Am I a New Yorker?

[pianoman11686]

Okay, so I've been at college for two years now, and I have a group of friends that I spend most of my time with. Whenever we meet new people and introduce ourselves, they have issues with me describing myself as a New Yorker. You wonder why? Well, here's the background. I was born in New York City, spending the first 14 years of my life living in Queens. When high school started, my family moved to Monmouth county, New Jersey, but I continued to spend the majority of my time in the city. I attended high school in Manhattan, commuting from home, and because of activities at school, spent many a late night, as well as Saturday, in Manhattan as well. But all my friends know I "live" in New Jersey, even though nowadays, for most of the year, I live on campus in North Carolina. So whenever I tell people I'm from New York, they correct me and say, "You're not from New York, you're from Jersey!" Now, I would normally have no problem with this, if I truly grew up in New Jersey, and went to school there, etc. But the fact is, not even most of my friends from high school live in New Jersey, except for a couple. Most live in Manhattan, Westchester, Nassau, etc. Does it seem so ridiculous that I still claim to be a New Yorker?

[Deimos]

I say you're a NYer... it's what you feel in your heart that matters. When you are done with school, where do you see yourself moving? Hoboken or The City?

[stache]

You list your location as Holmdel, NJ. So the answer is 'no'.

[BrooklynRider]

You are definitely a New Yorker. Next time they tell you that you're not just tell them to "get the f*ck out of your face before you kick their ass to Coney Island!" They won't argue it again.

[driverdorothy]

You are definitely a New Yorker. It's where you hang out, where your friends are that counts.

[lofter1]

Got a driver's license?

[pianoman11686]

Yeah...it's Jersey though.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Some of your friends need hobbies.

[Ninjahedge]

Or women.

Or women with hobbies.


Anyway, you are a NYer living in NJ. What the hell does it matter? To them or to you?

Next time just say you are Canadian.

[kliq6]

who cares, with all these people in the city these days from iowa, Indiana and the south, the city does not have the feel it use to, the defination of a New Yorker, is changing. So many native new yorkers are moving away, being replaced by rednecks and farmers, that come here for a few year to get the good old new york job on there resume, then pack up and leave

[pianoman11686]

Or women.

Or women with hobbies.


Anyway, you are a NYer living in NJ. What the hell does it matter? To them or to you?

Next time just say you are Canadian.

Haha, funny you should mention that since this issue most often comes up, like I said, when we meet new people. (That would include women.)

It doesn't really matter to me, I just don't get why it matters to them. I guess they perceive a certain arrogance or superiority among kids from New York, and if I'm not technically one because I live in Jersey, they don't want me pretending to be one. Thanks for all your responses. Now, if I can only get them to stop correcting me when I say "water" or "coffee"...

[JCMAN320]

Piano I always have my out of state of friends correcting me on those words lol.

[Ninjahedge]

Wah-ter? Or Wah-Tuh?

;)

Anywho, look at it this way. If you were born in Germany, but moved here when you were 5, you could still say you were "German" and people would not give you a second thought.

If you grew up, for the most part, in NY, then you are a NYer.

I am a Jersey-ite. Born and raised here, but the only thing that gets my hackles up are the misconceptions on both sides of the fence. No NY is not a crime scene with a bunch of rude individuals and no Jersey is not a foreign country with toxic waste dumps next to children's playgrounds.

The Hudson River is not as wide as some people make it to be, and I am quite surprised at the similarities I see between Jersey and NY relative to their respective distances from Manhattan as Ground Central.

SO try not to let it bother you, and try to start speaking with an Indian accent. For some reason, no matter how much people are badgering you about your own accent, when you start with a good Indian accent everybody but the Indians usually start laughing.

For the Indians you need to learn Scottish.. ;)

[Bob]

I might as well ask the question, too, even though I think I already know the answer. About me:

1. Have been living in Connecticut and commuting to NY since 1987 for work.
2. Can't stand Pataki OR Schumer!
3. Can't stand the rotten roads and the potholes.
4. Want the Twin Towers back. Taller.
5. Appreciate the New York minute. Especially when not in New York.
6. Enjoyed "My Cousin Vinnie."
7. Big fan of Robert Moses and Raymond Hood.
8. Member, ADSNY.
9. Can deliver classic lines such as "what's the story?" and "what's up chief?" with ease.
10. Know where to get great food in Howard Beach.

