Ever hear the term: "bergen county prisses"

[LittleMissSunshine]

When I was in college, I used to get comments about being from Bergen County.

Some how it gets stereotyped as some place completely rich and snotty.

I think some people have never been there and base the entire county off Alpine or Saddle River. I lived in lower Bergen County in an average looking 5 bedroom house. My town had zero McMansions or Mansions. Just nice, but regular looking homes.

[exhdo1]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

I heard the term "bergen county prisses" from a saleswoman I was working with.

What does it mean?

I grew up in bergen, but oh well there are things I just dont know

We have friends that live in Bergen County (Saddle River) but (grew up in Brooklyn). When he calls in a contractor to do some work on his home he always tells them don't give me a Bergen County estimate. What he is saying that many people perceive that Bergen County prices are sometimes inflated because of #1 the ability to pay those prices and #2 the inability for people to do things for themselves.

[JerZ]

We were never rich either. My family had gone back in Westwood history to the mid-1940s. They had moved in when it was a bunch of station wagon caravans bringing children out of the city and into the suburbs just following the war, to be raised in a safer place.

I was born in BC because my parents were both already living there (in neighboring towns) so of course they wanted their children raised they way they had been raised. When my parents divorced in the 1970s, it was beginning to get a bit tighter financially in the area, so my mother, sister and I moved out of BC for a while and lived in various places in central and western NJ, but we came back in 1980 because my grandmother had died and my grandfather had Alzheimer's disease and needed someone to take care of him. Nobody could really afford a full-time nurse in the home so it was decided one of the families should move in with him, and that family was us. But as I said...a family of multiple divorces and many moves, it's not like we had tons of money or anything.

So we were never the "richest" of families; we just happened to already have a family house in Westwood. And of course I wanted to stay in the area for the same reasons my parents initially had; and for many years I did. It was expensive, sure, but I worked full-time and, well, there you have it. Without a mortgage, anyway, it was much easier I am sure than, say, someone moving from a less pricey area and trying to buy into BC. (ETA: Meaning, I was in an apartment by then...I obviously wasn't in the house any more, as I was an adult at that time.)

But this stereotype about "everybody" in BC having tons of cash to wad up and throw away is just silly. Yes, it is an expensive area, but I mean for the love of pete, we're not talking about Bel Aire or something. In my experience, the stereotyping, exaggeration and lumping into one category of "upper" BC people is jealousy-driven. (Interestingly, the people who are the loudest about this are the people who wish they themselves were rich...yet they hate the people who do have money...go figure.) Most BC people, like people anywhere, are just trying to make a living, have a home in a pretty, safe area, raise kids, etc. Buying in from somewhere else, yes, you'd have to have a wad of cash. But it's bizarre that anybody who actually knows BC would think they're all sending their children off to the priciest schools in private hired cars and dressing them in silk thread and tulle every day or something. To the OP: Do you know the area you're talking about very well? I mean you asked the question, but what are your opinions on "upper" BC? Do you feel the stereotypes are true? Would you use these in common conversation? Just curious.

[NJ Chutzpah]

Well I always thought girls from tenafly or alpine were very snotty

Southern Bergen is more down to earth

Areas above paramus I know nothing of

[ericr]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

Well towns like garfield, fairlawn, paramus, bergenfield, dumont, waldwick, etc are ok

But Tenafly, alpine, etc uuuugggghhhh

Actually parts of dumont can get very snobbish. I live in the upper middle class sector of dumont, known as white beeches. Its close to haworthe nd oradell nd is directly next to the white beeches golf course. Most people here tend to have money nd can get quite snobbish. If anything, they're worse than alpine nd tenafly residents when it comes to snobbery. However, if you come from a family with money you tend to fit in just fine .

[ericr]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

Well towns like garfield, fairlawn, paramus, bergenfield, dumont, waldwick, etc are ok

But Tenafly, alpine, etc uuuugggghhhh

Actually parts of dumont can get very snobbish. I live in the upper middle class sector of dumont, known as white beeches. Its close to haworth nd oradell nd is directly next to the white beeches golf course. Most people here tend to have money nd can get quite snobbish. If anything, they're worse than alpine nd tenafly residents when it comes to snobbery. However, if you come from a family with money you tend to fit in just fine .
As for bergen county prisses...bergen county is the third wealthiest county in new jersey. And many, not all, come from affluent families. Therefore, when a noticably wealthy BC resident acts snobbish, they're often referred to as BC prisses. So stereotypical