What are peoples views/stereotypes of people from MA? (Boston: ski resorts, houses)

[lawmom]

Yup -- like my mother! She can't see that she is being just as bad as the rude folks from MA by lumping all MA people together. It drives me nuts.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by lawmom

NYers have that reputation, too, I guess. I think it happens a lot no matter what state the transplants are from. They move somewhere and immediately make it known what they miss and why the new place should be like their old place. I've lived in MI, MA and NM, and have always kept this in mind -- of course there are things I miss and things I like a lot better where I am from, but I keep that to myself. No one asked me to move to those other places -- its was my choice.

Exactly. I try to live by the credo of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." If you want things to be exactly as they were in your old place, then you shouldn't have moved.

I moved to Connecticut from New York, in part for financial reasons, but in part because I didn't like the way things were drifting in the place in New York where I last lived. I actually preferred the way things were done in Connecticut, so I adapted pretty easily.

[lmkcin]

I'm sitting in Huntington Beach, Cali right now-I've been here for a week staying with family, and let me explain what I've encountered here in Greater LA.

*I was in Pasadena the other day-touring the Gamble House [def worth a visit], and the tour guide asked where I was from, I just said 'New England,' thinking that would be easier to deal with, well, he goes to me, "well that's just too bad, isn't it?" He didn't know much about the architecture of the house anyway-I could have given the tour.

*I was olive oil tasting in Temecula [Riverside County]-it's great if you're a Christian fundie, I'm not, but w/e, but the olive oil guy asks where I'm from and this time I respond, "oh, western Massachusetts." He replies, "yeah, but you don't have much of an accent." I said, "no, I don't have any accent." He quips, "well I'm from Philly, and like hell you don't, everyone up there has an accent."

*But the creme de la creme is this little story. I was invited to hangout with my aunt's best friend's daughter who is my age and her friends. I though, well this will be fun. We had both studied in Florence at the same time, but didn't know it, so we had a lot in common-should be easy to get along, well. My aunt was throwing a dinner party-nothing special-but this girl and her boyfriend were there, and they seemed nice enough, but little did I know at the time they were judging me to the core. So after dinner, myself, her boyfriend and herself leave to go to a kareoke/bowling club/bar in HB. Fine, right? So like 15 other people show up, some of the were super nice and some could have cared less this mysterious New Englander was there. So they do their thing. Since I was the outcast, they made me take some pictures of the group singing Happy Birthday to the boyfriend, but then some got mad at me for not taking decent pictures-it was a bar, they're dark inside. I wasn't having fun. So I say to this girl, I'm gonna leave, and my aunt will come pick me up-she's like, "oh I understand, we'll do something tomorrow night-there'll be less people-easier to talk." We switch numbers, and I leave.

Cut to the following day/night. I had spent the entire day with my aunt and uncle-they are cool people so not a big deal, we went wine tasting, a fun thing to do. We're in the car on the way back to HB and I call this girl. She's like, "oh I want to show you a good time in OC, you can spend the night at my friend's apt, we're just gonna hang out on Main Street HB-lots of bars/clubs" I say, "sounds fun, we'll be back in an hour, I'll call when I get back." So I did. She picks up her phone-drunk-she had apparently been drinking since about 4pm, but it's 5 o'clock somewhere. She's like, "YOU coming out with us??!!" "Yes, sure" "Good!, talk to my friend Candice [it was her apt]" I say, "can I have your address?", she goes, "Yeah" insert awkward pause..."do you want it?" I respond, "yes, of course." She goes, "don't be such a smart ass." Well needless to say, that pissed me off a little, so thus it began. So we do this back and forth, and it's more annoying that anything, she does say something to me which I don't understand, she goes, "well, you can sleep with [person who invited me] on the futon-bearing in mind she has a boyfriend-I celebrated his birthday-but I hang the phone up eventually, person who invited me calls back to "apolegize" and insist I come out. I say I'm not sure now, tit's all too weird and I don't like how I was being treated by people I don't know [I did edit the convo a little, it was rude at best]. So eventually this girl says to me, "you're so uptight, if you come out with us, you have to wear sandals, no stupid shoes, you can't wear any dumb button shirts and don't think of wearing a polo shirt. You throw those glasses off [I wear glasses, very nice Oscar de la Renta ones too] and don't act the way you acted last night. If you wanna hang out with kids in Orange County, you can't be like that."

Well, she was making reference to what I was wearing the previous night. I was and still am pissed and disappointed. Because I was being judged, unfairly for dressing more formally-which the shirt was a short sleeve nice fitting shirt- and being a little more reserved. But that was more because no one was talking to me per se. Part of the converstation I had the previous night was about my education-a master's deg from a liberal arts college-they went to junior college-I used large words and even said New Englanders are more "reserved" than most. So this girl had basically used how I talked, acted and dressed against me. I did get her to admit she thought I was little more than an East Coast snob.

