Jersey
Jersey is the punchline in a lot of shows and movies I have seen. Can this be explained?
I dont understand the hate, but I'm not from the US anyway. I see this done to other countries in American films, but whats the hate for Jersey all about?
I dont understand the hate, but I'm not from the US anyway. I see this done to other countries in American films, but whats the hate for Jersey all about?
Comments
Thats true. But people took shots at Jersey back in the early 2000s (again, based on what I watched).
IIRC Jersey had/has a large number of industrial factories, sits in the shadow of the more cosmopolitan NYC, and is home to a working class Italian American community, so jokes have popped up about how Jersey smells, is backwards, and is full of lowbrow people/Mafiaso.
I did a quick google search and I found this article on the history of Jersey jokes: http://www.nj.com/washington-township-times/index.ssf/2014/07/the_jersey_joke_rutgers_profes.html
In some ways it is part of New York geographically.
Add in the bravado of New Yorkers and perhaps some jealously by those in New Jersey for being second fiddle to the big apple an dyou have the perfect storm.
Honestly us NYers dont hate Jersey as much as we hate Staten Island.
Surprisingly, jersey is rich with history though. Thomas Edison, George Washington, etc, theres a good amount of historically significant things that happened in jersey. And hey, at least it's not Staten Island (lived there for many years too, and they get it the worst by far.)
Jersey legitimately does smell like shit lol. At least all the parts I've driven through. I hate new jersey. The Jersey shore stuff doesn't bother me because every state has their form of parasites. It's the fact I have to go through NJ to get home from NY if the George Washington bridge is shut down. Fuck the tappan zee bridge.
You must be hanging around to many public restrooms or waste facilities. I live on the Jersey Shore and unless ocean air smells like shit???
Jersey legitimately does smell like shit lol. At least all the parts I've driven through. I hate new jersey. The Jersey shore stuff doesn't bother me because every state has their form of parasites. It's the fact I have to go through NJ to get home from NY if the George Washington bridge is shut down. Fuck the tappan zee bridge.
You must be hanging around to many public restrooms or waste facilities. I live on the Jersey Shore and unless ocean air smells like shit???
To be fair, at certain tides the ocean really does smell kinda shitty
Jersey legitimately does smell like shit lol. At least all the parts I've driven through. I hate new jersey. The Jersey shore stuff doesn't bother me because every state has their form of parasites. It's the fact I have to go through NJ to get home from NY if the George Washington bridge is shut down. Fuck the tappan zee bridge.
You must be hanging around to many public restrooms or waste facilities. I live on the Jersey Shore and unless ocean air smells like shit???
To be fair, at certain tides the ocean really does smell kinda shitty
Which tides? Red tide would be the one that would come to mind as a possibility?
Jersey legitimately does smell like shit lol. At least all the parts I've driven through. I hate new jersey. The Jersey shore stuff doesn't bother me because every state has their form of parasites. It's the fact I have to go through NJ to get home from NY if the George Washington bridge is shut down. Fuck the tappan zee bridge.
You must be hanging around to many public restrooms or waste facilities. I live on the Jersey Shore and unless ocean air smells like shit???
To be fair, at certain tides the ocean really does smell kinda shitty
Which tides? Red tide would be the one that would come to mind as a possibility?
When I lived down by Atlantic City and egg harbor twp, at certain times of the day, every single day, the bay would absolutely smell of rotten things and farts. I attribute this to low tide, correct me if I'm wrong but I imagine the low tide exposed a lot of things that created a certain stank that when covered by water went unnoticed.
Jersey legitimately does smell like shit lol. At least all the parts I've driven through. I hate new jersey. The Jersey shore stuff doesn't bother me because every state has their form of parasites. It's the fact I have to go through NJ to get home from NY if the George Washington bridge is shut down. Fuck the tappan zee bridge.
You must be hanging around to many public restrooms or waste facilities. I live on the Jersey Shore and unless ocean air smells like shit???
To be fair, at certain tides the ocean really does smell kinda shitty
Which tides? Red tide would be the one that would come to mind as a possibility?
When I lived down by Atlantic City and egg harbor twp, at certain times of the day, every single day, the bay would absolutely smell of rotten things and farts. I attribute this to low tide, correct me if I'm wrong but I imagine the low tide exposed a lot of things that created a certain stank that when covered by water went unnoticed.
