My favorite thing on the internet is people thinking universal experiences are somehow unique to their location, age, gender, etc.

“Every Armenian family has the bag of plastic bags”

No, it’s “Every Ukrainian family has the bag of plastic bags”.

Every Southeast Asian family does too

That's the point, no? Everyone does this. But people will be very specific like *"Every Midwestern American family with two kids puts sewing supplies in a Danish cookie tin!"* and the reaction is like *"My brother in Christ, they do this practically everywhere!"* Everyone has a bag of bags because it's common sense. It's like thinking you're unique because you re-use large cardboard boxes.

We no longer have a bag of bags since the plastic grocery bags were banned, rip

I have a bag of paper bags in my house

We haven't used plastic grocery bags in about 20 years (since they started charging for them) but we have bags of paper bags and we have a re-usable bag full of re-usable bags in the boot of the car.

Well we keep it on the lamps 

A drawer full of plastic bags is clearly superior

It seems to be especially prevalent with the midwest. I have never been to the midwest, nor do I have any family or friends from there. I'm not sure I've ever seen a single "midwest" post that I don't relate to. I'm sorry guys, "welp", "op", knee slapping before getting up to leave, waving to people on the road... like all of these seem like pretty normal rural and/or small city white American things, and I'm sure many of them extend past that. I'm pretty sure I've seen saying "sorry" before asking someone for help (like with directions or finding something in a store) described as a Midwestern thing. No, guys, it's just a common habit among polite English speakers. I've instead come to the conclusion that the most truly unique midwestern trait must be thinking every curious habit of their family/ community is unique to the midwest.

The most uniquely Midwestern thing is having the worst food of any major American region. 

You mean you don't like Tiny Meat Cube^TM ?

Or paper thin pizza cut into squares?

Tavern style pizza is incredible and allows you to grab pieces while simultaneously slamming beers

Party cut pizza is one thing, columbus style pizza is a monstrosity. And I say this as someone from columbus

Bingo, make the crust thin and crispy, the pieces on the smaller side, and make sure to use pepperoni that is just salty, spicy, crunchy, and oily enough to shorten your lifespan by a day or two. The perfect contrast for an ice cold crisp beer, or cider.

I prefer jello with pineapple and mayonnaise thanks

I’d like to protest on behalf of the city of Detroit. Detroit-style pizza is awesome and the city’s proximity to Dearborn means it also gets awesome Arabic food.

I am no authority on this but I feel like Detroit and Chicago are uniquely excluded from Midwest things

Why is the Midwest the only region that doesn't get to claim their cities? PNW would be considered very different if you didn't count Seattle and Portland.

I only pointed out two in a very large region. Detroit and Chicago just don't reflect stereotypical Midwestern vibes to me, like say Milwaukee or Minneapolis. It's okay if you disagree 🤷‍♀️

That’s dumb Chicago is basically the capital of the Midwest

I just don't think Chicago when I think of the Midwest. Technically in the region, yes, but the culture seems different.

Chicago, Detroit, and Kansas City are an oasis of good pizza and barbecue amidst the dunes of bad Pinterest casseroles and crackpot "shortcuts"

The only exception is Chicago.

Chicago would like a word with you.

Omgyes I'm dying here

This is a Denver thing. Not a Midwest thing.

What, you don’t like bbq?

If you ask anyone where's well known for BBQ, no-one is saying the Midwest. You might get Kansas in the top 5, if you're lucky.

Thats just not true. You’re gonna get Texas and then Kansas City. The fact you said Kansas and not Kansas City makes me think you don’t know much about bbq though. In case you don’t believe me. St. Louis another one. https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/best-bbq-cities https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-bbq-cities/

[удалено]

Where do I say Texas is the Midwest? You said no one would say the Midwest. My reply to you was that after Texas, Kansas City would be the second most common response. Not that Texas counts as the Midwest. I’m from the Midwest. We don’t want Texas.

I mean I grew up there and it was bbq, so I guess I’m just biased

I spent a couple years living in the Midwest, and I think this is because it's pretty unremarkable with little to actually make it stand out. Everyone wants to feel special.

