Do you find Bostonians to be friendly-or cold people? (relocating, rated)

[495neighbor]

I lived in the Midwest before coming to the East coast. I found the Scandinavian and German people around to be civil yet cheerful, friendly and laid-back, not cliquey or cold.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

I lived in the Midwest before coming to the East coast. I found the Scandinavian and German people around to be civil yet cheerful, friendly and laid-back, not cliquey or cold.

I'm not saying this to knock you, but honestly, heritage like Scandanavian and German seem pretty meaningless to me nowadays. These groups have long since assimilated. "midwest" culture is really "midwest American" in my opinion, and not really related to any ethnic background. Take a quick trip to the actual Germany or Scandanavia and see how dissimilar they are from the American midwest.

[tkx7]

the things I mentioned were more about the nanny state in Boston- not the "cold or unfriendly" personality of Bostonians. I was also showing that they don't just "mind their own business" as some people thought. You can see it even in these posts- no fun for anyone if it might mean someone gets hurt. They want laws rather than common sense. Do you drive 55mph or below on 128 because it's the law? I do and people fly by me going 75 all the time, to the point where my speed seems almost dangerously slow. I don't agree with the speed limit but I know the state troopers will pull out of state vehicles over if I sped.

Obviously I'm going to wear a helmet if I ride a bicycle, but you want to fine people if they don't, in every case. You want to limit personal liberty- no skating on a pond, no climbing a tree, no letting someone have a sparkler on the 4th of july, no letting anyone drink too much, no having a bake sale without government oversight. Would it not be safer for me to skate on a pond in Boston than in the middle of nowhere in Mass for example? Smokers should have enough common sense not to smoke near anyone- especially in the middle of a park somewhere. I hate smoke just as much as the next non smoker but I actually understand that there's situations where a smoker could smoke at a park without affecting anyone. How about just a friendly "hey do you mind moving" if someone is bothering you with smoke at some park, but how could you possibly argue having a sparkler bothers you?

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

I lived in the Midwest before coming to the East coast. I found the Scandinavian and German people around to be civil yet cheerful, friendly and laid-back, not cliquey or cold.

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I'm not saying this to knock you, but honestly, heritage like Scandanavian and German seem pretty meaningless to me nowadays. These groups have long since assimilated. "midwest" culture is really "midwest American" in my opinion, and not really related to any ethnic background. Take a quick trip to the actual Germany or Scandanavia and see how dissimilar they are from the American midwest.

Actually there are distinctions between the white Europeans who emigrated to the upper mid-west and those who emigrated to the east coast but the cultural differences are more religious than ethnic. I spent most of my childhood in a predominantly catholic neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. At the tail end of my teen years I moved up to Maine. Although in reality Maine is less diverse than Massachusetts, it felt more diverse to me because of the religious breakdown. In MA most of the white people were catholic but in Maine the white people were all over the map as far as religion was concerned.

From my perspective the catholic church treated the children of its members like property which goes along with the language used. Members were often referred to as a flock or as sheep. Growing up in MA I always felt like a pawn in a chess game. When I was in Maine I was constantly pursued by members of a good dozen or so churches. Some people might find that annoying but after being beaten down by the catholic church in MA I found it a bit enthralling. It made me feel like I was a valuable commodity. I never did join any of those churches but I certainly liked making them jump through hoops trying.

To tie my MA/ME experience back to the thread topic I suggest that the differences in friendliness between the descendants of the Scandanavian & Germanic immigrants and the people of the east coast is catholic versus non-catholic. When I was a child in Massachusetts I was actively discouraged from becoming friends with non-catholics. That discouragement was not from my parents but from the church and other social figures. Perhaps it is the older Boston-area folks with a catholic upbringing who are not friendly. I don't present myself as catholic these days, nor do I reveal my childhood details and I will confirm that Boston area people treat me like an outsider.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

Actually there are distinctions between the white Europeans who emigrated to the upper mid-west and those who emigrated to the east coast but the cultural differences are more religious than ethnic. I spent most of my childhood in a predominantly catholic neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. At the tail end of my teen years I moved up to Maine. Although in reality Maine is less diverse than Massachusetts, it felt more diverse to me because of the religious breakdown. In MA most of the white people were catholic but in Maine the white people were all over the map as far as religion was concerned.

