Have you ever been in a conversation that goes something like:

Friend: Yo dude! Did you see they’re making Top Gun 2?
You: Eh...I never saw the first one.
Friend: DUDE! How can you call yourself an American?!?

Not seeing a movie might be an over exaggeration when challenging one’s citizenship, but it goes to show that there are certain experiences, initiations, and rights of passage that allow an individual to be included in a certain group, congregation, or culture.

When I moved to to South Central Iowa, I remember asking the locals how long it would take to be considered one of their own. The almost unanimous reply was, “unless your family originally settled the town, you’ll never be considered a true local.”

Ouch!

Of course, most of these tribal regulations are harmless and actually lead us to joke about our own group’s idiosyncrasies. These jokes are usually light hearted and often begin with, “You might be from {wherever} if...” or “you know you’re a {whatever} if...”

So, what about my new home of Pennsylvania? Is there anything that characterizes being from this great state?

After crawling around the Internet last night, here’s what I found.

You might be from Pennsylvania if:

You say LANG-kist-er instead of Lan-CAST-er and LEB-en-in instead of Leb-a-NON

Your turkey has "filling", not "stuffing", and most certainly not "dressing”

You've been "yoney-bopping”

Red Beet Ecks makes your list of top ten favorite foods

If you refer to disgusting animal manure smells as "Guud Country Air"

Words like: gumband; buggy; hoagie; chipped ham; and pop actually mean something to you

You live within two miles of a plant that makes potato chips, corn chips, pretzels, candy, or ice cream, or that packages turkeys, beans, or bologna

You think the roads in any other state are smooth

Hearing horses clopping down a paved street doesn't bring you to the window to see what's going on outside

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow

For those of you who either live or have lived in PA, what did I miss? Are there one or two things that makes a person a true Pennsylvanian?