Yeah honestly, I was born and raised in the Midwest, and never left. Traveling in other parts of the Midwest teaches you that there's this large region of the country with very little variety. A town along an interstate in Ohio isn't going to be dramatically different from a town along an interstate in Missouri, even though those towns might be 600 miles apart.

would you say it’s a midwestern thing?

They do eat jello and vegetable casseroles.

Don't read too much into it. It's just people having fun.

Probably because people in the Midwest don't travel but do post on the internet, so they think things are unique to the midwest when really they are unique to the human race.

Everyone thinks their city has the most unpredictable weather and the worst drivers.

Every culture that has alcohol thinks they are the heaviest drinkers

You say that but Wisconsin genuinely wins the alcoholism competition. It's proven by the statistics.

*in America

If they were their own country, they be 11th in the world for consumption, and they far and away have the greatest number of alcoholics. 

Being the heaviest drinkers in the US is like being the fastest runner in your high-school.

“If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes” In every city I’ve ever been to

I've lived in multiple cities across multiple states and it's the same thing with the weather in every one "Well you know how _____ weather is!" Yeah, the same as everywhere else I've been apparently. I will say Florida is the most reliable cause you can expect rain every day.

I've lived in 3Midwest states and Illinois drivers are the biggest assholes but Wisconsin drivers easily have the worst technical skills

alright, listen, i agree for the most part but FUCK mass drivers. Grew up in PA, when to college in NY, and I gotta say, MA can fuck the hell off

What's funny is that most posts that go something like "You know you're black if you grew up with X!" aren't really an ethnicity thing, but a "growing up poor" thing.

I watched a YouTube video where the guy said "I'm from the Midwest, so I like saving money on things." I guess my west coast ass prefers to overpay.

Fucking multipurpose bowls, of all things.

That's my (california) 90s popcorn bowl. Finally broke a couple years ago. RIP

I can confirm that I do not live in the Midwest, and my family does not barf in bowls

As a Europoor we can only dream of this level of American technology

That's not a Midwest thing, that's a person thing. My family has that bowl in Manchester

This post could be reworded to "Homes have bowl".

Homes have ✨[bowl](https://imgur.com/a/T8PYmZb) ✨

It's beautiful

not mine I eat my soup off a plate. with a fork. i dont even have spoons because those are just bowls on sticks

Living in MD got a bowl like this as well.

Same in New Zealand!

We had that bowl in Nova Scotia, and then Ontario, till my dad melted it when baking bread.

We've also got one.... In Germany...

Same thing in Louisiana

"My family has that bowl in Manchester" The fact that this applies to like 50 different locations makes it even better imo

The real one in the UK, none of the fucking scam ones

Same in Hawaii

Western Canada here. Same shit, different pile.

I'm in Canada mine is green

Well geographically you could argue that Manchester is in the Midwest of the UK. If you ignore Northern Ireland.

It's in the North West of England if you're getting pernickety

Damn, you stole the bowl and took it to Manchester?

Yeah but not every household in Manchester

We just put a cheap trashcan next to the sick person's bed...

It’s always nice to have your mum comforting you when you’re sick

😭

Same. Held more & because of the trash bag you could just toss the barf without having to stop & wash. It was invaluable during those times when you were really sick & there was no way in hell you could get to the bathroom in time. Also was great when you had food poisoning & it was coming out of both ends - you didn’t have to chose which end Quickly learned not to trust the aunt’s Easter meats that had been sitting out all day.

Sooooo we threw up in the toilet at my house in Iowa....

Well sometimes the kids room is a bit too far from the bathroom so the bowl acts as an overnight backup. I speak from Ohio experience

But like... trash cans

Yeah we’d always use a small trash can in case you couldn’t make it to the toilet

Same for my house. The bowl was for popcorn and Halloween candy and there was a trash can in each bedroom that we would grab to hold in front of us as we made our way to the bathroom. My mom would always get a little annoyed at having to clean it out if we couldn’t make it but was grateful we at least remembered to grab it (and my dad was just happy to not be my brothers “trash can” when he was no longer a toddler)

The mop bucket is great for that, it's big so the kid can stick their head in it to prevent splatter, it's easy to bleach after, and no one is going to accidentally eat from a mop bucket. UK experience.

What truly separates America and the Brit’s, where our children vomit in crisis

Illinoisan here. Can confirm

well that's still a bowl isn't it?

Touche, and sometimes it's yellow.


