Surly Citizens
Come again? Austin lands on America's Snobbiest Cities list
Yet another list was published by Travel + Leisure that's sure to send Austin into a tizzy: America's Snobbiest City.
Coming in at 19 out of 20 is Texas' capital city — just a smidgen behind Houstonians, who collectively ranked as the 17th snobbiest populous in the nation according to the magazine's measurement of pretension. Suspiciously missing from the list? Our Dallas brethren.
Ahead of Austin are the usual suspects: San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles.
But the real shockers are Kansas City, Missouri, which apparently landed on the list for its unfortunate plethora of high-art museums; Providence, Rhode Island for its "cafe culture" and haplessly abundant performance art; and Portland, Maine because of the town's lamentable profusion of beer options.
As for Austin, the magazine blames the 'tude on the University of Texas students, which it describes as "tea sippers," and the overall "brainy, off-beat vibe."
So what you're saying, Travel + Leisure, is that the characteristics that make a city worth living in (i.e., culture) are the very ones that make its people fundamentally intolerable? Nice try.
Oops, there I go acting snotty again.