From my perspective the catholic church treated the children of its members like property which goes along with the language used. Members were often referred to as a flock or as sheep. Growing up in MA I always felt like a pawn in a chess game. When I was in Maine I was constantly pursued by members of a good dozen or so churches. Some people might find that annoying but after being beaten down by the catholic church in MA I found it a bit enthralling. It made me feel like I was a valuable commodity. I never did join any of those churches but I certainly liked making them jump through hoops trying.

To tie my MA/ME experience back to the thread topic I suggest that the differences in friendliness between the descendants of the Scandanavian & Germanic immigrants and the people of the east coast is catholic versus non-catholic. When I was a child in Massachusetts I was actively discouraged from becoming friends with non-catholics. That discouragement was not from my parents but from the church and other social figures. Perhaps it is the older Boston-area folks with a catholic upbringing who are not friendly. I don't present myself as catholic these days, nor do I reveal my childhood details and I will confirm that Boston area people treat me like an outsider.

There are huge swaths of Catholics in the midwest (and people from southern Germany are Catholic too). There are lots of Catholics in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, and the twin cities. I grew up Catholic in Cleveland from a Slavic background. Tons of Slavs too in these kinds of industrial cities of the midwest. In my opinion, any difference between these areas is probably based more on history of development than where people came from. New England predates somewhere like Kansas City by quite a bit. I think this makes a big difference.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I'm not saying this to knock you, but honestly, heritage like Scandanavian and German seem pretty meaningless to me nowadays. These groups have long since assimilated. "midwest" culture is really "midwest American" in my opinion, and not really related to any ethnic background. Take a quick trip to the actual Germany or Scandanavia and see how dissimilar they are from the American midwest.

I was respectfully disagreeing with what this other poster said (see below) based on experience. BJimmy, if you read further up the thread (I forgot to quote the first time.) they were talking about Minnesota not Europe.

Originally Posted by lrmsd

Someone mentioned on a MN thread that MN has scandanavian history, vs. irish and italian on the east coast, in reference to someone wondering why people there are not really wanting to be friends with you, etc. [speaking of cliquish and 'nice to your face only'-the MN threads are an interesting read].

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

There are huge swaths of Catholics in the midwest (and people from southern Germany are Catholic too). There are lots of Catholics in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, and the twin cities. I grew up Catholic in Cleveland from a Slavic background.

Are Slavic's Eastern Orthodox Catholic similar to other Yugoslav groups?

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

Are Slavic's Eastern Orthodox Catholic similar to other Yugoslav groups?

In general, when talking about immigrant groups to the USA:

Slovaks = Catholic
Slovenians = Catholic
Poles = Catholic
Croatians = Catholic
Czechs = Catholic
Serbians = Serbian Orthodox
Ukrainians = Ukrainian Orthodox
Russians = Russian Orthodox

Yugoslavia was very interesting and ultimately deadly because of Serbian Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Islam in Bosnia.

[thenewtexan]

Over six years later...why are people in Boston so mean??? This topic is so damn old. Get over it, already!

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

There are huge swaths of Catholics in the midwest (and people from southern Germany are Catholic too). There are lots of Catholics in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, and the twin cities. I grew up Catholic in Cleveland from a Slavic background. Tons of Slavs too in these kinds of industrial cities of the midwest.

I understand this. There are catholics across the entire country however another poster was specifically denoting the Scandanavian influences and that is what I was using as the basis for my comparison.

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

In my opinion, any difference between these areas is probably based more on history of development than where people came from.

With this comment are you saying that the catholics from western European societies are no different than the catholics from eastern European societies? If so then why is Europe not one big country instead of many small nations? Most of the Massachusetts catholics came from Ireland and Italy which were historically poor nations compared to the rest of Europe during the heyday of European immigration to the US.

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

New England predates somewhere like Kansas City by quite a bit. I think this makes a big difference.

It is true that New England as a region predates Kansas City but the catholic element in New England emigrated after Kansas City and similar places in the Midwest were already established and thriving.