"Clannish" Mainers......... (place to live, shop, move)

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

My step-dad keeps using this term. He's been "talking to people"......not that I'll be deterred one little iota, but tell me about it. Personally, I don't get it. I've been there, interacted with the wonderfully helpful folks, and I've been friends with some of you on this forum for over two years now. So, why do Mainers get this rep all the way down here in Texas?

Could it be because of a desire to protect from what they see as those who would come in, saying they are looking for peace, quiet, "the way things ought to/used to be" and then proceed to turn "here" into the same sort of "there" they say they fled??

As someone who is newly arrived, and who has lived both in places with a strong sense of community (such as the "other" down east, in NC) and places that do not have the same sense of community or identity (most of the places I have lived) I think that is at the core of the issue. And how you interact with folks goes a long way to determine if you will remain "outside" or be accepted.

I have felt like I was part of the clan since before I got here and have not experienced anything that made me feel otherwise in the past 9 months. And I would have to say YOU are also part of the clan. Think about it... What other sort of move, other than a "coming home" one, would have the cheering section, moving crew, house, etc. already lined up and waiting for you??

I am also sure your folks in TX will not understand it. What you are doing is beyond anything theys can conceive. FWIW we got the same sort of comments and attitude from the folks in WI when they found out we were moving to WA, going to live off-grid in the boonies, and we had no family there, this was just church folks.

Pay them no mind, just focus on where you know you belong.

[boonelsewhere]

my experience doing bussiness in Maine is every body seem to know each other, the lawyer know about the history about the property before title search, septic designer know the seller, plumber, eclectrician and code enforce seem know each other. is this consider clannish. this is good and bad, i dont think i can get competative price(not good), they work well with each other(good). oh well, what ever it is ,it is.

[American girl]

There are clicks and clans everywhere. If I move to New York City it will be much easier for me to find a group to associate with/fit into because there are literally thousands of groups in a very concentrated area. I will find clans within blocks, within neighborhoods that are on the very same street. If I am a lover of pinot noir made from grapes only grown in the Russian River Valley of California I can find easily find a "clan" or group in New York City that also loves them. The constant influx and outflow in the city contributes to the ease of slipping into a new group and being welcomed.

Reduce that proportionately and you're in Maine where houses and schools and business districts are spread widely over a large, very rural state. Some communities have very limited growth. Newcomers are rare and it takes longer to be accepted. That same pinor noir lover will find it pretty darn hard to find a specialty wine tasting group north of Portland and may have difficulty fitting in with the local snowmobile club. Does that make the snowmobilers a "clan"?

We've had to make do in Maine. Life was hard and people had to learn to work together. That kind of existence leads to what some folks would call clannishness and others might call good team work.

[Elcarim]

Originally Posted by starwalker

Could it be because of a desire to protect from what they see as those who would come in, saying they are looking for peace, quiet, "the way things ought to/used to be" and then proceed to turn "here" into the same sort of "there" they say they fled??

By that definition, I'M a clannish Mainer! Yay!!! No question in our minds, whatsoever. This is just a small example of how we know we belong there! My name is Tammy, and I'm a Clanner....I mean Mainer!

I think it really is just a sense of community and caring for your own (related or not) that is pitifully misconstrued and lacking in most other places. This is one more example of people thinking it's wrong simply because they don't understand it. I think they don't know what they're missing out on.

When we mention to ANYONE here about our upcoming move, the first question they inevitably ask is, "Oh! Do you have family there?" I used to dive into this "No, but..." long drawn out explanation. Now, I just say, "Yes, we do! And we have lots of friends there. We're ready to go home!" After all, isn't the saying "home is where the heart is"?

And if it requires that Mainers be "clannish", protective, diligent, overseers, etc. to maintain the precious environment that most other states are ready to sacrifice in the name of progress, so be it! I'm on that bandwagon!

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

My step-dad keeps using this term. He's been "talking to people"......not that I'll be deterred one little iota, but tell me about it. Personally, I don't get it. I've been there, interacted with the wonderfully helpful folks, and I've been friends with some of you on this forum for over two years now. So, why do Mainers get this rep all the way down here in Texas?

Has he ever been in Maine? If the answer is no, then he is just gossipping, and we who live here can therefor classify him as just another ignorant Texan.

It all reminds me of the story of the farmer from Aroostook County who visited his distant cousin who owned a cattle range in Texas. His cousin bragged about how if he got into his pickup and went three days east, two days south, three days west and two days north he still wouldn't quite get home.

"Yup," said the Mainer. "Had a pickup that slow once myself."

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by AliceT

There is a lot of truth to this. I have even been attacked for using the term, "the volvo line." It is seen as offensive to those who reside in the southern, coastal part of the state.

I have yet to be personally attacked, except for maybe a few comments on this board, but I have talked to quite a few people who are born and raised Mainers -lived here all of there lives- who are highly insulted that there are others in this state who view them as some sort of parasite, that they are not real Mainers simply because they were born in the "wrong" part of Maine.

