# New Jersey, New Jersey, New Jersey **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332 "2003-01-03T01:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/21 "2003-01-03T15:43:43Z")
I recommend CT for Jersey ex-pats. Almost the same weather, also close to NYC, no tolls, cheaper housing, less traffic, and a non-insane airport. Plus the other big city you’re close to is Boston, instead of Philly. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/22 "2003-01-03T15:46:48Z")
**cuauhtemoc** and **psycat** , I’m with you on the Jersey diaspora thing. When I first moved to Colorado I was in a bar and somehow found out my waitress was from the town next to mine in NJ. I asked “Oh, do you know so and so?” and she said she graduated high school with him. Then she became a little less friendly like I was a relative she was obliged to put up with or something. **JerseyDiamond** , have fun in Albuquerque. Sometimes I think about moving out there. My wife and I like visiting Taos and Santa Fe and the surrounding area but it seems like it can be a tough place to make a living. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/23 "2003-01-03T16:39:41Z")
I’m getting married in New Jersey, in May 2004. My fiance is from Milltown, and her parents now live in Manasquan (Jersey shore area – near Seaside heights and Wall Township). My first visit there was much fun. Being a Florida native, I have never seen signs that said “Brick Twp.” I wasn’t sure what that stood for (“township,” by the way), so I read it out loud as “Brick Twip.” This is now my preferred NJ joke. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/24 "2003-01-03T16:44:07Z")
Yeah, that’s a fuckin’ riot, **AlbertRose**. 😃 > [@](#): > > **mack** :When I first moved to Colorado I was in a bar and somehow found out my waitress was from the town next to mine in NJ. I asked “Oh, do you know so and so?” and she said she graduated high school with him. Then she became a little less friendly like I was a relative she was obliged to put up with or something. Yeah, that sounds about right. We Jerseyish are such hospitable souls, aren’t we? ---
**Author:** ![JerseyDiamond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyDiamond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyDiamond)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/25 "2003-01-03T19:19:30Z")
I don’t think I am going to change my screen name. It would be way to much to take in all at once 😃 I already changed my last name to Mrs. Cool, and if i change anything else, I might lose my identity. lol Brick TWIP? lmao…that is funny Smackfu, I thought CT was suppose to be expensive! I am suprised… Eunoia, I am not a baseball fan. IIRC, somesone told me that there was a girls team called the Jersey diamonds or something like that. Is that what you are getting at? 🙂 Dragongirl, I just moved, over the summer, to Garfield. That is right next to Saddlebrook. It is a little too expensive! I was raised in Westwood for most of my life, and spent my HS years in Ringwood, Erskine Lakes. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/26 "2003-01-03T19:44:26Z")
I first saw Jersey while riding along the parkway in autumn, and it was beautiful with all the red and orange trees. You’ll like NM, though. Albuquerque may be a dust bowl, but travel through northern New Mexico’s mountain villages and do some hiking. The aspen trees are different from the eastern seaboard trees, but they are beautiful in the autumn in a different but distinctive way (especially when interspersed with dark green and blue spruce trees!) ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/27 "2003-01-03T20:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JerseyDiamond \* > \*\* > We all know that every place has its not so nice areas, but what is it about NJ that urks people? > \*\* It can’t be our spelling. I have a theory that most people that do pass through do so either by way of Newark Airport or the Turnpike - both hideous things (although functional) in my book. The Parkway, on the other hand is very picturesque; when it’s not a parking lot it makes for a nice drive. ---
**Author:** ![ThatGuyWithPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@ThatGuyWithPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatGuyWithPants)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/28 "2003-01-03T22:44:04Z")
[James Thurber] PERTH AMBOY! PERTH AMBOY! THATS IT! [/James Thurber] ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/29 "2003-01-03T22:58:14Z")
_Originally posted by lost4life_ > [@](#): > > dougie\_monty I’m not sure I get your point (I often miss the obvious). You knew 2 girls from Jersey that didn’t look alike. One you didn’t get along with, the other you didn’t talk to…and? Are you trying to point out that people from the state are diverse, unfriendly, or don’t belong in California? 😃 Actually, I had merely a passing acquaintance with the statuesque Martie, for three years. Andrea was not at RUHS until the start of the senior year. She sat right next to me in the government class; Martie’s desk was across the room (we were near the closed end of the “double horseshoe” pattern of desks preferred by the teacher). Andrea’s New York accent was as thick as Fran Drescher’s or Valerie Harper’s (as Rhoda, at least). There was another girl in the class–an honor student–I had had a crush on; this fell apart by the time we had the first-semester final. The teacher was reading the exam grades from highest to lowest; the third girl, whom I was not speaking to any more, got a C. I smirked; Andrea said to me, “You son of a bitch!” under her breath. And another time Andrea blocked my way to my desk; I angrily pushed her out of the way. I would not have dared to attempt that with Martie. Maybe my point is that New Jersey people are the kind you always remember… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/30 "2003-01-03T23:10:09Z")
