Now that I have moved away from the Slate Belt and started a new life 300 miles away, I often get a dose of culture shock when I realize that what is so familiar to me, my new friends are confused about. Here are 10 things that you know from growing up in the Slate Belt that no one else in the world understands.
Recommended for you
1. Wing night is more important than any holy day.
Wing night is Wednesday at Detzi's, Sunday and Monday at the Slate, and Tuesdays at Score Card. You have to go to all of them because you can never have enough wings, plus you can subconciously rattle off your order without looking at the menu.
2. You know what a Slater is.
A Slater. You know that school with the grumpy cartoon looking character... that drives tractors everywhere...
3. Your family ceases to exist during football season.
Mom stops cooking, dad is constantly watching last week's highlights, and the Bubba's and Hydock's are showing up at your house unannounced with buffalo chicken dip. Yes folks, this is football season. Every crevice of your house will have gold glitter in it somewhere and you are desperately trying to learn the 'Hey Baby' dance so you can dance along with the cheerleaders. Our lives seem to revolve around this time of year, but hey, none of us are complaining.
4. It's not a party unless there's quoit boards.
Everyone and their mother has a set of quoit boards. No matter what the event is, if there's a set of quoits it's going to be a good time.
5. Your last name says more about you than you ever could.
In an area where everybody knows each other, and each other's business your last name is the first judgement of your character a person will make on you. Every time I brought a friend around the house my dad would say something like "Oh they're a (fill in the blank) Nice kid." Without ever have meeting them before.
6. How much fun a quarry can be.
We were always warned about the dangers of the quarries. But let's be honest, every where you turned you saw one and you and your friends would prefer to cool off in a dangerous, mutated fish filled bio hazard than the local pool.
7. The school district will schedule an inservice day on the first day of hunting season every year because attendance otherwise is too low.
Ah, the first day of hunting season. You can expect your Facebook and Instagram feeds to be filled with "first kill of the year" posts. We can all admit that we have a love for deer meat... and its distinct smell.
8. Jumping off Black Bridge is payback for your mom grounding you.
Every day our mothers would tell us to stay away from Black bridge and made us promise that we would never jump off of it, but we all did anyway. Black bridge is just part of the Bangor experience, we jump off bridges with less than 2 feet of water and glass beneath us and hope for the best.
9. The Roseto "Big Time" is what we all live for.
There is just something about walking up and down a steep hill ten thousand times and wondering who was going to get in a fight mixed with the smell of funnel cake that none of us can resist. Every year we all complain about how the "Big Time" is a big waste of time, but regardless you can find us there every night in order to make a little face and get our fair share of carbs for a year in 3 hours.
10. The boys from over the hill are not your friend.
The rivalry between Bangor and Pen Argyl is unlike anything else. The towns are literally separated by a single drive way, but you shouldn't trust the boys from over the hill. Regardless of what side of the hill you lived on, the other half was someone you would did not associate with. The cheerleaders would spend weeks painting signs, the football team would anxiously wait to be excessively rough on the field Friday night, and the student section perfected the roller coaster for weeks leading up to what seemed like the single most important night of the year.