Well of course I didn't go out, which just upset her further since I think she had other intentions for me.

So in conclusion, though I have fallen in love with California, being a New Englander is tough buisness. We're seen as uptight, overpriveledged, elitists with an ivy league education. Which of course is ironic coming from some people who live in the OC. We say words like "all set," aunt as in haunt, and the/a/ter, not theeAtor.

[1130]

I've lived in eastern Mass for 20 years and can say that the people here are not very social. The only time they will socialize is if their job requires them to do so, such as working at a supermarket where the cashiers will say "Hi, How are you today" or "Thank you, have a nice day". Other than that, you won't hear them say "Hi" if you're walking down the street. I moved to an area where I been residing for almost 2 years and honestly can say there's any sort of communication between neighbors. Even if you try to smile at them, you can't because they won't even look at you. And the driving!! forget it!!!. If you drive at the speed limit, they will tail you or honk at you til you get out of their way. I'm waiting for my son to finish high school so I can finally leave this state and head down South.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by 1130

I've lived in eastern Mass for 20 years and can say that the people here are not very social. The only time they will socialize is if their job requires them to do so, such as working at a supermarket where the cashiers will say "Hi, How are you today" or "Thank you, have a nice day". Other than that, you won't hear them say "Hi" if you're walking down the street. I moved to an area where I been residing for almost 2 years and honestly can say there's any sort of communication between neighbors. Even if you try to smile at them, you can't because they won't even look at you. And the driving!! forget it!!!. If you drive at the speed limit, they will tail you or honk at you til you get out of their way. I'm waiting for my son to finish high school so I can finally leave this state and head down South.

Let me guess... Florida? Well when you get to the "south" which Florida no longer is, I hate to say it, but if you think people are standoffish in MA, wait till you get down here. 100 times worse. Where in MA are you living? Because where I am from(western MA) people are not like that. In pittsfield, I was in Big Y we were at the deli, they have these coins they use for discounts on food. The clerk asked if we had a silver coin for the discount on cheese, we said no(we just came up from Floriduh). A lady standing in line gave us 3 silver coins. She said she overheard us, and want to give us some coins. Yeah, people are awful up in MA. My neighbors in Chesterfield, I barely knew brought us a plate of all types of baked goods when we moved in, and invites my family to thier family get together... Yeah, how rude. So.... Maybe it's all in WHERE you live, or how you percieve people. I never experienced rude, miserable, unfriendly people, until I came to FL.

[theh]

Originally Posted by ChrisA70

Let me guess... Florida? Well when you get to the "south" which Florida no longer is, I hate to say it, but if you think people are standoffish in MA, wait till you get down here. 100 times worse. Where in MA are you living? Because where I am from(western MA) people are not like that. In pittsfield, I was in Big Y we were at the deli, they have these coins they use for discounts on food. The clerk asked if we had a silver coin for the discount on cheese, we said no(we just came up from Floriduh). A lady standing in line gave us 3 silver coins. She said she overheard us, and want to give us some coins. Yeah, people are awful up in MA. My neighbors in Chesterfield, I barely knew brought us a plate of all types of baked goods when we moved in, and invites my family to thier family get together... Yeah, how rude. So.... Maybe it's all in WHERE you live, or how you percieve people. I never experienced rude, miserable, unfriendly people, until I came to FL.

I agree...I've lived in both eastern and western Mass and the obnoxious drivers and rudeness are definitely an eastern Mass thing. People in general are a lot more laid-back and peaceful on the other side of the state.

[CantWait2Leave]

I just stumbled across this thread, but I'll tell you what I've heard from people in L.A. about people from MA. I've never met anyone from MA FYI.

Loud, rude, obnoxious, arrogant, likes seafood, obsessed with sports, very liberal and annoying thick accent.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by CantWait2Leave

I just stumbled across this thread, but I'll tell you what I've heard from people in L.A. about people from MA. I've never met anyone from MA FYI.

Loud, rude, obnoxious, arrogant, likes seafood, obsessed with sports, very liberal and annoying thick accent.

They have us confused with New Yorkers..... Except the seafood thing, SORRY.

[western mass and love it]

Well maybe out the bershires people are more friendly,but i can honestly say after seven years in the house i am in now i have spoken to maybe 2 neighbors,living iin the Springfield area to me is just like living in eatsrn mass.

[ChrisA70]

It's like that everywhere in Western MA I have lived, which is from birth till 1994 when I came down to FL. I never ran into rude or snobby people once. Of course I have always lived in Northampton, Easthampton, Chesterfield, and Pittsfield. Springfield is a big city, a lot different from the N'ton areas.