[Walter Matthau in _The Sunshine Boys_] “Nobody goes to New Jersey unless they have to!” [Walter Matthau in _The Sunshine Boys_ I grew up and currently live in Rockland County, NY, right on the border with Montvale. In fact, I can easily walk from my front door to the border. Lots of nice places in New Jersey, Montvale, Park Ridge, Saddle River… OK, Jersey joke… What’s the New Jersey driving test consist of? They have you drive through a parking lot with five traffic cones set up in it. If you knock down six cones, you fail. Yes, New Jersey drivers…_yeeeeesh_ ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/31 "2003-01-03T23:28:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psycat90 \* > \*\*Hooray for the Garden State! > \*\* Is it worth a friendship if someone jokingly called it “The Garbage State”? That’s what happened to me. I didn’t make up the stereotype or the phrase, but I said it and lost a longtime friendship over it. I’ve had more “hothead” experiences with Jersey men than any other state, save maybe Texas. And then there’s The Boss and all those macho Jersey guys, sensitive inside if you can only make it through the steel covering. The song Jersey Girl, she’s better than any other, more wholesome, less manipulative. The stereotyping of New Jersey citizens is due at least in part to their own mythologizing (if that’s a word) of themselves. Everybody does this to an extent. I think it’s a natural inclination. I live in Kentucky and I just love the rolling hills, being a river rat and horse racing, horse racing, horse racing! I am not barefoot, nor am I pregnant and/or ignorant. I do not defer to my hubby (if I had one), or consider him the “head” of the family nor does any woman I know, but they call it the heart of Promisekeepers. Some people here _do_ embody those stereotypes though, just as Jersey really did [deliberately past tense] have a crappy envirnmental record and was once in the business of accepting other states garbage. Generalizations are generalizations and as such should not be take very seriously but are nevertheless mildly useful. FTR & AAA- Marrying your cousin is as uncommon here as it is anywhere, though it was once neccessary for mountain folk up and down the Appalachian chain at various points in history. I’ve been through NJ. The WW Parkway is really beautiful and tranquil, yada, yada and the state is rich in history (which I always love) but the only city I saw in detail was Camden, so I obviously don’t have much to go on. Visiting Whitman’s grave was an experience of a lifetime for me though, and I shall never forget it. Good luck moving to the SW! I’m jealous. As much as I love this land, I would love the chance to live in that kind of environment for a while. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/32 "2003-01-03T23:30:56Z")
Damn, got here too late. I dunno if **Dave** is too young to remember, but one of the reasons those who lived on the border there disliked NJ, was that the drinking age in NY was 18 and in NJ was 21. So all their 18-20 year olds used to cross the border and tear up our bars and roadways of a Saturday night. Now, of course, the drinking age is 21 everywhere, but their driving hasn’t improved. That said, I would love to live in Upper Saddle River. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/33 "2003-01-03T23:37:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JerseyDiamond \* > \*\* > Eunoia, I am not a baseball fan. IIRC, somesone told me that there was a girls team called the Jersey diamonds or something like that. Is that what you are getting at? 🙂 > > \*\* I think Eunoia is making a reference to the 2001 World Series champs, the Arizona Diamondbacks. So you wouldn’t have to change your name- it’s serendipitious. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/34 "2003-01-03T23:51:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SparrowHawk \* > \*\*Damn, got here too late. I dunno if **Dave** is too young to remember, but one of the reasons those who lived on the border there disliked NJ, was that the drinking age in NY was 18 and in NJ was 21. So all their 18-20 year olds used to cross the border and tear up our bars and roadways of a Saturday night. > > Now, of course, the drinking age is 21 everywhere, but their driving hasn’t improved. > > That said, I would love to live in Upper Saddle River. \*\* Wassamatta, Pearl River ain’t good enough for ya no more? And yes, I **am** too young to remember. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/35 "2003-01-04T04:58:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \* > \*\*Wassamatta, Pearl River ain’t good enough for ya no more? > > And yes, I **am** too young to remember. 😛 \*\* I have no objections to Pearl River. I was trying to pick a nice place in Joisey and I have no desire to return to Paterson, land of my birth. You whipper-snapper, you. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332/36 "2003-01-04T19:49:09Z")
I can’t believe I forgot the one of the most visible annoyances of living in NJ - the frickin’ _tollbooths!_ We have so many of them! I wonder if we have an inordinately high number of tollbooths per mile of highway compared to other states or if it just seems that way. And do NOT mention E-ZPass in my presence.:mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jersey-new-jersey-new-jersey/146332.md?page=1)