MA people question

[nate14ri]

Originally Posted by miu

I prefer people around the Boston area. There are good friendly people everywhere. But Boston people seem to me to have a high probability of being well educated, and into culture and the arts. When I've traveled to other parts of the US, as in the south, the people are also good people, but they seem to be less educated and very overtly christian with them throwing in a lot of "god bless" and "god willing" in their talk. And that's not at all for me.

lol tell me about it. I work w/ a woman from Dallas. She walks around all day with her notebook and a bible. I'm dead serious and she loves to quote scriptures and says godbless & godwilling ect everytime she can. She also told me she could help me "fix" my homosexual "problem". ugh i hate it.
I just can't figure out those southerners (and yes I know not all are like that)

sorry needed to vent on people like that.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by miu

I prefer people around the Boston area. There are good friendly people everywhere. But Boston people seem to me to have a high probability of being well educated, and into culture and the arts. When I've traveled to other parts of the US, as in the south, the people are also good people, but they seem to be less educated and very overtly christian with them throwing in a lot of "god bless" and "god willing" in their talk. And that's not at all for me.

A great example of the point I was aiming at in my earlier post. You'll encounter the same variety of individuals everywhere, but the prevailing customs--such as frequent overt mentioning of religion throughout everyday life (or not)--may make you feel a bit uncomfortable in places away from your home turf, because the customs are unfamiliar.

By the way, Meltinjohn's description of the people in rural PA sounds similar to the impression I had of the local folks in western MA in the Amherst area, those not part of the educated college crowd. One on one they would be friendly, yet collectively they formed a really tightly knit, closed off community which shut out, and could even be hostile toward, those who were not native to the area. After I had lived there for a couple of years, I began to get very much of a sense of the traditional dark old-movie picture of the ugly side of small towns with their dirty little secrets. But still, most of them were nice decent folks as individuals. If I'm reading Meltinjohn's description of rural PA correctly, it sounds similar. People are basically the same everywhere, but there are those local customs that will lead you to feel at home, or not, depending on what you're used to and comfortable with.

And I don't mean to say you shouldn't feel more at home back in MA where you were raised. A sense of place, and the details that make a place feel like home, are very deep and real. But I would hesitate to go as far as saying that the people were inherently "better" in the place where I felt most at home.

[littles3]

Like you, I've lived up and down the east coast and currently (for the last 18 years) reside in FL - but grew up in Western Mass. I'm slightly partial the FL's landscape, now. However, the people in MA are quirky, cool and intelligent -- I always feel completely at home when in the company of a MA resident.

Some of my best friends still live there. And if I were ever to move anywhere ever again - it would be somewhere in New England.

[MovingForward]

MA people are great.

[verobeach]

As a former Massachusetts person who moved away about 12 years ago, I agree... Massachusetts people are the greatest. When we lived in the Midwest, neighbors brought over brownies and asked us what church we were affiliated and we quickly learned that they're only nice if you think just like they do. Florida people (which is where I am now) are from everywhere and you'd think this would make them open and friendly but we're all 'islands' down here, existing without connections. Mass. people go deep. You can talk real issues with a MA friend.

[meltinjohn]

Originally Posted by verobeach

As a former Massachusetts person who moved away about 12 years ago, I agree... Massachusetts people are the greatest. When we lived in the Midwest, neighbors brought over brownies and asked us what church we were affiliated and we quickly learned that they're only nice if you think just like they do. Florida people (which is where I am now) are from everywhere and you'd think this would make them open and friendly but we're all 'islands' down here, existing without connections. Mass. people go deep. You can talk real issues with a MA friend.

Myself, Im like a MA person, but I also got the NW reserved aloof kinda thing going too. I like to make friends, but many people I love keeping at a distance + I am not one for sunny days. I come off like a New Englander often times and got a good sized accent from the area, but Im more cold often times. I do look to make friends on the net and every so often in person if they wear a t shirt that I like or something and sometimes people are cold to me when I try to (online mostly they can be by not answering), so I often wonder if it tells me to be more talkative to strangers in face to face interactions with people who have nothing at all in common with me. I have no idea lol.
Anyways, PA people to me only were nice if you thought as they did.
FL people were too distant for my taste. You NEVER ran into anyone in supermarkets even in the smaller cities. It was so unhomy it wasnt even funny. The only sense of community that existed were in places like Ybor and Downtown St Pete (small city centers where people hit the bars a lot and the shops). Otherwise, it felt hella distant and even rude to an extent. Polite but also rude. PA felt the same way too or at least similar. PA people never told you what they thought. That was my main problem there or they'd be like pussies and not say nothing to your face but then talk about you on the internet if they saw something they didnt like (local music scene people in Western PA did that).
I would prefer the company of Philly residents to Western PA/State College area for sure.

[capecodcathy]

I had a friend from VA Beach here for the past few days. She had her 11 year old son and 15 year old niece, Brittney, with her. They had spent the previous week with family and friends in ME and NH, and Brittney has travelled a lot with her family.
My 15 year old son want to take them "bridge jumping". When we arrived at the bridge, there was a gaggle of my son's, mostly female, friends there. Very intimidating to the "new girl". She was sure all the "locals girls" would be rather stand-offish. She had heard we could "be that way".
Within 5 minutes she was telling me that Massachusets was the friendliest place she had ever visited.