To be irritated by people who bang on about where they’re from

[Notfromthevalleys]

Couple of women where I work will NOT stop talking about how they’re from The Valleys (south Wales)
“Haha it’s the valley girl in me”
“Haha you can tell I’m from the valleys”
“You can take the girl out of the valley but you can’t take the valley out of the girl”

There is nothing remotely different or valley-esque about them as far as I can see, other than the fact that they keep harping on about the valleys as though being from there is some sort of pedigree.

There’s also a bloke who will not shut up about being a “Swansea lad”.

Is it a south walian thing?

I am from mid Wales and we all work in mid Wales so not like they’re a million miles away from home.

It’s like the Oxbridge people who name drop their college all the time. That’s annoying too, but I at least it’s a genuine achievement to go to Oxbridge.

I understand that people’s community and identity is important to them, but there’s just no need to bring it into everything.

Anyone else come across this and AIBU to let it grate on me so much?!

Had two ex colleagues who were both from Yorkshire and they were always banging on about it together. Did get quite annoying in the end

@FangsForTheMemory

I get a different version. People from the same part of England as me seem to want to own me as part of their clan. I haven't lived there for 40 years, I haven't got the accent, I don't like it there and I never go back.

I feel exactly the same about the country I grew up in.

I always think that if it's so good there why don't they move back?

Also, why did they ever leave!

@SmiledWithTheRisingSun

Speaking as a Londoner, I've never even heard of any of these places 🤷‍♀️

People from all over the UK (and the world) live in London. Do you not go out at all?

I think the Liverpool/ Irish one is interesting because so many people were descended from Irish people, so there would have been a lot of talk growing up. Both my grandparents were born in Liverpool, but their parents were from Ireland. My gran saw herself as scouse, but my dad and aunties and uncles made more of the Irish connection. Interestingly, my gran fled Liverpool during the war and lived for a good 50-60 years in Wales. Which is currently longer than I have.

@LolaSmiles

LBXXX I wonder if that's similar to people saying they are Italian-American even though their family had been in America for centuries and most have never stepped foot in Italy.

I had an American attempt to tell me she knew "far more" than I did about British beer and pub drinking/culture on account of her Irish and English blood going back generations. I'd only been bred, born and lived here for 45 years at that point. She'd never even visited.

@SmiledWithTheRisingSun

Speaking as a Londoner, I've never even heard of any of these places 🤷‍♀️

😂

@BingBunnyIsAnnoying

I always think that if it's so good there why don't they move back?

Also, why did they ever leave!

From the OP they probably do live there but work out of the area.

I'm from the valleys (sorry) and it is almost a part of the culture to talk about where you're from and make jokes about other parts of South Wales I think. I work in a few different areas and if I say where I'm from I'll get one person saying their mum lives there, someone who used to work there, or someone who thinks it's hilarious to ask if we've got electricity up here yet (haha..) I think talking about your home area is akin to talking about the weather around here.

It's a strange thing to get bothered about. I agree with a PP that I thought you were going to talk about the people who claim to be 1/16th Irish or something and really go hard on St Patrick's Day.

I’m foreign and find it endearing. I sat on a committee for several years with a woman who managed to shoehorn Grimsby into every conversation. There was something about her commitment to Grimsby combined with how, well, grim it sounds that just melted my heart a bit.

I’ve also never met a Liverpudlian who wasn’t up for a multi-hour chat about the sights of Liverpool, the world of Scouse football or their gran’s stew recipe. It’s quite lovely.

Try being from Essex. I learnt to just keep quiet about where I’m from.

It's everywhere, I've lived in a few really nice parts of Europe, and in each place people go on about how exceptional people from there are and the history of that place is. No it's not, history is exceptional to all places and more to the point in all places people shit, eat, sleep, work, have sex, babies...same old. It frustrates me that people are always so keen to highlight the differences over the commonality.

I live in Essex and someone with a kid at the same school as me has a pink car with the number plate 'Esx grrl' or something similar..

Wales is proper lush. Let’s just have a nice cwtch and forget all about it mun issi?

Seriously, Wales is glorious to live in and I’m proud of my Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish heritage

@Dunairbeanat

So are we supposed to be ashamed of being Welsh or from The Valleys?

I suppose that people of the other UK countries never mention it

These people are mentioning it incessantly to other Welsh people.

@Dunairbeanat

So are we supposed to be ashamed of being Welsh or from The Valleys?

I suppose that people of the other UK countries never mention it

That's a bit of a leap. It's more that it's a non issue and no one cares. There's no need to harp on about it. No one cares about how proud anyone is of being from Basingstoke or Dundee or Bournemouth etc. Literally no one on this earth cares.

@IamaBluebird

Noblegreenk, tell your mum sorry on behalf of the Valleys and Wales

Irish people do it too! So irritating!

@MissMooMoo

There's a woman on my local community FB group who goes on about being from Leeds whenever anyone asks about which local fish and chips shop is the best. She says she is best qualified to answer as she's from Leeds! We live in London

I've got a friend in Leeds and she says the Fish n Chips are shite up there compared to the South West! Suck on that, Leeds Lady!

@IamaBluebird

Noblegreenk, tell your mum sorry on behalf of the Valleys and Wales

I would do, but I fear she'd tell you where to stick that daffodil 😂

I think people are misunderstanding. The comments in the OP aren't from people proud of being from the valleys, they're self deprecating due to the stereotype that the Welsh valleys are full of uneducated people who are a bit rough.

It's because their home-town is obviously an integral part of their identity. By the frequent reference in conversation, they're both expressing this identity and establishing an 'in-group' marker for the pair of them, used to create a sense of their relationship.

I'm from Wales and I wouldn't tell people I was from the valleys even if I was 😂😂😂

*used to strengthen their relationship (mind is frazzled from hours of linguistic essay writing!)

Time to change my username? whilst trying not to talk about the City of Discovery

@LolaSmiles Agree, Americans can be the worst for it, some of the most ostentatious "Irish" Americans used to down talk to me, a citizen, about St. Paddy's. They'd never even visited! It was purely through their grandparents, but seemed to define their whole identities. Every drink was accompanied by "Oh, I have a very high tolerance for alcohol, it's the Irish in me".