The swamp/marsh land you were near smelt like crap because of low tide organic material would start decaying. I'm in LBI which is on the ocean so it's a good bit different.
I did a quick google search and I found this article on the history of Jersey jokes: http://www.nj.com/washington-town...
Very interesting link, thank you for this! BTW, the domain (nj.com) is of The Star-Ledger, the statewide newspaper and one I consider to be of high quality. Nothing comparable in any other state I have lived.
A few things I found interesting-- I always knew the division as north and south Jersey, not east and west. (I'm from the north for reference. Morristown, in the aforementioned Morris County.) Odd that they wrote SNL always made fun of it, right before say opinions began to change in 1975 (when SNL started). I know they're writing of the early days of the show, but still.
I seem to have a thing for corrupt states with piece of shit governors. Oh well.
Jersey just has the stereotype of a leather jacket, wifebeater wearing man in gawdy jewelry holding a grinder yelling at his girlfriend in public for leaving his Springsteen cassettes out in the hot sun to get all warped. It's New York City's distant cousin. Jon Stewart is from Jersey and he always used to take shots at himself in his set and once he became host of The Daily Show, long before Jersey Shore. I think most of my knowledge of Jersey-stereotyping probably came from him. Most of the state, like any state, is a perfectly fine place. Every state has its stereotype, that's what makes USA fun and diverse.
For what its worth, when I'd travel to other parts of the USA, I'd always find people that either thought we all live in log cabins, or that they didn't know we were a state at all.
Here in NH, when I was in Junior High in the late 90s we had a girl move from New Jersey, and our teachers always used to shit on her for it. When we took a class trip to NYC in 2001 one of the teachers asked her if she could translate for the rest of the students once we stepped off the bus. When my family would drive from Connecticut to South Carolina for vacations, the highways and cities of Jersey always just looked clustered and shitty compared to once you hit Maryland or Delaware. It's kind of in the armpit section of the USA.
Jersey just has the stereotype of a leather jacket, wifebeater wearing man in gawdy jewelry holding a grinder yelling at his girlfriend in public for leaving his Springsteen cassettes out in the hot sun to get all warped. It's New York City's distant cousin. Jon Stewart is from Jersey and he always used to take shots at himself in his set and once he became host of The Daily Show, long before Jersey Shore. I think most of my knowledge of Jersey-stereotyping probably came from him. Most of the state, like any state, is a perfectly fine place. Every state has its stereotype, that's what makes USA fun and diverse.
For what its worth, when I'd travel to other parts of the USA, I'd always find people that either thought we all live in log cabins, or that they didn't know we were a state at all.
Few fun things to read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reasons-to-hate-new-jersey_us_575a1a3ce4b0ced23ca7a6ab
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/41pi0q/why_do_americans_blindly_hate_new_jersey/
Did a google search for fun "Why other states hate jersey."
It was rather fun reading some of the sites that popped up. It is amazing all of the stereotypes that exist about NJ that are not even remotely accurate unless you look at the whole state by it's worse parts. NJ is the most densely populated state in the US with something like 1000 people per square mile. Now take into account that is the population not including the summer months. Come summer our shores are flooded with out of state bennies from NY, PA, and CT. Now you have a ton of people all crowded into one small area which tends to generate frustration. Believe NJ is something you have to experience to understand how diverse and great of a state it really is. A short pass through or summer vacation will not fill you with a bunch of positivity.
Read this and saw Connecticut and figured I would post it:
Most people who don't live in New Jersey see it in one of three ways:
They're driving through it onthe Turnpike or Parkway or Expressway, all major highways. Major highways are surrounded by truck stops, gas stations, rest stops and are rarely beautiful. For people passing through the state (and the Turnpike is part of a major artery for people going up or down the coast, so that's a lot) that's all they see.
They're going to the shore from out of state. The beaches can get crowded. Lots of people means lots of trash, noise, etc. Personally - not a fun time and for many others, I imagine that's the case too.
They see something like Jersey Shore and think it's an accurate representation of how we are. Depending on your political leanings, Chris Christie being the face of New Jersey certainly doesn't help either. We also have a (fairly well-deserved) reputation of being a hotbed of political corruption and that tends to put an image in people's heads.
There's also the fact that a lot of the popular media taking place in New York City tends to include jabs at New Jersey - 30 Rock made a habit of NJ jokes, the Daily Show, and a few others. When you're from the area and you know of the relationship/rivalry/hatred between people from NYC and people from New Jersey, you know how to put it in context.
