Six Things You Absolutely Must Accept If You Move To Western New York

Thinking of moving to Western New York?  There are some things we think you should know before you settle here.  I think the locals will agree with these.

Western New York is amazing.  That is first and foremost on the list.  Although the weather gets a bad rap, it's actually perfect here in the summer.  The people are nice and we live and die by our sports teams.  But there are a couple of things you might want to be aware of before you decide to pay that first rent payment.  These things are non-negotiable.

Our major highways always have “the” in front of their names.

We refer to them as “The 90,” “The 190” and “The Kensington.” Just to name a few.  When people come to town and call them “I-90” or just 90, we know you’re not from around here.

People freak out if you want to dip your wings in ranch

Ranch is ok for some things.  You might want to put it on a salad or dip some veggies in it.  But when it comes to wings, the only acceptable dip is blue cheese.  Nothing else.  We don’t know why it’s not ok.  But it’s just not.

You’re allowed to like other football teams but we don’t want to hear about it

If you’re a fan of any other football team, you need to keep that to yourself.  Nobody wants to see your Patriots or Dolphins jersey or hear about how many banners your team has in their stadium.  We cheer for the Bills, the Sabres, the Bandits, The Bisons, and the Beauts.  That is it.

Our directions often refer to landmarks

You’ll notice traffic by the Big Blue Water Tower.  Oh..the arena?  That’s down by Canalside. The faster you learn where some of these things are, the easier it will be to get around.

You are either a north-towner or a south-towner

You will forever be one of those two things.  Very few people start out as a south-towner and move to the north towns or vice versa.  We are both different types of people and we are both great in our own ways.  But we are very different.  If you’re moving here…choose wisely.

When someone says “Go Bills” to you on the street, you respond with “Go Bills.”

You don’t say, “yeah!”  You don’t say, “thanks.”  You respond with “Go Bills.”  And if you’re wearing anything that has a Bills logo on it, expect that someone throughout the day will say this to you.  Be prepared.  Some people will even substitute a “Go Bills” for a “goodbye.”  Don’t let it throw you.

Are you good with that?  If so, you're going to love it here.