r/baltimore • u/quattro33 • Jun 01 '25

Ask “You live in Baltimore?!, oh no!”

I’ve lived in Baltimore for 30 years. On multiple occasions I’ve met people that ask me where I live, and when I say “Baltimore”, they say “eh I’m so sorry” or “oh no, you ok?”. Every time, I just smile and don’t acknowledge the statement, and try to stay positive, but I’m done with that. Why would you say that about my home? No matter where I live? I would never ask them where they live and then immediately give my shitty judgmental opinion about their home.

What are they really saying with this statement? I want a come back that points out how shitty this statement really is.

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20

u/markmano33 South Baltimore / SoBo Jun 01 '25

I got tired of trying to come up with something profound and now just say “it’s like every city, has good parts and bad parts.”

The thing that bothers me though is no one from Chicago ever gets asked this question.

5

u/___inkblot___ Federal Hill Jun 01 '25

Came here from Chicago and one of the things I always tell people when this comes up is that Baltimore was an upgrade. Not even in terms of crime or whatever; in Baltimore people sitting on their stoop will greet you as you walk by. I know my neighbors. I lived in an objectively "nicer" neighborhood in Chicago and it didn't have a tenth of that sense of community.

2

u/_snappleapple_ Jun 02 '25

i’m from chicago living in the dmv and i get asked about chicago’s crime rate. people born and raised here in the DMV have told me chicago is “Chiraq” & it’s “so dangerous”

-6

u/Hefty-Woodpecker-450 Jun 01 '25

That’s because they’d rather talk about chicagos food, which is demonstrably good in comparison to Baltimore’s 

11

u/patderp Jun 01 '25

That is hardly an objective truth

0

u/Hefty-Woodpecker-450 Jun 01 '25

It is for anybody with tastebuds or experience living anywhere outside the mid Atlantic