·:[ Jason On A Shtick ]:·
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In Kentucky, when someone asks “Where are you from?”, your answer should be the place where you grew up – not where you live now. Your current residence is only a correct response if the question is “Where do you live?”. It doesn’t matter how long you lived in either place. I have been living in Lexington for nearly as long as I lived in my home town of Cynthiana. However, I will always be from Cynthiana; I live in Lexington.

It also doesn’t matter if you are speaking to someone from outside of Kentucky. I have often heard fellow Kentuckians answer the question “Where do you live?” with something like “Well, I was born in Danville, but I live in Louisville”. We understand that people from outside of Kentucky need a clarification because knowing where we are from will be much more important to their perception of us than where we live now.

My friend Todd says this behavior is the result of our state being a mostly rural environment. The closeness of small communities has a lot to do with your makeup. The identity of the town where you grew up is stamped on you and most certainly has more to do with who you are than wherever you are living right now. Indeed, the two of us were greatly afflicted, er, affected by Cynthiana…

There is probably some opportunity for a sociological comparison here – maybe something about the effects of small town life and how it resembles tribal living and identity to some degree. But, I am from Cynthiana after all – a backwards, rustic place where people probably don’t think too deeply about such things.