Okay, I'll say around here "I went for a shake at steak 'n shake" and people go okay cool. If I said "I went for Bubble Tea" they'll think you are weird or are trying to prove something. Usually people who get tired of me going to "unAmerican" places (I can name one person in particular, who screams at me for writing in 'European' when I say neighbourhood for example) will say "Be American SD!! You are not European you traitor, everything this country has given to you and you rather piss in its face".
It's a cultural thing. What is normal in the Pacific Northwest, isn't normal here. Hence I came up with the 'intellectual' line. I'm implying West Coast culture doesn't fly too well here AT ALL in meat and potatoes country, which it doesn't. That's the joke. I guess you haven't heard the stories of 'Middle America' and the (I can't move to California because its full of liberals) like they're evil people or something. This also explains my joke to friends in BC about California where I say unless you're a republican running for President (Nixon, Reagan), California just pays the rent for the rest of the country and is seen as some place that doesn't represent the US. (Implying the perceived they're all pinko communist liberals which is what everyone is taught around here). Elected officials, after elected officials run on 'Anti-West Coast' platforms. It's ingrained into the culture here.
There's the whole reason behind the 'intellectual' joke.
