Austin is a city of skewed perceptions. Developing at record pace while still reveling in its own unabashed weirdness, there are aspects of living in this city that barely register as a blip on our radar. As a local, the line between ordinary and odd can get pretty blurry, so we took a step back and examined some of the things Austinites don’t give a second thought about—for better or for worse.
1. Dress codes (Jeans to the opera, shorts to church, an evening gown to a dive bar—you know, whatever).
2. Roving gangs of food-snatching grackles.
3. Segway tourists.
4. Fall (the season), because it barely exists here.
5. Roadwork, which is basically just part of who we are now.
6. Those blue signs lining the Lamar Underpass, which may look utilitarian, but they’re actually a work of city-funded art.
7. Celebrity Austinites, just walking around, living their lives.
8. The governor’s cartoonish contempt for them and their town.
9. Public proposals in front of the "i love you so much" wall at Jo’s. Y’all lovebirds are real cute, but nothing gets between an Austinite and their caffeine.
10. Temperatures that would be considered an emergency elsewhere.
11. Pronunciation logic (Manchaca, Guadalupe, Koenig…).
12. Professional sports teams (We don’t have ’em, we don’t need ’em! #ThinkLocal).
13. Public transportation (We don’t have much of this either, but we sure could use it!).
14. Noise ordinances (Loud Music Capital of the World, am I right?).
15. Carpets of gorgeous wildflowers along local highways. We need to appreciate Lady Bird’s hard work, people!
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