# What does {WE?} mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 12, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151 "2024-09-12T05:36:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/21 "2024-09-13T03:12:08Z")

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Are you seeing a doctor horticulturalist about it? 🤪

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/22 "2024-09-13T03:32:04Z")

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It was a complete avatar transplant.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/23 "2024-09-13T03:40:54Z")

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When i lived in New Jersey, the joke was, “what exit?”

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/24 "2024-09-13T07:18:40Z")

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A combo of the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Parkway was always by mile marker and the Turnpike was just 1 to 18 for exits, so the what exit question really worked for NJ and does predate Piscopo.

There is even a fairly famous [Exit 0](https://www.capemay.com/getting-here#:~:text=The%20West%20Cape%20May%20bridge,a%20right%2Dhand%20turn) in NJ that means Cape May, one of the best places to vacation and one of the oldest resort towns.

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/GSPkwy_Shield.svg/240px-GSPkwy_Shield.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/GSPkwy_Shield.svg/240px-GSPkwy_Shield.svg.png)

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/25 "2024-09-13T07:26:55Z")

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I drove the NJ Turnpike once. Not all of it, but I did count the cars.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/26 "2024-09-13T07:28:01Z")

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I prefer the Yes cover for the record, though I only had it on CD and mp3.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/27 "2024-09-13T18:14:24Z")

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The Turnpike has always had a dystopian feel, going through some of the worst polluted sections of the country - or at least it _looked_ that way. During the 1980s, parts of it _smelled_ that way as well: this major artery, part of Interstate 95 which travels from Florida to Maine, passed a garbage dump which while invisible from the highway was impossible to ignore. No AC system could defeat its smell. That dump has since closed, but [the reputation -still well deserved- lives on](http://www.limbicsignal.com/2016/07/what-exit-smells-of-new-jersey-turnpike.html).

As for the Parkway, while I wouldn’t call it beautiful, I would say that it’s an interesting road to travel on, made better by their ban on semi-trailer trucks. (Why? The Parkway has overpasses which go as low as 13 feet high.) Of course both can be congested at certain times.

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/28 "2024-09-13T18:21:00Z")

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Elizabeth, NJ, summers 1960s-70s, all sorts of fiery and wavy effluence from the many stacks, tremendous vile stink, VW Bug with no AC, both parents smoking. Hell incarnate. Much better now.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/29 "2024-09-13T20:11:10Z")

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Actually the Parkway south of the Raritan River, the lower 127 miles of it in fact, is a pretty highway. Running through the hills of Holmdel, the Pine Barrens and close to the water further south and down to Cape May.

And yes the Turnpike is awful and use to be worse.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/30 "2024-09-13T23:27:01Z")

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> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> During the 1980s, parts of it _smelled_ that way as well: this major artery, part of Interstate 95 which travels from Florida to Maine, passed a garbage dump which while invisible from the highway was impossible to ignore. No AC system could defeat its smell. That dump has since closed, but [the reputation -still well deserved- lives on](http://www.limbicsignal.com/2016/07/what-exit-smells-of-new-jersey-turnpike.html).

Tacoma was like that too when I was a kid growing up. It stank like rotten eggs when you passed by the town on I-5. It was like rotten eggs. Just disgusting. When the paper plants stopped producing their noxious fumes it went away. Which is a good thing, because my main work office is in Tacoma and I’m there multiple days every week (in fact, I just got back from there today).

It was called the Tacoma Aroma, and even has its own Wikipedia page.

> **[Aroma of Tacoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroma_of_Tacoma)**
>
> The "Aroma of Tacoma", also known as the Tacoma Aroma, is a putrid and unpleasant odor associated with Tacoma, Washington, United States. The smell has been described as similar to the odor of rotten eggs. The odor is not noticeable throughout the city, but is rather concentrated in the Tacoma Tideflats and is frequently smelled by motorists traveling that section of Interstate 5.
> The odor has been commonly known by the name "Aroma of Tacoma" since at least the early 1940s. However, there are...

I can assure you that it’s now totally gone, there is no special smell anymore. Good riddance.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/31 "2024-09-14T01:14:39Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Actually the Parkway south of the Raritan River, the lower 127 miles of it in fact, is a pretty highway.

Even up North, a great deal of the Garden State Parkway is leafy with stone bridges. Won’t win many awards but it’s somewhat less dreary than your typical thruway.

[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/2020-07-11_15_59_31_View_north_along_New_Jersey_State_Route_444_%28Garden_State_Parkway%29_at_Exit_136_%28Linden%2C_Roselle%29_on_the_border_of_Clark_Township_and_Cranford_Township_in_Union_County%2C_New_Jersey.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/2020-07-11_15_59_31_View_north_along_New_Jersey_State_Route_444_%28Garden_State_Parkway%29_at_Exit_136_%28Linden%2C_Roselle%29_on_the_border_of_Clark_Township_and_Cranford_Township_in_Union_County%2C_New_Jersey.jpg)

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**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/32 "2024-09-19T16:29:55Z")

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**WE?!**

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E09LU6XVyxs/hqdefault.jpg "The Royal We") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E09LU6XVyxs)

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**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/33 "2024-09-21T18:50:07Z")

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> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> there is no special smell anymore. Good riddance.

That’s too bad, it was a great rhyme.

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**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-we-mean/1007151/34 "2024-09-25T14:44:13Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> And yes the Turnpike is awful and use to be worse.

Awful as far as beauty, but it is a very well designed road, excellent for driving.  
I say this as one who struggles with the Pennsylvania Turnpike daily. Wanna know how nice the NJTP is, just drive on other people’s roads.

When I first moved to NJ they were just beginning the widening project between 8 and 8a, so there was a horrible merge coming south from New Brunswick. Now that they have finished widening that section as well as the later widening down to 7a, it’s really a nice ride all the way.

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