Many years ago I was riding The City of New Orleans to Chicago and talking to the barman. He had just bought a house in New Orleans and I had just bought one in Berkeley. The only others in the lounge car were a good looking older (than me) woman and an employee deadheading.

Said employee was trying to make time with the lady when she overheard our conversation and asked where we were from. The barman and I answered. Whereupon the deadheader's knee twitched and he said, "California, land of fruits and nuts." I replied, "I know what you mean: Ronald Reagan, John Birch Society,..." and so on for another five or so examples. "We've got lots of them."

Pissed the hell out of him. And then I said, "It's a big state. It has 11% of all Americans. You can't generalize."

He muttered to himself for quite a while and left. Made our evening, all three of us.