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Many people who live in Massachusetts believe they are in the best state in the country and everyone else is an outsider. They like to be at constant battle with different states. This is why people refer to them as M*******s, because they act like elitists, or that they are in a special "club." Feels like a very classist, angry, segregated place to live.
Depends on what part of the state.... I'm from Northampton and I don't see that at all. I'm in westborough now and I don't see it either. Want to go to a forum full of that go to the Florida forums and see the attitudes.
Boston: (the capital: Boston,) the cosmopolitan city with all that anyone could want, really. Every sort of person doing every sort of thing. International tourist and university student mecca. Each neighborhood has its own personality, e.g. Allston/Brighton are for punks and hipsters while Beacon Hill is for brahmins and la nouveau (urban) riche.
Wellesley, Weston, Lexington, Concord, etc: (the capital: Wellesley,) The suburbs where people with good jobs in Boston sleep, while keeping one eye on each neighbor to track everyone's progress.
The Five College Area (Capital (s Northampton/Amherst, and they share the title harmoniously, which is representative of about everything regarding the general tenor in the 'Happy Valley.') A study just came out yesterday that proclaimed Northampton's residents are the most healthy in the Mass -- and is anyone really shocked?? What with all the organic farmer's markets, and needful walking around the city's beautiful center..? Add to it one of the best walking/biking trails in the state.... Minds are in shape too, worked by some of the best institutions in the whole world...... It's the best "college town" in our country.
I'm from the Mid-West, not Mass., but I've lived in one of those expensive suburbs of Boston for the last 25 years. I couldn't even afford to buy here now, but I started off renting, then bought my crummy, "tear down" of my house 15 years ago. There are 2 types of people in this town, basically: 1. Arrogant Yuppies, who build McMansions where little cr*ap houses like mine once stood, &:
2. The aggressively rude, "true locals", with the accents, & aggressive, "up your tailpipe" driving. Who are ironically, in part, the contractors, plumbers, workmen in my neighborhood who are building the McMansions for the Yuppies to move into. Or a nasty NStar workman I encountered, who'd been throwing beer cans on my property. Man they are nasty--if they're the types that other people base their Mass. stereotypes on, I don't blame them. And I've lived in the NYC area too--but I'd put up the nastiest Mass. locals against the nastiest New Yorkers any time.
As far as the so called elitist, educated types: I have no idea where the Yuppies w/McMansions in my neighborhood are from. But the only times I encountered any of them were very negative. One guy, who I'd never met, who came charging into my yard, over & over, demanding that I get involved with a big effort to stop a building that might affect his "view". A couple of others who let their dogs run around in my yard, thinking my lawn was a dog park perhaps?, then got all huffy when I asked them to call their dogs.
But, a lot of the Yuppie A-holes here are from other places, not from Mass. So not only do you have the aggressively rude, locals, with the accents, but rude Yuppie A-holes pouring in from all over the country. (And I used to think I loved it here, or at least, had assimilated).
The one time I was in Northampton; it seemed like a better, & different world.....
If I hear someone is form Massachusetts I immediately assume they are white, since it is an overwhelmingly white state. I assume they have an air of entitlement about them, since Massachussetts is a reasonably wealthy state, and most people traveling outside of the state must have some amount of wealth to be able to travel. I assume they are slightly arrogant, thinking their area of the country is better than the rest of the country, since Massachussetts consistenly ranks on the higher end of things. I presume them to have some sort of a yankee accent, slightly more extreme than the generic midwestern American accent. I would expect them to be a bit on the rude side and living a very fast paced life. Massachusetts is a very densely populated state, especially the Boston area, people from large and densely populated metropolitan areas tend to be more rude, due to dealing with so many people on a daily basis.
Overall my steroetypical views on people from MA are not good, but I know it's just that, a stereotype and not 100% accurate, just as many stereotype about southerners are far from true.
If I hear someone is form Massachusetts I immediately assume they are white, since it is an overwhelmingly white state. I assume they have an air of entitlement about them, since Massachussetts is a reasonably wealthy state, and most people traveling outside of the state must have some amount of wealth to be able to travel. I assume they are slightly arrogant, thinking their area of the country is better than the rest of the country, since Massachussetts consistenly ranks on the higher end of things. I presume them to have some sort of a yankee accent, slightly more extreme than the generic midwestern American accent. I would expect them to be a bit on the rude side and living a very fast paced life. Massachusetts is a very densely populated state, especially the Boston area, people from large and densely populated metropolitan areas tend to be more rude, due to dealing with so many people on a daily basis.
Overall my steroetypical views on people from MA are not good, but I know it's just that, a stereotype and not 100% accurate, just as many stereotype about southerners are far from true.
Yeah you are way off on half of it. Predominantly white? Yeah not really. Since I came back from FL it seems very Puerto Rican or Indian(middle eastern) settled. Western MA people have NO accent. Densely populated? Apparently you haven't been here. Take a ride from Worcester to Pittsfield and see how densely populated it is........
Western Mass people do have an accent, Hampden County is densely populated and very diverse. But Hampshire,
Franklin, and Berkshire counties are thinly populated and very white. Most of Massachusetts from Worcester county east is very densely populated and a lot of different accents to be heard. Hampden county is more in tune with Hartford county CT with Springfield and Hartford just over 20 miles apart from each other and many residents of CT working in Spfld and vice versa.
