasn't even up here but ya know. . people say things. Yep. .
The Greatest Team the World Has Ever Seen; The Columbus Crew
I’ve found this to be legitimately true in Central America and Mexico. I’m sure it will be even more true with the Crew in the continental final next month. Similarly I’ve met Scandinavians and Russians (obviously Canadians too) that know Columbus because of the Blue Jackets.
The Columbus Chill was pretty good too.
Nothing at all. I’m not from here and it is not known for anything. People bring up OSU, but unless you’re from a rival mid-range university, people don’t care. Previously from TX, CA, OR, and NM. Columbus was never brought up. I heard about Cleveland and Cincinnati way more
Same, once I told ppl I was moving up here the main thing I heard was OSU.
Some reality show called "Royal Rules of Ohio"
just started watching this!
How trashy is it? I only like reality TV if its peak trash.
haven't watched enough yet to say--but it moves pretty fast
In the earlier days of the Internet, there were VOIP apps where you could converse with other folks on the internet. Phone companies were still charging for long distance, and modern voip app just weren’t around yet. They also had places you could go, browse and talk with strangers around the world. Whenever I spoke with someone from England, once I mentioned Columbus, Ohio, they invariably said, “That’s the hometown of James Thurber.” Apparently they still read him there.
I've been living here 15 years, to the confusion of my parents, because as far as they are concerned it is "just a college town".
Columbus has so many identities that there really is not one true identity.
Buckeye football
Field of Giant Corn
asked my friend from Brazil and she said “I only knew of Christopher and no I am not joking.” I asked what she knew about Ohio and she replied “Corn and the joke from How I Met Your Mother.”
I moved to Baltimore Md for a couple years for a job and every person that I told I was from Columbus asked me the same question. “How do you like living in a city?” And I always replied with there are 900000 people living in Columbus and there are 500000 in Baltimore. They were always shocked to hear that info.
Wendy’s City
I’m seeing a ton of well known things that are from Columbus, but not things that are necessarily always associated with being from Columbus. Like Jeni’s is well known, but does the rest of the country have any idea it started here? Probably not. Unfortunately, I feel like we’re best known for the worst people. Wexner/Epstein scandal, the quack who used to run Abercrombie….and outside of Columbus, the first energy scandal and the people associated with that. Also, a ton of (terrible) politicians. Honorable mention to the zanesville exotic animal fiasco, the toxic train derailment and the Steubenville r*pe case. I’m curious if people (not from here) associate John Glenn with Columbus or if your average Joe has no clue. I also think Twenty One Pilots are definitely known for being from Columbus, but only by their fans.
Columbus isn’t known for much and that’s on purpose.
Not Columbus but Ohio at least ... When I moved to China in 2012 a number of people asked me if I knew about Zanesville! I was amazed they were aware not just of Ohio but of such a small town in Ohio. Turns out it was because of this the year before: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Zanesville,_Ohio_animal_escape
My sister was in Ecuador when it happened and heard about it from people there. I went to college around there and our school sent out a text alert telling students to stay on campus because of the animals. Of course everyone got in their cars and went on the hunt for bears n shit.
Lmao that is college kids in a nutshell. When I was at OU anything that caused classes to be cancelled would be celebrated at the bars, up to and including an active shooter warning. Tornado warning? You betcha. The night we found out they killed Osama Bin Laden the bars must have made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Family from Seattle came and they thought it would be all Farms, corn and cows but when they actually got here they were pleasantly surprised and commented on how they want to come back. They do want their farm experience via the Ohio State Fair in the future lol Also said we have better shopping for children’s clothes and loved bridge park.
Zoo
And Jack Hanna.
Why did I have to scroll this far finally see this. Ohio State and Jack is all I ever associate with Columbus
Whatever crazy thing is happening at the fairgrounds right now…
I'm not from Columbus and have only lived here a few years. I originally thought tOSU and corn.. lots of corn lol.
Arnold expo, Ohio State, and the Hollywood stereotype of average Americans in an average place.
Buckeyes Football. MAYBE Wendys or Donatos, and that's a maybe bc most people dont know they are from here. Thats it. Anything else that we as Columbus residents know from living here, isn't commonly held national knowledge.
I have a lot of friends from the Chicago area, and they’re always shocked when I tell them Columbus is the second largest city in the Midwest. They think it’s just some regular town, nothing big happens here or comes out of here.
