Nice weather in Mass...suddenly people in Mass are friendly? (Boston: neighborhoods, to live)

[Champ le monstre du lac]

We are having a pretty nice spring so far (in spite of flooding rain for a few days). We've had a few nice stretches of days in the 60's and 70's and it's only early spring. Tree's are budding, flowers are up. Sometimes we get no spring here. I'm optimistic this spring is going to be fabulous!

With that said, people are smiling, saying hello more often, good customer services in stores and so on. So, Mass has a debatable reputation for having rude and grouchy people. Is it due to the fact that there is a lot of cold and inclement weather throughout the year? Will people get grouchy when it's June, hot and muggy? Do you think the New England climate has a big effect on what's perceived as friendliness in Massachusetts?

[ColorsOfMe]

Me thinks that the people of Mass, in general, are just flat-out rude, ignorant and snobbish, and the only reason they smile with the change of the seasons is because they are distracted by it. Once the weather doesn't make the news anymore, they are back to themselves.

(just kidding about my description of the folks of Massachusetts, though I'm not that far off base).

[goyguy]

The weather has a real effect on the temperament of a lot of people, though some are innately cheerful or gloomy regardless. Statistically, the locations with higher rates of depression are also those where winters are long or there's a lot of rain. Tacoma, WA, is said to have the most depressed population percentagewise in the entire US. Guess what, it's also perpetually cloudy there and it's raining more often than not. Of course that doesn't tell the whole story, since folks in Seattle and western Oregon are famous for their laid-back ways and it's no sunnier there. But the Southern California stereotypes of perky blonde bimbo and mellow surfer dude are in no way coincidental to its being sunny and warm so much of the time in that part of the world.

City people are, in general, more rushed and stressed than their counterparts in suburbia and small towns. Higher transiency rates in neighborhoods mean that folks take less time, and don't care as much, when it comes to getting acquainted with who's next door or down the street. But Boston gets an unfair rap about this, since I'm sure the same story would hold true in Tulsa or in Oakland, Grand Rapids or Chattanooga.

There's no doubt in my mind that I had a happier face yesterday, after four glorious days of sunshine and breezes and blooming flowers and reviving trees and concertizing birds. And everywhere I went, people were strolling around happy instead of slouching and scooting past under umbrellas. Even with climate-controlled buildings and state-of-the-art "outerwear," human nature is still affected by the weather. But I think that the human-made environment now has more of an impact on temperament than the temperature. The less urban the place, the more sociable the population.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by goyguy

The less urban the place, the more sociable the population.

I've actual seen surveys that ironicly a lot of introverted people are drawn to places like New York City to express the "inner extrovert" and creativity. Thus you have a lot of anonymity in urban centers.

I wonder how those folks in Fargo, ND hold up with extremely cold winters and slush floods in March and if it effects their overall mood throughout the year or are they overall just resilliant?

[crazyworld]

Originally Posted by ColorsOfMe

Me thinks that the people of Mass, in general, are just flat-out rude, ignorant and snobbish, and the only reason they smile with the change of the seasons is because they are distracted by it. Once the weather doesn't make the news anymore, they are back to themselves.

(just kidding about my description of the folks of Massachusetts, though I'm not that far off base).

WOW tell us how you really feel....talk about a left handed compliment. I find that rude and ignorant

[ColorsOfMe]

Originally Posted by caphillsea77

I've actual seen surveys that ironicly a lot of introverted people are drawn to places like New York City to express the "inner extrovert" and creativity. Thus you have a lot of anonymity in urban centers.

I wonder how those folks in Fargo, ND hold up with extremely cold winters and slush floods in March and if it effects their overall mood throughout the year or are they overall just resilliant?

They're probably like hens in their nests. Clucking and bickering over nothing, but sharing the warmth (and even swapping nests....it's Nest Swap not Wife Swap, LOL!!) because that's ALL they have there.

[RLCMA]

I used to have the same thought about MA people (me being one of them). In all honesty the people here are no different than anywhere else you go. Some people are outgoing and friendly and others are reserved. I figured out it was my own closed minded and negative attitude that made me think others were rude around here. I adjusted my attitude and I find the people here to be as friendly as anywhere else I have ever been and I've been to about 40 of the 50 states.

[Beachcomber4]

Originally Posted by RLCMA

I used to have the same thought about MA people (me being one of them). In all honesty the people here are no different than anywhere else you go. Some people are outgoing and friendly and others are reserved. I figured out it was my own closed minded and negative attitude that made me think others were rude around here. I adjusted my attitude and I find the people here to be as friendly as anywhere else I have ever been and I've been to about 40 of the 50 states.

I totally agree- 95% of the time, people will respond to you in the same manner you address them. When people don't, I go on my merry way. We're all wired differently.

[RLCMA]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

I totally agree- 95% of the time, people will respond to you in the same manner you address them. When people don't, I go on my merry way. We're all wired differently.

That is so very true.

[ColorsOfMe]

Originally Posted by RLCMA

I used to have the same thought about MA people (me being one of them). In all honesty the people here are no different than anywhere else you go. Some people are outgoing and friendly and others are reserved. I figured out it was my own closed minded and negative attitude that made me think others were rude around here. I adjusted my attitude and I find the people here to be as friendly as anywhere else I have ever been and I've been to about 40 of the 50 states.

Not true at all, AT ALL. Head down south and spend any real amount of time there, with an honest desire to LIVE down there, and then come back here and tell me that the rest of the US is no different than Massachusetts. M***holes aren't called that for no good reason. Sorry to break it to you, but it's the truth, ESPECIALLY when really nice people I run into that are lifelong residents of MA, telling me how unfriendly this state is. But, hey, you can keep on thinking that it's all because New England folks believe in "earning the right to a friendship".