1. Utahns Are Connoisseurs Of Culinary Oddities
Order fry sauce outside of Utah and you'll get strange looks from the person behind the counter. Nobody beyond the Mormon Corridor has ever heard of fry sauce, nor do they eat mass quantities of green jello with carrots inside. They may eat potato casseroles but they don't call them "funeral potatoes."
The green jello thing is a relatively recent development, based on a nationwide targeted marketing campaign by Jello that began in the 1970s, but it REALLY took hold in Utah. There was even an official pin for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games celebrating the jiggly gelatin product as one of the unique foods of the state.
2. Utahns Don't Curse. They Improvise.
Self-censorship is more common in Utah than in any other place. The F word is "fetch" or "fudge" or something similar. And I'm not just talking about the old timers. School kids say fake swear words all the time. Shoot.
3. Utahns Eagerly Engage In The American Holy War
In my native Alabama we think we have the greatest college football rivalry in all the land with the "Iron Bowl"—Auburn vs. 'Bama. In Utah, the BYU Cougars and the Utah Utes wage an all-out holy war. In fact, that's what it's called, "The Holy War."
BYU, or "the Y," is an LDS university in Provo; the University of Utah, or "the U," is a public university in Salt Lake City, LDS world headquarters. The annual gridiron battle is a much bigger deal than the Superbowl in this state.
4. Utah Natives Have Nieces And Nephews By The Time They Turn Five
No, Utahns don't have plural wives, but they do have lots of babies. The birthrate in Utah is higher than in any other state. Many families have so many siblings spread so far apart in age that it's common for toddlers and grade-school kids in Utah to be aunts and uncles.
5. Utahns Have Mastered The Art Of Mountain Living
Utahns are outdoors people. They live in one of the most beautiful states in the nation, with an array of natural settings to choose from—from the red rock sandstone in the Canyonlands to the salt flats to the high parks of the Wasatch and Uinta mountains, and lots of forestland.
They're hunters, bikers, skiers, snowboarders, paddlers, and they have the appropriate racks on their cars to prove it. You might even see a gun rack and a bike rack on one car, with a kayak strapped down up top for good measure.
6. Utahns Can't Handle Real Humidity
When I moved back to the Deep South, I quickly realized what I hated the most about it: the humidity. It gets very hot in Utah in the summers, but not that humid.
When friends from the Beehive State began to visit me I warned them about the humidity and they didn't seem to understand the concept. "We know heat," they'd say.
Then they experienced the oppressive humidity of a Georgia summer and couldn't wait to get back home.
7. Utahns Are As Complex As A Rube Goldberg Device When It Comes To Politics
You can't pigeonhole people in Utah when it comes to politics. They often get pegged as uber-religious conservative Republicans, because it's an undeniably red state dominated by one church.
But Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, in local parlance) is considered one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the country, and its citizens have consistently elected progressive politicians to local office, including as mayor. And even some of the most conservative and religious of rural Utahns are hardcore environmentalists.
8. Utahns Are Really Tired Of Being Asked If They're Polygamists When They Travel
After I moved to Utah from the Deep South I was asked if I used an outhouse, wore shoes and had any black friends growing up. When Utahns travel to other parts of the country they hear similar questions, such as, "How many wives does your father have?"
After I moved back and told people I had been living in Utah for a while I even heard that one. It gets old real quick.
9. Utahns Are LDS, Everyone Else Is Just Visiting
Utah may have been settled by Mormon pioneers, but the Salt Lake Valley has a diverse population of transplants. Salt Lake is a crossroads city with the nearest major cities hundreds of miles away in neighboring states. That means lots of people pass through town and many decide to stay for good, or at least a few years.
10. Utahns Are Harder Working Than Anyone Else
When the Mormons first settled Utah in the mid-19th century they were "busy as bees" building their new world out of nothing in the desert mountains.
Fast-forward more than a century and a half later and the Mormons are still busy, and that tendency has rubbed off on all the Gentiles, agnostics and atheists who live there too (there are lots). Even Utah's deadbeats are busy hiking, biking, hitting the slopes or homebrewing.
Did we miss anything? Tell us what you think about Utah in the comments below! 
