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the only part of Westchester that kinda feels like NYC is the part bordering the Bronx: Yonkers, Bronxville, Mt Vernon, Pelham, maybe New Roc City. the rest looks like CT.
Yeah, it seems unlikely that any towns will be pursuing being the 6th borough. Rather, I think the question is about which area has the most New Yorker transplants or has similar qualities to NY. NJ is out of the question, the accent and look of the areas are totally different from NY. I would think Long Island and/or lower Westchester, nearby the city where us city slickers feel comfortable moving without being too far away from our beloved NYC.
This post makes no sense. Accent differences? People from the Outer Boroughs have thick accents, and most Manhattan residents have a neutral accent, or a combination of accents from all over the country/world. So since Manhattan's "accent" is different from Brooklyn's, Manhattan shouldn't be a borough?? If anything, NJ's "accent" has more in common with manhattan's, as in, people generally do not have thick accents.
Long Island? The epitome of suburbanity? I thought NYCers loved their urbanness...you say NJ has a different "look" than NYC ... and Long Island does NOT??? Oy...
Long Island? The epitome of suburbanity? I thought NYCers loved their urbanness...you say NJ has a different "look" than NYC ... and Long Island does NOT??? Oy...
I'll second that "oy." And, come to think of it, make an addition: oy vey!
This post makes no sense. Accent differences? People from the Outer Boroughs have thick accents, and most Manhattan residents have a neutral accent, or a combination of accents from all over the country/world. So since Manhattan's "accent" is different from Brooklyn's, Manhattan shouldn't be a borough?? If anything, NJ's "accent" has more in common with manhattan's, as in, people generally do not have thick accents.
Long Island? The epitome of suburbanity? I thought NYCers loved their urbanness...you say NJ has a different "look" than NYC ... and Long Island does NOT??? Oy...
LOL obviously you have only been talking to transplants and certain upper class New Yorkers living in Manhattan. There are tons of native Manhattanites with thick New York accents. Yeah, when I'm talking to my legal clients, I know how to drop the accent too. Doesn't mean my NY accent doesn't go in full throttle when I'm talking to native New Yorkers with accents. NJ's accent is nothing like a New York accent, whether you're talking the boroughs or Manhattan. See, back in the day there was no such thing as the "outer boroughs", it was Manhattan and then the boroughs. Obviously you dont really know what you're talking about and that's why you're not really getting it.
LOL obviously you have only been talking to transplants and certain upper class New Yorkers living in Manhattan. There are tons of native Manhattanites with thick New York accents. Yeah, when I'm talking to my legal clients, I know how to drop the accent too. Doesn't mean my NY accent doesn't go in full throttle when I'm talking to native New Yorkers with accents. NJ's accent is nothing like a New York accent, whether you're talking the boroughs or Manhattan. See, back in the day there was no such thing as the "outer boroughs", it was Manhattan and then the boroughs. Obviously you dont really know what you're talking about and that's why you're not really getting it.
I know exactly what I'm talking about since I'm originally from one of the outer boroughs.
I know quite a few Manhattan natives on a friendship level (non-business) and they don't have much of an accent at all (maybe slight?). Unless they are "dropping" their accent when talking to me, then I don't really agree with your point. I know one couple originally from LES, and they both have a fairly thick accent, but they are older (in their 60s). I don't think younger native Manhattanites have much of an accent, because they were likely raised around lots of people who WERE transplants.
And the several areas of NJ where an accent DOES exist (eastern Essex, Lower Bergen County) ... that accent is almost identical to a NY accent. Maybe slight variations, like comparing a Brooklyn accent to a Bronx accent ... but it's almost the same thing. Why would someone who was raised in Cliffside Park, NJ near the Hudson River/GWB have that much of a different accent than someone raised across the river in the Bronx? Accents die as they cross a mile-wide river?
Some of you NYers can be so silly and self-righteous.
