If you went to Yale, and someone asks you where you went to college, please don't say "New Haven." We know what that means; you went to Yale. Good for you- you are probably smart. Bad for us, you are totally pretentious. I do not think that you are modest and awesome. I think that you are assuming that I know that Yale is in New Haven (which I do, but still), and that makes me think that you are saying your university is so famous that I should be in awe of you and feel bad about myself, and that makes me think that you are a douche. Note: this also goes for Cambridge/Harvard. Similar unacceptable statements include "while I was in New Haven, I dated this guy..." No. Please say, "at Yale" or "at college." Exceptions are if you are talking about something New Haven specific- like "When I lived in New Haven, I ate a lot of pizza." That is fine but barely.
Interestingly, the same goes for if you went to New Haven Technical Institute. If you say, "when I was studying in New Haven..." I will think of Yale. And then it is weird when I find out that you didn't go to Yale, and wonder why you are ashamed of your school. I actually find that less annoying, though.
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All graduates of the Gateway Community College of New Haven just wept a single tear.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS SO ANNOYING AND TRUE.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when people say "Cambridge" (which they do all the damn time) they mean Harvard....which really knocks on M.I.T. you know?
Of course, Ann Marie and I are graduates of a school that deeply encourages you to refer to it by just the city name, an urge I resist but that is common and vaguely acceptable outside of Chicago.
But the word Chicago is at least IN the name of the school. "I went to Berkeley" isn't a weird thing to say if you went to UC Berkeley.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard someone say they went to New Haven. I think that is so weird.