So, am I a New Yorker, or what?

[Ninjahedge]

Tourist!

[Bob]

Tourist? Fair enough...I'm moving to Long Island in 2 months. Will that make me a real New Yorker, or just another Connecticut Yankee in the court? : )

[dboss66man]

You love the Yankees, are ambivalent about the Mets, and hate the Sawx! (Alright, so I grew up a Yanks fan - back in the days of Billy and Reggie and Munson and Nettles....!)

You're a New Yorker if you think Donald Trump is a boring dude with bad hair, a worse tv show, a hot daughter, and not so hot business history - and not some culutral icon!

[pianoman11686]

Tourist? Fair enough...I'm moving to Long Island in 2 months. Will that make me a real New Yorker, or just another Connecticut Yankee in the court? : )

Long Island's a tough call for me, as I've talked with several people who hail from there, and consider themselves to be more of a New Yorker than me (which I disagree with at times). For those who live there, and spend most of their time there, except for the occasional trip into the city to go out to a bar or club, I don't think New Yorker is the appropriate term. Yes, they live in New York state, but we don't really think of New Yorker as a state description. It's all about the city.

If, on the other hand, you have a history in New York City, and you move out to Long Island simply to have a house, but you continue to work and socialize in New York City, then I think the term stands.

[pianoman11686]

You love the Yankees, are ambivalent about the Mets, and hate the Sawx! (Alright, so I grew up a Yanks fan - back in the days of Billy and Reggie and Munson and Nettles....!)

You're a New Yorker if you think Donald Trump is a boring dude with bad hair, a worse tv show, a hot daughter, and not so hot business history - and not some culutral icon!

Baseball is not at all cut in stone. I think the Bronx and Manhattan are almost exclusively pro-Yankees, but there are a good number of Mets fans in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau. One of my good friends from Glen Cove who considers himself to be an uber-New Yorker (interpret that however you wish), is a huge Mets fan and utterly despises the Yankees, so much so that he rooted for the Sox in 2004.

As for Trump, I think everyone recognizes that he's had his time in the spotlight. I think his show has quickly become dated, and he will continue to try to broaden his image with the occasional Presidential bid or well-timed publicity stunt. You can't expect a man with an ego as big as his to just fade out of our collective memory, especially those of us who live in the New York area. In any case, the criteria you gave are a start, but there's a lot more to it than that.

[Anarchy77]

Growing up in nyc is such an intense experience, psychologically and emotionally, that even if you move away, its in your bone marrow for life.


Personally I:

-Am a Met fan, hate the Yankees, but liked the yanks in the early 70's days of Clarke, Murcer and Peterson (wife swapping dude)
-Went to a best friend's bar mitzvah party
-used public transportation to go to private and public school, college, and
work
-Love the strand book store
-Fave nyc movie-King of New York
-Love pizza and stuffed corned beef and pastrami on rye
-bought black peg leg jeans at trash and vaudeville
-Went to cbgb and max's to see punk shows back in the 70's
-Watched Soupy Sales as a kid
-Listened to Rambling with Gambling on WOR radio
-Remember when the cop cars and the buses were green
-Remember the camel cigarette sign w/ the smoke coming out of it in
times square
-Can sing the schafer beer jingle
-Threw snowballs at sanitation workers on their trucks

[dboss66man]

Baseball is not at all cut in stone. I think the Bronx and Manhattan are almost exclusively pro-Yankees, but there are a good number of Mets fans in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau. One of my good friends from Glen Cove who considers himself to be an uber-New Yorker (interpret that however you wish), is a huge Mets fan and utterly despises the Yankees, so much so that he rooted for the Sox in 2004.

As for Trump, I think everyone recognizes that he's had his time in the spotlight. I think his show has quickly become dated, and he will continue to try to broaden his image with the occasional Presidential bid or well-timed publicity stunt. You can't expect a man with an ego as big as his to just fade out of our collective memory, especially those of us who live in the New York area. In any case, the criteria you gave are a start, but there's a lot more to it than that.

Never, EVER, been able to get jacked up over the Mets. Yeah, the Mets had their moments but I basically recall them as boring...especially when compared to the Yanks. Even when the Yanks have been not so hot (mid 80's) they weren't really boring. Hell, I've even seen some good Mets teams I thought were boring.