Originally Posted by chaosX5

I haven't traveled as much as some others on this forum, but I have to believe that this is just human nature. I sure that most areas have this to some degree. We human beings like to separate ourselves. Here, to some people, NC is like two different states, East NC and West NC. I hear CA has the same thing. My friend in Germany makes fun of the Bavarians! NC and SC have the same thing, please don't call us Carolina.

I'm not sure that makes us clannish, we'd still be very friendly to anyone from SC. It's just a long running joke............

I can assure you that Maine does not own the market on this provincial behavior as you will find it in all fifty states, but to answer Eclarim's question of why Maine is known for this, Mainers tend to stress this issue more then others and if you read up on Maine's history you will see that this provincial attitude goes all the way back to day one (well day zero actually, since the first settlers where in Maine before those in Plymouth Rock) You are always welcome here, but....this, or but.....don't that are posted all over this board. People tend to become very protective of where they live, especially if it is the place of where they were born. It does not matter if it is a suburb of Los Angeles or a remote village in Maine; the new comer will always be watched with a weary eye from the locals. And it is also a natural human reaction to compare where you once lived to where you live now. Everybody does it to some degree, and yes, I know that there is a difference between reminiscing over your past life and trying to change the new place into it. But then again, with a few exceptions, that is none of your business. Don't even tell me that Mainers are not guilty of this, either.

[corgis]

I belong to a clan in Maine. A clan of wonderful people that I have lunch with a lot. I've been to different restaurants with them in different places and I'll tell ya'll something, it's a beautiful feeling to be with these people. Lunch can go on literally for hours with hoots of laughter, learning how to do new things, places to go, stories that are told. And I just can't wait to get back up there to the lunch clan.

[Bydand]

Let me see.

Maine = Clannish
New York = Rude, pushy, money hungry
Penn. = Dutch or Amish who are out of touch with the real world
Florida = Wrinkly, poor driving blue-hairs
Kentucky = Hillbilly moonshiners
Michigan = Industrial wasteland filled with $65/hour janitors
Alabama = Poorly educated white-trash Klan members
Texas = Loud arrogant "Everything is bigger in Texas!" type people
North Dakota = The movie Fargo
California = Fake plastic people who are vain
Washington = Tree huggers who would rather you starve or freeze before cutting a tree or harming an animal


It is just a false view that others from different parts of the Country develop from seeing maybe a couple of people from one area and thinking they must represent how EVERYBODY from that area are. These stereotypes are usually wrong for 99.99% of the people who actually do live in a state. The above are all things I have heard about the states I listed, and I can assure everybody, those statements are all WAY off, and dead wrong.

Sure Maine has some "clannish" people, just like the people who are that way in Texas, Michigan, Oregon, California, and every other state I have seen. Just like New York doesn't have the lock on rudeness either. Or Texas on braggarts. There are Idiots everywhere, unfortunately, those are the ones who stand out in peoples minds and are the first ones to come to mind when a place comes up.

[msina]

But El you're already a clan member. Corgis I would have repped you but I have to spread it around.

[chaosX5]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I have yet to be personally attacked, except for maybe a few comments on this board, but I have talked to quite a few people who are born and raised Mainers -lived here all of there lives- who are highly insulted that there are others in this state who view them as some sort of parasite, that they are not real Mainers simply because they were born in the "wrong" part of Maine.


I can assure you that Maine does not own the market on this provincial behavior as you will find it in all fifty states, but to answer Eclarim's question of why Maine is known for this, Mainers tend to stress this issue more then others and if you read up on Maine's history you will see that this provincial attitude goes all the way back to day one (well day zero actually, since the first settlers where in Maine before those in Plymouth Rock) You are always welcome here, but....this, or but.....don't that are posted all over this board. People tend to become very protective of where they live, especially if it is the place of where they were born. It does not matter if it is a suburb of Los Angeles or a remote village in Maine; the new comer will always be watched with a weary eye from the locals. And it is also a natural human reaction to compare where you once lived to where you live now. Everybody does it to some degree, and yes, I know that there is a difference between reminiscing over your past life and trying to change the new place into it. But then again, with a few exceptions, that is none of your business. Don't even tell me that Mainers are not guilty of this, either.

So, what your saying is you think Maine is worse than "normal"?

This is a concern to me, no one wants to think that they will be rejected simply because they are "from away". I know that there have been other threads on this subject, and it's always a somewhat mixed answer. I'd like to believe the friendly, small town, welcoming Mainer version. I have heard, from Mainers that moved here,that the communities are "close knit". Are they hinting at something?

Elcarim has friends to greet her, she's lucky in that regard.

If someone does not have that, but you move there with an open mind, join a church, have kids activities(scouts, etc.) and love everything about the place, will people still shut you out? Everybody has been so friendly(and hilarious) on this forum, that I assumed that Mainers are great people!

I like my version of Maine reality