1. How It Feels To Be NYC’s Red-Headed Stepchild
Of all the boroughs, the Bronx has the worst rep—even French politicians used it as an example of crime run amok, i.e., “Mon dieu! Paris is getting so bad zese days, it's almost turning into anozzer Bronx!” Not New York in general, no, a specific diss of the Bronx. What’s up with that?
Oh, and, for the record, according to the most recent statistics, Brooklyn is NYC’s current murder capital. So there!
2. But There’s Still An Upside To That
OK, it can be kind of embarrassing admitting exactly which borough you’re from sometimes. Out-of-towners can usually be palmed off with a simple “I’m from New York”, which they’ll automatically assume must mean Manhattan.
Anyone from the tri-state area, however, might want more deets, and that's when you just mumble “Oh, I live near the stadium” (in the Bronx, it's always “the stadium”, never “Yankee Stadium”.)
Still, you're secretly proud of the Bronx's bad rep—at least it keeps out the undesirables. Brooklyn, we're looking at you...you can just keep those annoying hipsters to yourselves!
3. Bodega Coffee Beats The Hell Out Of Starbucks...
...and all those snooty “indie roasters” in Williamsburg. Bodega coffee is fresh, super-hot, and they sometimes even warm the milk—and it costs, like, less than a buck. There isn’t even a tip jar, or anyone to glare at you for ignoring it.
4. Going “Downtown” Means Heading Into Manhattan
In the other boroughs, they say they're going into the city. Except in Manhattan, of course, where they just call it staying at home. In the Bronx, however, downtown = Manhattan. And it's OK to hang out there sometimes, since they do have pretty decent nightlife (if inferior bodegas). But we've also been known to hang out in Yonkers, too. We're kind of a bridge (or tunnel) between two worlds.
5. Why There's A “The” (Or “Da”) In “The Bronx”
This often baffles non-New Yorkers—why does the Bronx take a definite article, while Manhattan, Queens, etc. have no article at all?
Well, as every schoolkid (whose school name started with P.S. something-or-other, that is) knows, the word Bronx comes from a 17th-century Dutch landowner named Bronck. His name got attached to everything in his immediate vicinity (Bronck's farm, Bronck's river, Bronck's outhouse, etc.), and by the late 19th century the whole district had adopted the name “Annexed District of the Bronx.”
This was later shortened (somewhat) to “Borough of the Bronx” and then even further to “the Bronx.” No-one wants to shorten it even more, since what's left? BX? Uh, yeah, guess that's already a thing.
6. Pelham Parkway's Got The Best Christmas Lights
Especially the Garabedian house at the corner of Westervelt Ave, this place is just way over-the-top. Music playing, all kinds of dressed-up mannequins, they've even got these crazy chandeliers. It's just…ya gotta see it to believe it.
7. Fordham Road Is Where To Go For A Discount
Whaddaya want? A designer hijab? A discount diamond? Perhaps a pair of hooker boots or butt-boosting jeans? Whatever you need, we can get it for you wholesale. Target? Fuhgeddaboutit!
8. Arthur Avenue Is the Next-Best Place For Italian Food—Next To Nonna's
And even Nonna goes there to buy her sausage and neck bones...although those, uhhh, excessively dead-looking mystery carcasses hanging in the meat market windows can be a little scary at times. Not to mention that whole pig on a spit thing they do at Ferragosto—yeesh.
9. The Rules Of Stickball
Kids anywhere else, if they've even heard of stickball, it's as one of those “way back in the olden days” tales from Grandpa, right up there with walking 10 miles through 15-foot high snowdrifts to the one-room schoolhouse. Kids (and grownups) in the Bronx, however, have actually got a stickball league: the New York Emperors.
10. That Old Stone House At 1857 Anthony Avenue Is Most Definitely Haunted
No one's quite sure by whom, or why, or even how, but it's just got to have ghosts. Proof? It's creepy (in a classic gothic horror kind of way), it's crumbling, and it's been abandoned for a long, long time. What more do you need?
Did we miss anything? Tell us what's unique about the Bronx in the comments below! 