For the most part, I agree with you. New Jersey is gorgeous once you're off the highways and away from the beaches. The Pine Barrens are beautiful. North Jersey outside of the NYC Metro area is gorgeous. The Victorian houses in Cape May are beautiful. I love the Medford Lakes area. Even the shore is beautiful when the tourists aren't there.
As someone who grew up in Connecticut, what ruined NJ for me was the loud, obnoxious and arrogant mannerisms of seemingly all the people from NJ I ever met. Is this accurate? Of course not! But that was the ever-perpetuated stereotype that I just came to accept while growing up.
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Then came Hurricane Sandy.
The way New Jersey banded together and helped one another, the "Jersey Strong" bumper stickers and indefatigable attitude of we will rebuild that I saw people from New Jersey demonstrated, well, caused me to realize that I was simply perpetuating the tribal bullshit I'd been fed my whole life. In realizing this, I have begun to look beyond the Jersey Shore gelled-up fistpumping brand and have noticed a culture of people who are justifiably proud of their state (even if not all facets of their culture).
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Originally posted by: mattbep
It just smells there.
This. Once you leave NYC and hit Jersey, it smells like straight up shit. Also, people from Jersey think they're the shit because they're from Jersey is irritating. Tack on the Jersey Shore, and Jersey is really just one big joke.
I'm sure there are good parts in Jersey but the stereotype is Italian dudes with fake tans who say bro all the time. I've been to Atlantic City a few times for bachelor parties and what not, but I'll never go back as it gets worse each year. Casinos have been legalized in lots more places and we have some nice ones in Maryland now too. So there's no draw to Atlantic City anymore, and each year it gets more barren and ghetto. You walk one or two blocks past a casino there and your in dark alleys with grass growing through the pavement with no signs of life. It is not a desirable place to be.
No argument on the shithole that is AC, but MD casinos are filled with trash too. I'll never set foot in MD Live again. I wouldn't call MD casinos "nice." Even the Horseshoe and that's pretty new. In terms of the people you find, that is. The casinos themselves are fine.
As for the hate on Jersey, I think it's because most people only really experience the shore and/or the turnpike. So either you're running into crummy people or industrial waste zones. I grew up in Jersey though, and there are some really nice areas. But yeah, the cities are crap (Trenton, Camden, Union) and there are definitely pockets of "smelliness."
But having lived in many states, if you want the worst... It's Pennsylvania. Far and away. It's more useless than Virginia. At least Virginia, you have to pass through to get to some cool southern states.
It just smells there.
This. Once you leave NYC and hit Jersey, it smells like straight up shit. Also, people from Jersey think they're the shit because they're from Jersey is irritating. Tack on the Jersey Shore, and Jersey is really just one big joke.
That's a huge over generalization of people in NJ. Come visit the beaches where I live in NJ they are clean and very well kept. The town of LBI is made up of a wide range of people from multiple surrounding areas. If you were dropped off in LBI and had this to reflect
on your opinion of the state and people that make it up. Hate the fact that a show which cast was made up off half New Yorkers has influenced a generation in the wrong way. Other generations see the policatal failures and corruption along with mob ties. Add in the crap you see from the turnpike and it's not a pretty picture.
It just smells there.
I'm betting that 95%+ of the people on this site couldn't afford to live in the part of NJ I live in. Rolling horse farms, excellent public education systems, 2 beautiful reservoirs teaming with wildlife, short commutes (less than 90 minutes) to either NYC or Philadelphia. Yes, taxes are high, but the quality of life is hard to beat.
New Jersey isn't just Trenton, Newark or the Jersey Shore...
It just smells there.
I'm betting that 95%+ of the people on this site couldn't afford to live in the part of NJ I live in. Rolling horse farms, excellent public education systems, 2 beautiful reservoirs teaming with wildlife, short commutes (less than 90 minutes) to either NYC or Philadelphia. Yes, taxes are high, but the quality of life is hard to beat.
New Jersey isn't just Trenton, Newark or the Jersey Shore...
Also Jersey Shore isn't just Seaside which was reflected in the show and what most relate the term to. Completely agree Seaside sucks, but the reason it sucks is because of the trash it draws in from other places. LBI luckily doesn't suffer from that issue as the crowd it draws in is wealthy vacationers that have summer homes. It's not the Hamptons but it's expensive.