Do people say this about other places?

[Schoolchoicesucks]

I was at a family birthday over the weekend and chatting to a friend of theirs I hadn't previously met.

They asked where I was from and when I said "Xxxx in north London", they immediately pulled a face and said "Oh, poor you, I'm in London all the time for work, hate it".

This isn't the first time someone's said similar to me - on a work related training course - held in central London - a couple of weeks ago, the trainer was talking to me and another attendee. There was a tube strike so we'd already talked about our disrupted journeys and where we'd travelled from, both of them started saying how much they "can't wait" to leave London at the end of the work day.

Do people ever say this about other places - you meet someone, ask where they're from and when they respond "Preston*" you immediately say "Oh I went there once, what a shithole, couldn't wait to leave it"?

(* Preston chosen at random, don't think I've ever been there. I'm sure it's perfectly lovely. Or has a mix of lovely and less lovely parts just like everywhere else. Including London).

Isn't it rude to be so negative about where someone lives? Why do people do this?

YABU - people say it all the time about loads of places
YANBU =people only say it about London

ExMIL used to badmouth the nice area we lived in every time she visited. So rude.

Interesting! I think you’re right. I wonder whether it could be because everyone, wherever they live, sort of feels they have a stake in London because it’s their capital so it’s ok for them to criticise it.

I used to spend long periods living in Brighton, and in London for shorter periods, as someone from the north. I heard it constantly about the north from southerners.

@Monty36 ,As to mocking Northerners accents. Never in my world in the South did anyone I know sit around mocking Northern accents.
That's your world. I used to get people repeating in an exaggerated accent some words I said , 'jokes' about stealing and the Harry Enfield gag.

Didn't get it everywhere but certainly more times than you'd expect.

I used to listen to Lancastrians and Yorkshire peeps taking the mick out of each others accents. And mine. I was advised this was something called ‘banter’. Although I did point out that if you changed the accent for a West Indian one or Indian one it might not be seen in the same way. But generally everyone got along.
The things which I did hear which were not accents but damaging were comments around being ‘better people’ and derogatory comments about work, standards of ability etc. The better people remark was said to me outside a hospital where I had just been as a patient.

That isn’t really the friendliness of the French as a whole though is it? It’s the friendliness of one French waiter who said happy birthday… I’m also half French and my grandma in particular can be rude as shit. It’s embarrassing at times actually, she’s a lovely woman for the most part but don’t cross her my god. She’s just so direct and yes I know some British people can be this way too but there’s a certain arrogance about the way she does it.

With French people insisting on speaking French not English, that tends to just happen in Paris but as I said earlier in the thread, the stereotype of Parisians is like Londoners here- they’re rude, aloof and self-interested. I actually think it’s city mentality a lot of the time because they are such busy places filled with professionals rushing around, and lost tourists.

Try coming from anywhere with 15 miles of Birmingham!
we have a fab city centre , wonderful canals, more trees than any other city, beautiful suburbs. Live living here - but others seem to pity me !

@HorsesAreRunningOn3LegsTonight , That's because they've not been there. I have and where I stayed in Birmingham was really nice. If all you've seen of Birmingham is the M6, Wednesbury IKEA and the NEC, you'll probably think it's grim.

YANBU. I hope you answer them back. Pillocks.

Generally no. I think it's just because you live in 'proper' London people react because it's so expensive for the quality of accommodation you get. When anyone I meet says they live in Central London I guess my reaction is the same, wow, how, so expensive!