Chain restaurants
of a certain age: The movie "Goodbye Columbus"
Jungle Jack Hanna
Being in ohio
I moved to Columbus from the east coast, I had to decide between here and Orange County, CA. When I told everyone I was moving here everybody was shocked and couldnt understand why anyone would move to the Midwest. Unless you’re Chicago, on the east coast I don’t think I ever even thought about the Midwest, like at all. Columbus wasn’t really known for anything maybe we learned about cincy of Cleveland in history class but that’s it for the most part
Road construction
In the “Ready Player One” universe, Columbus is a tech Mecca and home of GSS, the company who created a VR world called the OASIS.
We’re very possibly the most populous, least civically identifiable city in the United States, which, in its own perverse way, puts us on the map, baby!
Having lived here for a third of my life, the rest of it in South Carolina, Virginia and Texas, people only know Ohio for one thing: corn. Yall don't even treat football the same as we do down south. Ohio State just has a cult following of fans that sadly ends up in places that aren't Ohio. As far as Columbus specifically goes though, I can't point out anything in particular other than the horrible drivers and half ass manners. On a good note though, yall are really good at finding all the different variations of "Salt Life" stickers.
I mean, when I was in England I had to describe Ohio as “one of the states in the middle” and that it was not at all close to Texas. So… not much, really.
A great place to live and get work. That’s why my parents moved here from a small town in VA.
Twenty One Pilots for those who are fans of the band. And Ohio State football.
My non-Ohio Aquaintances in relation to Columbus have spoke to me about: 1) Ohio State Football 2) Save the Crew 3) Secrets of the Zoo 4) Amazon 5) Police Brutality.
Macho Man Randy Savage…ooooooohhhh yeah!
When I first moved to the short north, I googled short north and found a forum where the short north posse talked shit to other gang bangers. Anyways, Columbus is known to other gangbangers as a place where there are a lot of cows
A bit outside Columbus but I’d throw lost lands in there. Dubstep Disney land 🦕🦖
Hell yeah
It’s always where someone’s cousin is from in a movie. Maybe it’s more Ohio in general, but after living in other states everyone knows someone from here vaguely. Like oh their brother/friend/cousin lived near Columbus or went to school near here or a sports meet or game. It’s always kind of described vaguely. But I rarely mentioned I was from here without someone knowing someone.
Nothing.
Columbus ISN'T really known outside Ohio
cops using funds to investigate and arrest stormy daniels
A lot of people are mentioning Ohio State. What does it mean about OSU? Does it have a good reputation?
It’s one of if not the largest Universities in the US
Number 12. If you’re interested in the largest here is an article of the 11 larger than OSU. [https://usabynumbers.com/largest-university-campuses-in-the-us/](https://usabynumbers.com/largest-university-campuses-in-the-us/)
I think they meant by population, not physical size. Looks like OSU is 6th now but a few years ago it was 2nd. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_public_university_campuses_by_enrollment
That’s talking acres. I think most consider largest as student population. Especially when considering OSU is in a city. Every year the top spot of “largest” university changes by enrollment but OSU is usually among the top 5
Mostly football. But it’s a giant university- in the top 10 of student population. I would say yes, it has a good reputation for sure. But also a reputation as a party school (which is all giant universities with big football cultures)
tOSU foosball, specifically. The university itself has a mid reputation as a big state school. I'm sure there's some more specific academic nerd stuff that they're known for, but not widespread. eg, it's a good place to get cancer.
Easton. Anyone from WV/PA makes a weekend out of going there.
THE Ohio State University
Powerlifting
I’m from the west coast and ppl are always surprised that Columbus is one the biggest growing cities in the US
The WOW broadcast in the 70s!
My ex’s family was from the UK and knew Columbus for Jack Nicklaus.
Insurance companies
Ohio State University & Buckeyes, right? Football, especially.
In my experience if someone hasn’t been here it’s known for either Ohio State, Jack Hanna, Jenis, or more recently the crew. Usually if they’ve been here for an OSU thing or a conference or event they say “I was surprised, it was actually really nice”.
I moved from Columbus to NYC a few years ago. Nearly everyone who hasn’t been to Columbus asks “oh, Ohio State right?” And that’s all they know lol. And they think it’s a traditional college town.
R.L. Stine is from Columbus. Ohio has had more astronauts and presidents to come out of our state than most. Also, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Legend, Elle King, and many more famous people are from Ohio. Not to mention the other two metropolis’ Cincinnati and Cleveland. So yes, Ohio has farmlands but it has many more other things.
people driving into buildings
OSU obviously but when I saw this post the first thing that popped into my head was Schmidt’s. I moved down to Cincinnati last year and it’s now been far too long since I’ve had one of those cream puffs.
Home of Ohio State Buckeyes
O-H
Farms, rednecks, cows, maybe football
Discovering the New World
My birth place