Reacting to Northwest Arkansas TikToks

Four TikToks this round: a transplant cataloguing the local vocabulary, the bikers you will get stuck behind, the way people here recruit their own friends, and the Square 2 Square ride. Each one gets at something real about living in Northwest Arkansas.

1. The Vocabulary Takes a Minute

The first is a woman who grew up in Colorado, went to college in Wyoming and ended up here. Her observation is that she wishes she had written down every phrase she had never heard before.

Two of her examples are perfect. "Knee high to a grasshopper," which needs no explanation once you hear it in context, and which nothing prepares you for beforehand. And the one where somebody says "sir?" to mean "say that again" — she describes thinking she was watching an altercation begin, because to her ear it sounded aggressive. It is the opposite of aggressive. That took her a while.

For the record, Arkansas is a Southern state by the Census Bureau's classification — the South Region, West South Central Division, alongside Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. People do argue about it.

I had to learn a batch of these myself. I do not use most of them, but you need to understand them. "Holler," which I heard constantly before I understood it, is a small sheltered valley — standard Ozark and Appalachian usage. It comes up a lot when you work in land, which I do. And "crick" for creek, which you can pick up on but which stops you the first time.

Her closing line is the right one: "Woo Pig Sooie, please never change." The university's own version, for what it is worth, runs "Woooooo. Pig. Sooie!" three times through, then "Razorbacks."

2. You Will Get Stuck Behind Cyclists

This is true and you should make your peace with it early.

If you live here, move here, or visit, you will end up behind a group of riders on a two-lane road with a double yellow, wondering how long this goes on. It goes on a while.

They have the right to be there. Arkansas Code 27-49-111 gives cyclists the same rights and duties as the driver of a vehicle. And when you do pass, Arkansas Code 27-51-311 requires you to leave at least 3 feet. The penalties are real: a fine of up to $100 for the base violation, rising to as much as $1,000 if the violation causes a collision resulting in death or serious injury.

I have no horror stories. It is mostly a weekend thing, and worse when there is an event on. It is the cost of living somewhere that built its identity around bikes, and it is a low cost.

3. Everyone Here Recruits Their Own Friends

The third TikTok captures a pattern I watch play out constantly.

Phase one: you tell people you are moving to Arkansas and they ask what is wrong with you.

Phase two: you start posting — the trails, the weather, the Saturday you had. Your friends and family start asking what you did this weekend, in a tone that is not entirely casual.

Phase three, somewhere between six months and a year later: somebody in Pittsburgh looks around and decides they are done.

It happens over and over. And the thing that makes it different from normal relocation is the reason. These are not people chasing a job offer. They are people who looked at what a week here costs and what it contains and concluded the trade was obvious.

So keep posting. It works.

4. Square 2 Square Is Worth Planning Around

The fourth one is the Square 2 Square Bike Ride, run by Fayetteville Parks and Recreation with Bentonville Parks and Recreation, twice a year — spring and fall, alternating direction. Spring runs Bentonville to Fayetteville, fall runs the other way. It is roughly 30 miles.

It is explicitly not a race. The organizers describe it as festive, leisurely and beginner friendly, and that is accurate — people ride it to see the corridor, not to post a time.

Two corrections to what I said. The Razorback Regional Greenway is 40 miles, not 35. And the endpoints are more specific than "Bella Vista to Fayetteville": the northern end is in Bella Vista near Lake Bella Vista, and the southern end is Kessler Mountain Regional Park in Fayetteville.

The reason to ride it rather than drive the corridor is that the Greenway goes places roads do not. Creek crossings, back sections of parks, whole stretches of the region you would never see from a car — plus coffee and food along the way.

I have said you can rent in one city and drop off in the other. Phat Tire has shops in both Bentonville and Fayetteville, which is presumably where I got that, but I cannot find a confirmed one-way drop-off program on their site. Call the shop before you plan around it.