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hcwhitewolf t1_jdeawyz wrote

There’s a couple I can think of, and some of them are somewhat niche.

In no particular order:

  • Gina

  • Family Guy stuff including Adam West

  • H.P. Lovecraft

  • Our congressional reps have been pretty involved in important committees over the years and are pretty visible.

  • Newport/Tennis Hall of Fame.

  • WaterFire

  • Brown University, RISD, PC (mostly for basketball)

I’m definitely missing some, but those are at least a few.

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PlayTriviaLA t1_jdee88o wrote

Harkness House / Holiday House because of the association with Taylor Swift.

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LurkingProvidence t1_jdeg8q4 wrote

Maybe Judge Frank Caprio is from the clips that go viral every now and then.

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owsleythehunter t1_jdej4ay wrote

Where Dylan went electric, but also Folk Festival in general.

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PlayTriviaLA t1_jdejuod wrote

Having grown up and lived 20+ years in RI and then moving to Los Angeles for work for the last 10… most of the things that are “Rhode Island Famous” are things than no one outside of New England have ever heard of.

I have had to explain to people many times…

  • what coffee milk is
  • what chouriço and linguiça are
  • what a little neck is
  • that Narragansett is a real beer named for a real place in RI
  • the Big Blue Bug
  • what the difference is between New England and Rhode Island clam chowder is and that Manhattan / red chowder is not really a thing in RI
  • the Station Night Club Fire
  • Waterfire
  • Dell’s
  • Dunkin Donuts, even though it is originally from MA, is everywhere in RI
  • that TF green is actually not in Providence
  • that Stop and Shop is a grocery store
  • that Papa Gino’s is a pizza chain
  • the Mr. Potato Heads
  • that the state is small by area, but in reality, it’s a fairly long drive from Warren to Connecticut, never mind driving all the way to Boston or worse, New York 🫠
  • that RI is, in fact, the smallest state by land area and not Delaware like they usually insist even though I’m a trivia writer and host from RI
  • that Rhode Island is an island within the State of Rhode Island, it’s just that everyone calls it Aquidneck Island
  • that the name was “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”, the longest state name, for the above reason, and that while “plantations” obviously has connotations of slavery, that when the name was used, it was commonly used to refer to any newly established settlement, not a large farm that used slaves from Africa…
  • that RI was the first to declare independence and the first to attack GB openly (Gaspee Affair) long before the rest of the colonies and the last to ratify the constitution—RI was basically coerced into joining the US by the other 12 colonies
  • “wicked” and that’s it’s not just a Boston thing and that you don’t say just “wicked”, it has to come before other value words like “good,” or “bad,” or “fucking annoying”.
  • buying milk and bread before it snows
  • “no school fostah-glostah” —I only include this one because I actually MET someone from Glocester recently at a trivia game and said this and he looked at me like I had spoken Klingon.

RI things most people actually have heard of—at least out here in LA—include:

  • Buddy Cianci—at least if they listen to a lot of crime podcasts.
  • Brown
  • RISD
  • URI for some sports
  • PC (basketball mostly)
  • Newport
  • RI International Film Festival (it’s a qualifying festival to receive Oscar nominations)
  • Family Guy / Quahog (thinking it’s a real town)
  • The Breakers
  • Holiday House / Harkness House because of Taylor Swift
  • H. P. Lovecraft

Things people think they have heard of from RI that are not from RI:

  • ESPN —because they assume when I say I’m from “Bristol” that it’s the same place as Bristol, Connecticut
  • “Oh, I love Long Island!” 🙄
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LongRhode t1_jdeoba2 wrote

The band “Throwing Muses”, Actress Debra Messing, Actress Mena Suvari

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Geri-psychiatrist-RI t1_jdes73h wrote

Replying to Riff_Raff66 (#2,322,707)

Ummmmmmmmm, no. I never even heard of Dels until I moved to RI

Seriously, as someone who was born and raised in St. Louis the only two things/brands that people would recognize are Family Guy and Hasbro toys

Edit note: I didn’t mention CVS. Everyone will recognize that brand

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RandomChurn t1_jdetqma wrote

There were two combatant narrators in Ken Burns' Civil War series, one from the South. One from the North. Every episode in the series had numerous readings from their diaries.

The one from the North was a Rhode Islander, buried in Swan Point, Elisha Hunt Rhodes.

Oh, and Cthulhu ... every day Etsy shoppers even in France search Etsy for Cthulhu stuff. I'm sure Lovecraft would be stunned.

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str8dwn t1_jdex7s0 wrote

The very first X Games. Not the X Games where TH ramped into the harbor for a swim (that was the 2nd).

Also, Wave Ave is also pretty widely known in certain communities.

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Riff_Raff66 t1_jdf25c2 wrote

Replying to Riff_Raff66 (#2,325,974)

Del's is a brand of frozen lemonade typically found in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts during the summer months. Del's lemonade is available in 20 states. Frozen lemonade is a kind of slush. It is made from water, concentrate, and real lemons in an ice cream machine.

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Pdmnt t1_jdfagy4 wrote

Replying to Riff_Raff66 (#2,326,008)

Their website (at one point, at least) had a listing of every state. I remember Las Vegas was one place, and I've seen it in Cary, NC, which is a major New England transplant city

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jma7400 t1_jdflqy3 wrote

Charlie Day. Always Sunny.

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TheCarzilla t1_jdfuk9h wrote

That giant grasshopper was in an episode of the Simpsons.

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WPRV t1_jdfw0w8 wrote

Mr. Potato Head

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bzarins t1_jdhf177 wrote

Replying to PlayTriviaLA (#2,332,275)

Well, not me, but I lived in Kentucky and most people did when like 2” were forecast. Eggs too, so maybe they were worried they couldn’t make French toast? Idk. Was the same when I lived in Chicagoland too.

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Quick_Tear_3600 t1_jdhje6f wrote

The Station nightclub. It’s the only consistent thing people mention when I mention RI.

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Styx_Renegade t1_jdl3qq2 wrote

The Big Blue Bug maybe. It was shown in Dumb and Dumber for a few seconds.

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BlueEyedRage t1_jdqznqn wrote

Our world famous Rhode Island Dressing, of course!

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