Regarding Trump, you're right. My criteria was just a start. I didn't even bother touching on his ties with convicted thug PI Anthony Pellciano,...or Trump's stated desire (joking, I guess) to "date" his hot daughter, or the damage he did to god knows how many older folks who invested in his casinos - which Trump then bankrupted. Damn! I could go on forever, but I'd rather do an NYC kinda thing here and go listen to some Lou Reed! (NYC Man)

[Bright Lights, Big City]

I might as well ask the question, too, even though I think I already know the answer. About me:

7. Big fan of Robert Moses and Raymond Hood.
So, am I a New Yorker, or what?

No, you're satan's pupil. Robert Moses is the great Satan, right? Or is that Osama? Or America? I don't remember..

BL BC

[Zerlina]

Well... I still haven't understood why your friends care about it!!!:confused:

[MidtownGuy]

Since the students at universities may come from many distant parts of the USA, when they are meeting each other there is a certain pride in saying "I'm from New York." It translates into a lot of "cool points".
The assumption is that kids from New York have more style, worldliness, or have simply "seen more" compared to someone from one of the smaller cities.
It seems his "friends" are trying to deny him that prestige, probably out of envy.

[ablarc]

The assumption is that kids from New York have more style, worldliness, or have simply "seen more" compared to someone from one of the smaller cities.
And a correct assumption it is. In college I could always identify the kids from New York: they were the smartest and the worldliest.

[pianoman11686]

Well... I still haven't understood why your friends care about it!!!:confused:

Neither have I! That's why I created this thread. I wanted to know if I was the only person who thought there was something wrong with it.

It seems his "friends" are trying to deny him that prestige, probably out of envy.

I think it has more to do with the fact that I live in New Jersey, which is widely considered, at least at my school, to be one of the worst, if not the worst, states in the union. The so-called, "Armpit of America." So, there may be some fault on my part for trying to disassociate myself from that a lot, though I feel it is with good reason. So if anything, MidtownGuy, it's not that they're trying to deny me prestige. It's that they're trying to poke fun at someone, who, despite having the identity of a New Yorker, is condemned to living in New Jersey (through no fault of his own, I might add). Though when I think about it, it might have a little to do with envy. Some of the places my friends hail from: outlying Philly, suburban Boston, and southwestern Virginia. The guy from Philly's probably the worst. He claims he hates New York. He's very pro-Philly, especially their sports teams. He recently put up something in his online profile that reads like this: "Put this [an image of a bomb] in your profile if you think we should just blow up New Jersey and give Pennsylvania a beach." He says it's really spreading among his friends in PA. Meanwhile, he spends most of his summers at the Jersey shore, working as a card dealer in an Atlantic City casino. The guy from Boston loves New York but also thinks Massachusetts is the best state in the country. The guy from Virginia has all his family living in Chicago and is in love with the place, and the Cubs. He's never been to New York. Besides that, most people I know are either from the New York area or don't give a rat's ass.

But let's not dwell on my friends here. Deep down, all of them have good intentions, and just like to poke fun every once in a while. Meanwhile, they've given me a good reason to start a thread.

[Zerlina]

[quote=pianoman11686]Neither have I! That's why I created this thread. I wanted to know if I was the only person who thought there was something wrong with it.


Well... I really hope that your friends have good intentions...
because if it wouldn't be (and if I would be in your shoes...) I would begin to look for new friends... I've always thought that friends shouldn't care where I am from, how much I gain, how pretty I am a so on... they simply should care how I am "inside"!!!

[pianoman11686]

You're missing my point. They don't care where I'm from. If they did, they wouldn't be my friends. And since you're not from around here, I don't think you understand the image that New Jersey has in the collective American psyche. It is the garbage state. The home of all bad smells. The armpit of America. Everyone who hails from NJ hears about it at some point in their lives.

Like I said, let's not dwell on my friends, which I assure you I'm not going to disassociate from because of something as trivial as this. If we want to continue this thread, let's do so by discussing what truly makes someone a New Yorker. That, more than anything, was my intention in starting it.

[OmegaNYC]

You're missing my point. They don't care where I'm from. If they did, they wouldn't be my friends. And since you're not from around here, I don't think you understand the image that New Jersey has in the collective American psyche. It is the garbage state. The home of all bad smells. The armpit of America. Everyone who hails from NJ hears about it at some point in their lives.

Like I said, let's not dwell on my friends, which I assure you I'm not going to disassociate from because of something as trivial as this. If we want to continue this thread, let's do so by discussing what truly makes someone a New Yorker. That, more than anything, was my intention in starting it.

