Seattlest: Umbrellas 1, Jackets 0

TroyJMorris

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:33:00 -0800

The rain in NYC is completely different than our rain. However, today it was closer to real rain than I've seen since... July...

guest

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:03:18 -0800

I wear a nice hat. Seems amazingly logical for constant-light-rain-Seattle, but it's not great for long stretches of heavy rain. I did feel a bit overdressed around the wet people I walked by on the street today.

suze

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:18:29 -0800

I'm a native. If I don't care about my style or am being outdoorsy, I throw on my big black hooded rain/squall jacket. But if I've made an attempt to dress up/show some style, it's all about the umbrella. I'd rather rock the umbrella than fall into the sad, ugly, "I give up" Seattle stereotype of the chick in a dress, heels, and a Patagonia jacket .

James Callan

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:07:03 -0800

Don't get me wrong. I love rain, and I don't aways carry an umbrella. I just think the "real Seattleites don't carry umbrellas" maxim is silly. (And also untrue.)

guest

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:44:59 -0800

This is kind of funny actually. Here in NYC when it rains, anyone without the umbrella is probably a tourist, because most NY-ers carry an umbrella if there's even a 10% chance of rain. It's the tourists who get caught without, because they're used to being in their cars.

TroyJMorris

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:17:57 -0800

I agree with BPM. This morning's rain put me in great spirits. Now, if it stays this way, I may be singing another tune. And I assume, whether rightly or wrongly, that I'll eventually dry off. I'd lose an umbrella, or whack someone in the head with it walking down the street, or have the wind blow it all over, or look like a tourist. Umbrella's are stupid and annoying and I've been accosted one too many times by umbrellas (one too many, it so happens, is 14 times).

bpm2000

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:12:37 -0800

I'm a Portland native turned seattleite, and I've never rocked an umbrella. I happen to think that this morning's rain was pretty refreshing.

Paul Henry

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:51:45 -0800

Sure, you don't have to carry the hoodie, if you don't mind wearing wet cotton all day. Gee, if there were only some device that we could carry around with us to keep the rain off our clothes so we wouldn't have to spend eight months of the year swaddled in fabrics brewed up in a plastics factory, huh? I've left a few jackets behind at restaurants and stores over the past 20 years, but I've had the same umbrella for that entire time. It's a member of the family.

guest

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:13:36 -0800

There's a practical reason for choosing the hoodie over the umbrella. YOU DON'T HAVE TO CARRY THE HOODIE! (AND HENCE LOSE IT ALL THE TIME) And since there are enough days where it's misty at best, why go through 3 umbrellas a year, when one hoodie will do you for at least three years?

James Callan

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:18:20 -0800

Umbrellas are for people who like to stay dry. I suppose the bizarre pride some native Seattleites take in never using umbrellas is similar to the bizarre custom in the midwest of starting to wear shorts as soon as the thermometer goes above 32 degrees in winter.

Chnoubis

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:08:19 -0800

Umbrellas are for girls.

BigGreenFrank

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:57:42 -0800

Fine. yeah. this morning's rain was pretty bad. I won't make the usually requisite "California-ist" joke that would usually be required here.

TroyJMorris

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:56:58 -0800

Hey. I drank Rainer last night. I also walked to work without rain jacket or umbrella. Viva Seattle!

Jeremy M. Barker

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:46:25 -0800

I'm a Portland native and I've always had umbrellas. Seattleites just like to pretend it's still 1986, when the only good jobs were at Boeing and everyone else was a blue collar guy spending his free time drunk on Rainier, shooting guns at stuff and too bleary eyed to remember to bring an umbrella.