One of the central questions of both the A debreceniség mintázatai (Patterns of Debrecenness) conference and its subsequent 2020 edited collection was the background of the conflicting relation between Ferenc Kazinczy and the intelligentsia of Debrecen. The city followed the path of organic cultural development, based upon its traditions, country town impulses and inner development. The opposition promoted the modelling of western societies, as well as implementing their literary characteristics based upon the aesthetic qualities of western-European languages: all these led to nationwide outcries reminiscent of the heated polemics. The local intellectuals, referring to the profane populace and the idea of the language’s “collective precedency”, stepped up against the elite who interpreted taste as an objective factor. This is how in the 18th century the most populous and major city of traditional Hungary was scape goated. In the conflicts even Lajos Domokos, who was educated at western universities, spoke four languages and translated Fénelon, the mayor of Debrecen, was labelled as the embodiment of plebeian provincialism. The paper also considers the effect of the church on xeno experience in the city with reformed majority, and then it follows certain characteristic statements - in relation to the in the volume often mentioned assessment of civic mentality – up until the First World War.