Ah, it’s that lovely time of year when Seattle’s inferiority complex rears its ugly head in the form of the ridiculously stubborn “no umbrella” attitude. Listen, I’ve lived in this city for almost 30 years, and I love it (I won’t say where I came from lest I trigger that inferiority complex again), but you people are such martyrs. You’re willing to get sopping wet and miserable just to dig your heels in on this asinine stance that literally no other rainy place on earth takes.
Even the Brits keep calm and use a bloody umbrella, you twats. They also have a cute name for them: Brollies. Would it make you use one if we agreed to call them that? No, you people don’t like fun, you like to be miserable, it’s your bit. Get over yourselves! There’s a reason umbrellas were invented! No amount of overpriced, outdoor-chic REI gear is going to keep you from looking like a fool just so you can feel superior to the “weaklings” using umbrellas (read: people who don’t have insecurity issues).
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If London had north Pacific hurricanes they would use their umbrellas less too
Hear hear!
I am convinced that people who insist that “no one in Seattle uses umbrellas” drive everywhere and don’t notice people outside of cars. I’ve lived all over Seattle for over 19 years, walk, bike, and take transit to get around, and on a rainy day a solid 20-30% of people you see about have umbrellas. Fremont. West Seattle. Capitol Hill. Ballard. Downtown. Belltown. LQA. Etc.
Obviously an umbrella is not a good choice when it’s windy, but that’s like, what, less than 10 day a year? Seattle is not the windy city.
Umbrellas are not as ubiquitous here as they are in other rainy cities, but they are still very common. Shut up with your weird “no one in Seattle x” gatekeeping.
It’s called gortex (the jacket gets wet, not the person in said jacket). Plus do you see many umbrellas on your hikes or on the slopes? Of course not – thus you must be one of those indoor types (try getting out in nature – I promise you won’t melt).
This isn’t the East Coast. In the PNW, if it’s raining hard enough to justify using an umbrella it’s probably also windy enough to turn that umbrella inside-out…
Stop hitting me in the face with your umbrella! Look where you’re going!
@4 and @5 agreed whole heartedly. IA you won’t melt if you get a little wet and all you short stacks not watching where you’re going trying to poke out my eyes with your umbrella’s, no thanks. I’ll let you in on a little secret, we make fun of your umbrellas bc we know it gives you a complex as an outsider.
@4 what they said. I see people stubbornly sticking to umbrellas when the “rain” is so light it just wafts up under there and moistens you regardless, which is how it rains most of the time
Back in the 80’s, I spent a few years selling popcorn downtown at the corner of Union and 4th Ave, outside of the Butch Bloom store (the former Rainier Square). The only thing that made it feasible in the winter was the deep overhang of the awning and the heat of the popcorn kettle (which I developed a somewhat inappropriate relationship with November-February).
The wind whips up through the east-west building canyons something fierce, and I can’t tell you how many umbrellas I saw bite the dust. I should have had a bin of cheap umbrellas to sell to the diehards.
Anon, have you forgotten that the rain elsewhere is usually different? The rain in Seattle is seldom a heavy rain. The type of rain where you make a run for it when going between your car and a store’s entrance. You know, pouring cats and dogs.
Instead, it’s usually just a light “eh” rain. If I’m walking a half mile from point A to point B, say to go to the library or to a movie, I don’t want to deal with an umbrella when I get there, a rain jacket with a hood works perfectly fine.
You must learn our ways.
Ha! I moved away briefly and before I moved back, I gave away my umbrella. To be fair, I never used it there either (it was a company gift) but I knew I for sure never would here. I mean, it almost never rains hard enough to bother with it. You do you but I’d rather keep my hands free, thanks.
Please stop poking me in the eye with your umbrella.
And, the daddy issues this town deals with.
9, meet #1. #1, meet #9. England certainly has hurricanes, Seattle not so much.
3, hiking or “on the slopes” isn’t the place for an umbrella, you are correct, but I don’t think we are talking about that. I think we are talking about in the city.
Catty and meaningless arguments about just what kind of weather/rain Seattle has (“Pacific hurricanes”?), why not just accept that each day is fucking different and sometimes umbrellas make sense, sometimes they don’t. I like them. They keep me from getting wet.
And yeah, when you use one you have to be careful, but really, I don’t think there is some kind of epidemic of eye poking that all these people are crying about. Manufactured rage.
I am a native Seattlite, and I have used umbrellas my whole life. It’s this weird, passive aggressive (naturally) clique in Seattle (including lots of newcomers who somehow think by rejecting an umbrella they are “becoming” more Seattle-ish) that continues to argue that umbrellas don’t belong in our fair city.
Sans
my Caddy
I’d get a Lot
wetter but s/he
Earns that overly-
Generous 15% ‘tip.’
what with eltumpfster
running the show we
can expect massive
rains washing out
homes hillsides
umbrella hold-
ers & maybe
even Us?
drill, baby.
Drill.
@14 is right, of course. Umbrellas aren’t out of place in Seattle (what do you think a Bumbershoot is?) but a better option in many if not most situations is a wide-brimmed waterproof hat. Get one with a chin strap, because wind. REI (no endorsement) had some nice ones last time I was there. You should always be wearing a hat outdoors anyway. Your future self will thank you.
@16
bingo on the Hat
I misplaced mine for
a year or so and discovered it
in my sibling’s garage. oh HAPPY Day! it’s
waterproof (didn’t know they could Do that to cotton!)
and I got it at Swains
in Port Angeles. I
shouldda got
Two.
and a wide-brimmed plastic
Construction hat works
Wonders too specially
in Hail or meteor
showers.
Hey letter-writer : did your brolly turn inside-out today? NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?
(rain rain
go Away
but
when them
Heat Waves
stay and stay)
then
I highly recommend
‘brellys for Seattle’s
new heat waves cuz
Nothing Says Seat-
tlelite like a Brelly
in a Heatwave.
@19
aw blow it
OUT YOUR BUTT.
Rain coat? Umbrellas are annoying and I’m so glad people don’t use them here. With how spaced out and unaware people usually are, I’d get my eyeballs poked out.