# Where did the jokes about New Jersey being a horrible place come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499 "2009-10-28T19:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/61 "2009-10-31T16:28:40Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > with some of fella bilong missus flodnak’s extended family Why the Neo-Melanesian? ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/62 "2009-11-01T02:55:44Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > And they were considering making that the state anthem.:dubious: New Jersey doesn’t have a state song. > [@](#): > > You want me to sing? What do I look like a friggin’ bird to youse? You want to see a bird? I’ll show you a bird. He’s your bird. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/63 "2009-11-01T03:40:32Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Incorrect. No “state song” or “state anthem” but there is a “state youth anthem” … and it is [Born to Run](http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/test/article_24f71096-7823-5886-9322-454099da3d3b.html). > > /Atlantic County native > //Sprung from a cage on Highway 9 > ///Thinks South Jersey should secede That’s probably an [urban legend](http://www.welcometoasburypark.com/borntorun121.shtml). A DJ at WPLJ _wanted_ to make Born to Run the NJ state song, but the idea was squashed after the NJ Legislature reviewed the lyrics. True, a bill was proposed, but the resolution never passed into law. \*Baby this town rips the bones from your back It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap We gotta get out while we’re young \* ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/64 "2009-11-01T16:32:42Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > That’s probably an [urban legend](http://www.welcometoasburypark.com/borntorun121.shtml). A DJ at WPLJ _wanted_ to make Born to Run the NJ state song, but the idea was squashed after the NJ Legislature reviewed the lyrics. True, a bill was proposed, but the resolution never passed into law. > > \*Baby this town rips the bones from your back > It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap > We gotta get out while we’re young \* Well … it _should_ be true, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/65 "2009-11-01T21:09:09Z")
So where exactly is the Hamptons, in New York State or Jersey ? Declan ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/66 "2009-11-01T21:35:49Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > So where exactly is the Hamptons, in New York State or Jersey ? > > Declan New York State. They are a piece of the outermost part of Long Island. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/67 "2009-11-02T00:53:32Z")
As a lifetime American who has never been farther east than Nevada, I would say that New Jersey had a reputation of corruption in various tv shows and films, and when I got much older, I found out that they were true. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/68 "2009-11-02T00:53:39Z")
The three (Suffolk County) townships at the eastern end of Long Island, where it splits into two ‘forks’, are East Hampton (the south ‘fork’), Southold (the north ‘fork’) and Southampton (where they join together). They are traditionally enclaves of the rich and famous, contrasting with the suburbia that covers most of the rest of the island east of NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/69 "2009-11-02T01:03:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Much of the image problem is due to the fact that the part most people see, the New Jersey Turnpike between New York City and Philadelphia, is lined with smoke-belching, stench-spewing chemical refineries and other industrial sites. Also, many of the communities adjacent to New York City such as Newark were subject to serious urban blight in the 1960s. \*: Right. A lot of self-hating emigrant-N.Y.-ethnic feeling (the Italians and Irish and Jews who didn’t move out there mythologized N.J. as some scummy exurb). And – the turnpike and Garden State Parkway seem to have concentrated the worst of industry, stench, sprawl, etc. There are huge stretches of N.J. that are mountainous/swampy/farmland. Drive through South Jersey from Wilmington and I swear you won’t doubt the Garden State license plate (from the manure smell, I mean). ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499/70 "2009-11-02T01:06:36Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > As a lifetime American who has never been farther east than Nevada, I would say that New Jersey had a reputation of corruption in various tv shows and films, and when I got much older, I found out that they were true. Truer than true is true. New Jersey (most of the East coast) is subject to an endemic mob-rule corruption. You saw the recent bust of pretty much every top elected local official in Northern N. Jersey this Summer. That could be repeated, of course, in Providence, Boston, anywhere along the East Coast. Historically it was classic Mafia/Irish mobs, now it’s that plus black and Hispanic scammers. A gorgeous mosaic of machine politics! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-jokes-about-new-jersey-being-a-horrible-place-come-from/515499.md?page=3)