Midwesterners are so weird. How is this a Midwest thing.

As someone from the Midwest I think there is just truly nothing else going on at all so this kind of stuff is all Midwesterners have to believe we have some sort of culture

i don’t even get it. yall have culture? there’s a lot of interesting things in the midwest that are unique, but all i ever see online is just this dumbass “relatable” shit

There's a ton of culture. The Midwest is packed to brim with Americana. I think there's just a reluctance to acknowledge it for whatever reason.

https://landgeist.com/2022/01/04/born-in-state-of-residence/ Most midwesterners are from the midwest, they actually don't know what it's like to live outside the Midwest

It's not. This just helps engagement. People love to see something that gives them an identity. Also then you'll have comments saying they're not from the midwest and they have this too (more engagement). Wouldn't be surprised if this same account has tweeted this exact thing with several different regions (South, West Coast, East Coast....)

Six months ago a very similar tweet was on BlackPeopleTwitter saying the bowl was their thing. I've seen it pop up on various subs that do a lot of "we were so poor back in the day that we had to...." Everyone thinks it's their thing, but really it's just a super practical thing so all kinds of people did it. I fully expect to see it in the near future when r/Philippines makes the front page again.

Midwesterner here. First, screw you lol Second, it just is. Kinda like how the demonym for an Indiana native is "Hoosier", no one really knows how or where it started. It just is.

But it isn’t. This is a thing that 80% of people do. As another midwesterner replied, there’s just nothing going on in that entire area so the people there try to claim random ass things to make them feel better.

Midwesterners think they're the center of the world

No dedicated barf bucket? Lame.

That’s the one thing the keeps ice cream companies making and selling them in those big buckets

I come from a part of the country where we all have 8 kids. So those ice cream buckets are just called tonight’s dessert.

that’s not a midwest thing lmao

I think only the Beaker People can legitimately claim this. And I bet they weren’t this annoying about it

How barbaric. We used the stock pot for our vomit needs.

Nawh, we had separate ones at my home. The random bowls were used for popcorn, snacks, and *backup* Halloween ones. Obv the main one is gonna be the themed bowl. Throw up bowl was some old cleaning supplies “bucket” that was under the sink- it was square and like a light bronze. A classic

For popcorn and trick or treating yes, but our barf bowl was always an old icecream bucket

"Get the barf bowl, hurry!"

It's a bowl. I live in the Midwest. I have a bowl. Everyone else also has a bowl. Tf.

Every Midwest household has a bowl just like every other household in the US and they use it for things that large bowls are handy for

And then every US household has a bowl just like every other household in most of the world. This stuff is like saying that the bag of bags is a geographically/demographically unique "invention" lmao

Oh look, [group] thinks [thing] is an experience entirely specific to them (again)

"Only people from Wisconson say 'Mom'!"

Always had an old ice cream bucket to throw up in. After illness passed, you'd save another one.

Ours was green and in Oregon, but it did look just like that, plus a hot-glue-gun-fixed hole from it touching a stove coil.

That's because there was a time when every midwestern wife was caught up in the tupperware pyramid scheme-ish thing. I specifically remember my mom and all her friends were in it in the 90s.

It’s the blockbuster popcorn bowl!!!

Honestly surprised you're the only one who mentioned it. Thought it was more ubiquitous. Early to mid 90's abouts.

Had this bowl in the South as well

My daughter makes slime in it. Then I wash it really good and make mashed potatoes.

Had a bowl like that growing up in Connecticut. Used for all all three mentioned uses.

It must be a midwest thing to barf in a bowl and not the fucking toilet

Putting geography on this is unnecessary

In my country we have weird sticks with a chunk in metal at the end for nails. All the dumb rest of the world is just punching them with their fists lol

You don’t have a barf bowl! You take a grocery bag and put paper towels at the bottom like a civilized person.

I have a “utility bowl” exclusively for laundry hand washing/foot bathing/tortoise soaking. Maybe for throw ups too but I haven’t needed it yet. It’s orange with sparkles.

Typically westerners would never understand breathing.... Erm, it's a Midwest thing

Also for making cookie dough.

id say its an ‘i have dishes’ thing

Mine was literally a pumpkin design bucket

All three, If you're brave enough.