Mass. has changed a lot in my lifetime. A lot of people here are new rich yuppies who are replacing the ordinary people who had to move away because they couldn't afford to live here anymore.
I'm from WMass so I don't know that much about the Boston area except that they often have accents and they are very much into money and status. The questions they ask on CD show what they are like: What's the best town I can get into for a million $? I want the best town with the best schools and a walkable downtown and a huge house and perfect neighbors and parks and good shops and trendy restaurants near the sea and close for commuting. Also, if the school system in this rich town isn't good enough for my (perfect) child, what's the best private school?
This is not the Massachusetts that I grew up in. Of course if you get away from the Boston area it gets more normal and there are still diverse types of people. Down to earth people.
I always knew there were Boston brahmins and high society but these new rich have spread out and taken over with their fast paced competitive lifestyles.
We are not all like that and if you get to WMass you'll find a better cross section of people who are usually not so wrapped up in themselves and will still be your friend and will help you out. There even seem to be places in EMass where there are ordinary down to earth people but they're an endangered species.
Mass. has changed a lot in my lifetime. A lot of people here are new rich yuppies who are replacing the ordinary people who had to move away because they couldn't afford to live here anymore.
I'm from WMass so I don't know that much about the Boston area except that they often have accents and they are very much into money and status. The questions they ask on CD show what they are like: What's the best town I can get into for a million $? I want the best town with the best schools and a walkable downtown and a huge house and perfect neighbors and parks and good shops and trendy restaurants near the sea and close for commuting. Also, if the school system in this rich town isn't good enough for my (perfect) child, what's the best private school?
I always knew there were Boston brahmins and high society but these new rich have spread out and taken over with their fast paced competitive lifestyles.
We are not all like that and if you get to WMass you'll find a better cross section of people who are usually not so wrapped up in themselves and will still be your friend and will help you out. There even seem to be places in EMass where there are ordinary down to earth people but they're an endangered species.
Well put. Something I left out in what I said above about living in one of those expensive towns just West of Boston: When I moved (back) here in 1985, this now fancy town & neighborhood was full of mainly "ordinary down to earth people" (w/o accents, FWIW). There were no McMansions, just ordinary little ranches & Capes. I liked it then. It "felt like home", even tho I was renting then.
Now there is a definite "class system" in my neighborhood--the Yuppies w/McMansions, & the older people with their little old houses. It's sort of like--there's no real "neighborhood" anymore, just Yuppies w/McMansions, & I'm not sure, but I don't think they even talk to, or hang out with, the other Yuppies.......it's bizarre.....
Mass. has changed a lot in my lifetime. A lot of people here are new rich yuppies who are replacing the ordinary people who had to move away because they couldn't afford to live here anymore.
I'm from WMass so I don't know that much about the Boston area except that they often have accents and they are very much into money and status. The questions they ask on CD show what they are like: What's the best town I can get into for a million $? I want the best town with the best schools and a walkable downtown and a huge house and perfect neighbors and parks and good shops and trendy restaurants near the sea and close for commuting. Also, if the school system in this rich town isn't good enough for my (perfect) child, what's the best private school?
This is not the Massachusetts that I grew up in. Of course if you get away from the Boston area it gets more normal and there are still diverse types of people. Down to earth people.
I always knew there were Boston brahmins and high society but these new rich have spread out and taken over with their fast paced competitive lifestyles.
We are not all like that and if you get to WMass you'll find a better cross section of people who are usually not so wrapped up in themselves and will still be your friend and will help you out. There even seem to be places in EMass where there are ordinary down to earth people but they're an endangered species.
The way you describe Boston......the one that I left 10 yrs ago....is certainly how I feel about SoCal.....I could never compete as a single mother just getting back into the work force......Probably why I get little attention from this board............
Well...I could have been a contender.....but divorce and devastation has done me in...............
What is saving me is selling a rather average home in SoCal and knowing that I can buy a decent home in MA................hopefully I can find a town where neighbors say hello......and actually know your name ( DONT mean to sound like the Cheers theme song)..................CALIF is worst than Boston ever though of being.................
Anyway, no one wants to answer questions about Worcester County.....not that desirable, but what I afford...........
Anyway, no one wants to answer questions about Worcester County.....not that desirable, but what I afford...........
This board is primarily dominated by Greater Boston people, so you won't get much on the rest of this big state.
As I tried to say earlier, Worcester County is very big and diverse. It has desirable, undesirable, forgotten and up-and-coming. It really depends on the town. People are generally friendlier and more down to earth than nearer to Boston and especially the Metro-West area. There is also much less traffic and as you've noticed, lower housing prices. The negatives are fewer jobs, awful roads (and being stuck with tolls if you need to go to Boston), bad winters (and the associated sense of dinginess), and too many layabouts. Like the rest of MA, it really is going to hell in that dept. (you can thank our disgrace of a governor). If you can find work here, it's not a bad place to be as far as MA goes.
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Northampton/Amherst, and they share the title harmoniously, which is representative of about everything regarding the general tenor in the 'Happy Valley.') A study just came out yesterday that proclaimed Northampton's residents are the most healthy in the Mass -- and is anyone really shocked?? What with all the organic farmer's markets, and needful walking around the city's beautiful center..? Add to it one of the best walking/biking trails in the state.... Minds are in shape too, worked by some of the best institutions in the whole world...... It's the best "college town" in our country.
