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To throw even more nuance into this conversation, some might argue that the Northeast is different from the North. For example, DC may be part of the northeast but not the north, while Buffalo is part of the north but not the northeast.
At the end of the day, these types of conversations are worthless. Just like a language continuum in which each dialect is most related to it's neighboring dialect and less related to a more distant one, we can think of the culture of the east coast as following along a similar gradient.
Sounds about right. The dialects and accents definitely do vary a lot here on the East Coast. From the Boston/New England dialect/accent to the Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/North Jersey dialect/accent to the Philadelphia/South Jersey dialect/accent to the Maryland/Baltimore/Appalachian accent/dialect to the DMV dialect/accent to the Richmond/Tidewater/Hampton Roads dialect/accent to the Southern/Charleston accent/dialect and so on and so forth.
Well, Maryland is a densely populated, ethnically diverse, politically liberal, high income (the highest in fact) and highly educated state which is located on the east coast.
So, you tell me where that puts Maryland.
Exactly where posters in the Baltimore forum think it belongs. Not in the Northeast.
Now how you conclude that it's in the Northeast when most Baltimoreans don't even think it's in the Northeast is beyond me.
Well put by a Baltimorean.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown
Baltimore just doesn't fit in the southern or northern debate and it never has. This is, however, the northernmost city where small talk and pleasant greetings when passing someone in the street is acceptable. Once you get to Phila. it's duck you head and walk quickly.
I have always thought I lived in the NE (meaning PA, NJ and NY are as much Mid-Atlantic as would be DC or MD for that matter. While names (and Sougs gradient point makes a ton of sense) today I consider the NE to consist of New England and the Mid-Atlantic (which to me goes from NYC to DC)
And on quintessential Mid-Atlantic, maybe NJ and MD are the most (even if not for the same reason but maybe one more similarity) and honestly to me NJ is as quintessential Mid Atlantic as it gets
That could definitely be a very good argument to make. And I definitely agree about the quintessential Mid-Atlantic vibe of New Jersey. That probably might be why I always felt that New Jersey feels like another Maryland in most ways, especially South Jersey and the Jersey Shore. It felt like both Eastern Shore and Central Maryland in the same specific region in a way.
At the end of the day...Maryland is Maryland. I know my home state's identity and the only state it's trying to be is itself. That's good enough for me at the end of the day 'O Maryland, My Maryland. Yay, my 1,000th post! lol
That could definitely be a very good argument to make. And I definitely agree about the quintessential Mid-Atlantic vibe of New Jersey. That probably might be why I always felt that New Jersey feels like another Maryland in most ways, especially South Jersey and the Jersey Shore. It felt like both Eastern Shore and Central Maryland in the same specific region in a way.
Have you ever been to New Jersey? I'm just wondering what you're basing this on. Wealthy suburbs? Big houses? The similarities pretty much end there.
New Jersey, from my view point, is a very ethnic state. A ton of Italians. A whole lot of Irish. Few protestants outside of the AA community. And even the blacks there (particularly in North Jersey) will identify as "Jamaican" or "Trini," not just "Black." In Maryland, the black population is completely dominated by Black Americans. This is probably the biggest difference.
We've already discussed the differences in the built environment, but overall, Jersey has much more tacky-looking development. And diners full of Carmela Soprano lookalikes smoking cigarettes. I mean, there's the wealthy Jersey you may think is similar to Maryland, but there's also trashy Jersey, which doesn't exist really at all in Maryland (not even Baltimore County has a match for this).
We've already discussed the differences in the built environment, but overall, Jersey has much more tacky-looking development. And diners full of Carmela Soprano lookalikes smoking cigarettes. I mean, there's the wealthy Jersey you may think is similar to Maryland, but there's also trashy Jersey, which doesn't exist really at all in Maryland (not even Baltimore County has a match for this).
Not sure what exactly you're talking about. Besides recently built cookie cutter sprawl in Central Jersey, the built environment in NJ in general is much older and nicer than MD. In NJ, a "downtown" is the main street of a quintessential small town. In MD, it's usually a new mostly unattractive edge city built around a metro stop (metro-centered TOD is something I definitely support but just trying to making a point here that it could be done better). Half of Moco looks like it was built in the 90s or 2000s. Obviously, MD has some nice older towns (Ellicott City, Frederick) but nowhere close to what NJ has.
MD definitely has it's trashy areas. Maybe a "different" trashy than NJ, but trashy nonetheless. It's just that it hasn't been brought to light by the media (yet). You seem to be relying on stereotypes of NJ. Would've thought you would know better than that.
I think the biggest issue here is the huge cultural gulf between North and South Jersey. If I was coming from a NNJ perspective like Bajan seems to be, I would probably agree with most of what he's saying. However, from a SJ perspective, I would say NJ is more similar to MD than to Mass.
It could just be that the overall personality and spirit and working class ethic of Baltimore reminds me so much of Philly but I feel like I can relate to my Baltimore County friends than my Boston area friends.
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'O Maryland, My Maryland. Yay, my 1,000th post! lol