If you think NJ is bad, try living in North Carolina. That place blows big time. Talk about being bored to death. I still have nightmares of being in 80 degree heat with 85% humidity( and that's just in late "winter"). Also, Michigan, ( a state that is filled with woods, gritty cities, a giant racial divide, and HARSH winters) But to be honest, I don't know why there is a big NY/NJ divide. I think it's stupid ( that's just the way I feel) Most, if not all, of America think that the NY/NJ area is the worst place to live. I have a friend in California, who thinks NYC is the most dangerous place in the world. She say thinks like "why would people ride the subways? it's so dangerous and dirty!" or, "Is is safe to walk through Times Sq at night?" (Granted, she have never been east of the mighty Mississippi) So, when you think about it, we're all in the same boat when it comes to a national scale. But I digress. If you feel that you're an NYer, that's what you are. The heck what your friends think, it's just the matter of how you feel inside.

[czsz]

New Jersey and Massachusetts have a lot in common. They're both small, dense, wealthy, and progressive. New Jersey suffers because it's not anchored by a major city, but rather serves ancillary (industrial, suburban) functions to cities in other states. Were Newark a more independent city, like Boston, the image of the state in the popular imagination might be better.

I bought into all the Jersey stereotypes while living in Boston, having seen little other than the Meadowlands and the Turnpike. In Manhattan, I'm constantly reminded by the yellow license plates on all the more expensive cars that its side of the Hudson is much more prosperous and probably better governed than New York's.

[JCMAN320]

New Jersey is not that bad. I mean its redicoulus the stereotypes are not true and way to damm broad. I mean I had one person when I was upstate say that New Jersey had no natural beauty. I was like are you kidding me. Shit like that pisses me off. Palisades, Del Water Gap, High Point, Jersey Shore, etc... The stereotypes are so stupid and over used and played out. When I have friends come here and I take them around the state, and they were amazed how beautiful New Jersey was and actually apolgized for the jokes because they didn't want to be ignorant and realized they were wrong and that in many ways was better than there own states. So give it up New Jersey is a great state and not as bad as those dumbass jokes say.

[pianoman11686]

I never said New Jersey was bad. The area where I live is beautiful - lots of parks, forests, nice houses, rolling hills - and there are plenty of areas near me where a lot of wealthy people live because it's such an attractive area. I've also been to a lot of other areas in Jersey, like northern Bergen, that are equally nice. Then, there's the Iron Triangle, which is almost singlehandedly responsible for the negative image Jersey still possesses. And because it's the area that most people get to see - whether it's when they fly into Newark, or drive up to NYC on the turnpike, or take Amtrak - the impression they get is that Jersey's industrial, dirty, smelly, and a craphole. And I don't blame them. But I've seen equally horrible areas in and around Philly, DC, LA, and upstate New York. Every state's got 'em, just not every state has it in the spotlight like NJ. I've even had friends come to my town, see how much nicer it is than most places they hail from, and still continue the "Armpit of the Nation" stereotype, just because the next day, we had to drive through the Iron Triangle to get to New York. I don't think there's any way around it. As long as that place exists, people will continue to use it as a generalization of New Jersey, just like anyone who visits 8th avenue, or Harlem, or the South Bronx, will continue to think New York is a crime-laden, run-down, porno-infested city. But as we all know, it's much more than that.

Czsz: I agree 100%.

OmegaNYC: I don't think NJ is bad at all, but that doesn't change the fact that I would prefer to live in NY. Otherwise, you're 100% correct. I go to school in NC (Durham, actually), and I'm constantly amazed how much crap is down there. There are a couple areas that are nice (Cary, some parts of Chapel Hill), but I feel like it's the opposite of NJ. Nice is the exception, to the rule of crap. In NJ, the crap is concentrated in one area. The rest is leafy, wealthy suburbs, farmland, and average beach resorts. Nothing that justifies anyone having a right to call it "the garbage state."

[OmegaNYC]

Ahhh, Pianoman, don't worry about it! :D. I don't want you to think that I'm jumping all over you. I know you never said anything bad about good 'ole Jersey. I just wanted people to know that there is more to Jersey, then just the Turnpike, Meadowlands, and urban sprawl. Jersey is a wonderful place and I'm glad to be born and raised here. (better than living in NC ~_~).