NJ's accent is nothing like a New York accent, whether you're talking the boroughs or Manhattan.
sorry, but you're wrong.
the truth is that there are many different varieties of the "new york accent", shaped by borough, neighborhood, ethnicity, and so forth. and the various accents (notice how i pluralized that) of northern nj all fall within the umbrella of the greater new york accent, whether you like it or not (obviously you don't, since you're in serious denial).
why, you may ask, are the accents on both sides of the hudson so similar? because many, many residents of north jersey have roots in nyc's neighborhoods and are of the same ethnoreligious backgrounds most commonly associated with the city: italian/irish/polish catholics, eastern european jews, old-line latinos such as puerto ricans and dominicans, african-americans/west indians, etc. if they didn't come straight from the city to nj, their parents or grandparents did, bringing with them their cultures, accents, worldviews, and so forth. things didn't magically morph into a completely different accent and culture on the other side of the hudson.
you're just trying to use arbitrary political boundaries to completely deny the shared cultural and linguistic characteristics of the greater nyc region. sorry, but emphasizing how different everything is across the hudson, as if to totally distance yourself from (gasp!) new jersey, is shortsighted and ignorant. it's not like the world ends at the hudson river.
this is a pointless argument anyway, since there will never be a sixth borough of nyc. yonkers, jersey city, hoboken, nassau county, and the others will never get annexed into the city. but i guess this hasn't stopped some of the folks on here from engaging in the typically extreme "us vs. them" territorialism that is so commonplace in the greater nyc region, especially within the five boroughs.
it's actually pretty funny how some of you flaunt your narrow-minded nyc provincialism as a badge of pride. i'm especially amused how often people try to declare themselves as "real" new yorkers. aren't "real" new yorkers supposed to be open-minded and cosmopolitan? yet what i see is lots of provincialism from some of the folks on this board who apparently know little to nothing beyond nyc, or perhaps their own borough or neighborhood.
look, i'm a queens native who lived for years in manhattan as well as north jersey, plus a short stint in brooklyn, until finally moving out very recently. when my family first moved to nj from queens, we were in manhattan and queens every weekend anyway for ethnic food shopping, religious services, and to attend to my parents' real estate and business interests. and when i moved back into the city after college, i was always travelling between the five boroughs and north jersey to eat, hang out with friends, visit my parents, do the occasional big box shopping, and so forth. and you know what? while there are some differences between each borough and between the city and the suburbs, at the end of the day it's all part of the greater nyc region.
the greater nyc area is awesome. it has its flaws, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. maybe you only like the city, maybe you only like your borough, maybe you prefer the suburbs. but no matter how much you want to deny it, the principal difference between the city and nj (or long island, westchester, etc) is city vs. suburbs. yeah, i know hoboken and jersey city and yonkers are all urban, but for the most part nj and westchester are overwhelmingly suburban.
and LOL at the posters who have tried to advocate for suburban long island as the sixth borough while dissing on nj as having a "totally different feel." are you kidding me? long islanders are the LAST people who should be dissing on nj. don't you realize that suburban jersey and long island are like conjoined twins?
(paging rachael84, the self-styled "hardcore new yorker" who grew up in long island, lived in queens until recently, is now back on LI, and is a BRAVES fan!)
my number one complaint about the region (other than the high cost of living) is how freaking territorial everyone is. can't we all just get along?
Well written post, pbergen. You bring up a good point - it's a very "New York" thing to be open and accepting of all cultures and lifestyles. And yet NYers (although it's often the transplants), like to jump on a bandwagon to poke fun at NJ at any opportunity, rather than be accepting of NJ's culture (even though it's so similar to NY's culture ... that is the ultimate irony).
The NYC/NJ phenomenon has to be the most bizarre situation in the US. You don't really hear stuff like this in DC/NoVA/MD.
Every state has not-so-nice areas. Unfortunately NJ's tends to be on it's most well travelled road. And to top it off, since NYC is one of the most visited cities in the entire world (and many fly into Newark), NJ's ugly area is the only area of NJ that is seen by millions of people each year. That's the only perception of NJ these visitors have ... so that is their reality, and we get picked on. It's not fair really ... 90% of NJ is absolutely beautiful.
As my sainted mother in law used to say, if New Jersey's so terrible, why does everyone live there?
Only the most boorish people insult where others live. It indicates poor upbringing.
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