When I was 8 my family moved up north. I started school and was immediately singled out by the majority of classmates for being 'posh' ie I had an accent that was from elsewhere in the country.
When I started work the question asked about anyone new starting 'are they local?'. And had many conversations starting with 'you know Joe's aunt's, cousin's, sisters, dogs girlfriend's budgie?' 'No, I'm not local remember'...'oh yes'...turns to cleaner 'you know....' 'oh yes!' .
Moved place again before dc was born. When dc started preschool, all the localism cropped up again, with my now ex husband joining in with who's local children we should compare our local child to (and attempting to get some sort of competition going to impress other parents). The parents were the queen bee's from the school he went to.
I have realised over time at school, there is a small group of Local friends (all went to same secondary school), who also are governors at school or work in reception or have siblings working at the school, New people from outside the area who are wannabes and are friendly with them, and spread gossip to them, then further out folk who are Local, and accept the norm's and standards of the Local friends behaviour and their children's behaviour, without a mummer, and are also accepted to chat to the Local friends group as they are.....Local.
I really have grown up with a chip on my shoulder about it all. I have never been local. I left my place of birth when I was a year old. So never had that feeling of belonging in a community. Never had multiple family members in my community.
I personally find, some, not all rather narrow minded...I'm guessing because they have never left the place they were born, or their parents, or their parents parents? Should add I clash with the majority view as I am vegetarian (farmers and hunters around here, or its seen as 'natural' by those who don't do either), and the Locals struggle with the fact I don't eat meat (no I don't make a song and a dance about it, I am very laid back, I only mention it if someone is going to prepare food). I spend time with my children (Local parents seem to put their children into many competitive clubs to compete against each other at an early age, also leave them with their mother's, frequently) and I have a different gentler parenting philosophy (not to the point of no discipline!). I think moving around, and being rejected by Local people for being different to their social norms, has made me grow up open minded and generally tolerant of other's being different to me, so long as they respect the fact that I have the right to be different to them.
To sum up, I just bloody resent the sheer narrow mindedness and constant rejection, for the crime of being a) not Local b) different. I do have friends who are Local, and are genuinely lovely, accepting, human beings. But I have just met so much Localism since I moved up here as a child, it bloody grates on my nerves!
Back to the title, when The League of Gentlemen came out I was bloody delighted to see Edward and Tubbs, as it demonstrated (with exaggeration!) what I had experienced, Locally.
Does anyone else experience Localism? How does it make you feel? How do you deal with it?