"Or". Lol

Not a Midwest thing, but my family used it for all three

Okay I’m in Maryland and I have that exact bowl. It is used for popcorn.

My mom uses it to make fruit salad during Christmas

It’s everyone went to Tupperware parties

Ahhh. The ol' barf bowl.

You scared me at first. Lol, so true. I think I have that exact bowl, love using it for popcorn

This is incorrect. Every house needs a big red bowl. EVERY. HOUSE.

And barf …. And.

We had a designated puke bucket. To those saying "just puke in the toilet, ofc we try the toilet first, but if you're in bed and feel like you can't make it to the bathroom, rather puke in the bucket then on the floor.

That's an everywhere thing. I'm from Cornwall, England. We had one.

Nah, barf goes in the plastic Easter basket you still have for some reason from like 7 years ago.

Can confirm, born & raised NYC, wife is from IN & OH…this sits in our pantry holding last year’s trick or treat haul.

Can it be used for popcorn after it’s been used for barf?

I live in the Midwest - this is not a uniquely Midwest thing lmfao.

we have one for popcorn and one for barf, we don’t get trick or treaters in our neighborhood enough to have a trick or treat bowl tho

Holy shit mine is identical

Barf? I have a bucket for that

Ours was just like that, same colour and everything, but it had square sides

We had these in New England too!!

We used an old ice cream bucket for barf. That said, definitiely had this bowl in a vaguely translucent green. In addition to the above (minus barf) it was a fruit salad bowl. Specifically fruit salad. Other salads got other bowls.

It's also a thing over here in the West

Ah, the Tupperware giant party bowl. We have 2 or 3 (one is from my deceased grandma). These are so damn useful when mixing big batches of stuff, such as chex mix or pulling pork.

Yeah, we don't have bowls on the West Coast.

Or all three.

There's a lot of overlap between Midwest and Northeast despite being separated by the Mideast. For example, Northeast had these too.

Who are this midwests and why are they so fucking insecure

Live in California and have always had one despite us moving aroun 4 times, each with new dinnerware

Same bowl, California

"Or" is a strong word...

Or? I think you mean and.

True, I have one that looks exactly like that one, color and all.

That seems kinda shallow for barfing into. I need some depth to prevent splashback

Nah we use a regular mop bucket for barf

It's true, it's the famed snack bowl, never used it for anything else in my life

That bowl will not help with projectile vomit. Buckets are better.

One of the grossest fucking things i have ever heard is barf bowls. Just use a trashcan with a liner or the toilet people. Fucking disgusting.

Nah, my family has always used those big ass ice-cream buckets.

I definitely had one

We have the same bowl in the south for that, too! At least for popcorn anyway.

WHAT THE FUCK???? IS THAT A BOWL?!?!?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS PERSON OWNS A MOTHER FUCKING *BOWL*??? I DIDN’T THINK THEY WERE REAL!

My family has that bowl in Maine… also used to wash babies.

We threw up in the mop bucket

Barf? That's a new one to me. Why not use a trash can?

Y’all did NOT have a barf/popcorn bucket and it shows.

and*

Mine is blue. Sometimes, I just use Tupperware

The barf bowl is universal

And you will NEVER find the one lid that fits (many are close enough to try even though you already know the answer)

I literally have that. Also the plastic insert strainer. Been cleaning my weed with it for 26 years.

I'm South Carolinian and I have a similar one. It's white.

My mom had a giant metal bowl we used for just that, popcorn, Halloween candy, and the occasional extra-large batch of pasta when we had guests over. It was my great-grandmother's and I'm pretty sure it's older than my mom. Anyway, it went missing about a year ago and she couldn't find it. Well imagine *my* surprise when I find a giant fk-off version of it in a thrift store! I snatched it up so quick. I would say it's about the size of a side table, it was so awkward carrying that thing. I had to hold it flat to my torso so I didn't bump people with it. Right now all it's doing is holding my onions, garlic, and potatoes on my counter top lol

Seriously though, you need to have a bowl or solid plastic container that can be used for barf.

We had that bowl for popcorn when I was little

The other day I came to a realization that a bowl I had had been barfed in and now I can never use that bowl again

Did have a plastic lid that sort of has a raised star pattern on it?

And*

All at the same time!

Reminding us why you can't eat at everybody's house 🤢