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"What I've noticed is that if you're from the metro area of any other major American city, you can get away with saying you're from that city. ... meanwhile with New York City, you can only say you're from there if you are from one of the five boroughs. If you are from New Jersey, Long Island or Westchester, and you say you're "from New York," people will call you out on it."
You are so right. New York is the exception on that one. I have to say in the past that I have called people out on that. NYC is one of those places where there is such disconnect between city and suburb and it really feels like two different worlds. The situations where the "city" is really being stressed is where you will notice the calling out.
I have also noticed this a bit with people from Maryland and VA in regards to DC. They will say- I am from DC and people from DC sometimes take exception.
Yes, I agree, NJ Chutzpah. Each identity seems to be the one in that metropolitan area (out of state), which was why I brought up the question. Growing up, I always remember being in the shadow of NY, up to the point where one was always in the city for recreation as well as work.
No, Cyntmac, it's not silly at all. Some places have a major metropolitan center nearby, with some life in the towns, like LA. The scene in Pasadena is different from North Hollywood, which is different from Venice. In NJ, it's "go into the city" meaning Manhattan. Too bad, Newark or Paterson never developed or retained the feeling of a metropolitan center. My two cents.
What I meant by silly was that "sixth borough" comment. Most of North NJ is too burbish to qualify and it sounds like a marketing thing. Growing up in Bergen County is different from central NJ. I'm sure you felt in the shadows because you were! In central NJ everyone's life does not revolve around the city even if one happens to work there. I grew up in the burbs but it is not considered northern NJ and Bergen has a totally different feel.
Much of central NJ does have it's own identity and when you meet people from there in other places you can kind of tell that they are not from Bergen county.(Or at least I can but it is probably because of growing up in that area) I don't think everyone in Nj thinks of their life in terms of NY. That is painting with a broad brush. I never experienced that and I ended up living in NYC for years. The kind of lame sameness of suburbia makes for a certain dullness and that makes any area seem lacking in flava. NJ has lots of suburbia so it gets extra helpings of lame in some people's eyes.
The urban areas of NJ as downtrodden as they may be- are not lacking in flava at all and have a strong identity. It might not be one that you relate to or find redeeming in quality but that is not the point. Making those areas more mainstream will not make suburbia seem less lame if people view it like that. That just seems to be a commonly held view among the young in particular. It kind of seems silly to me now but when I was younger I knew many people who thought like that and funny enough a whole lot of them live in areas just like that today. LOL
NJ lacks identity because the whole state is either in the NY metro or Philly metro. I think, even though it will never happen, that NY should annex all the counties north of Burlington and PA should annex the rest.
I would never say I was from NY. Ever. I don't think NJ has an identity problem with itself, I just think the rest of the States don't see us as different from NY as we do. Simple things like Live Earth New York: at East Rutherford NJ is too easy for us to understand, but people who aren't from here could easily be confused. Not to mention the 3 'NY' sports teams that play here.
Newark and JC can rival many other midsized cities, but when they're across the bridge from the largest city in the US...well....
I don't think people in NJ would benefit from the annex thing. Especially if it went to NY. I am old enough to remember when south NJ wanted to annex itself from the rest of NJ. There were even articles written about it. Anyone else remember that?
NJ lacks identity because the whole state is either in the NY metro or Philly metro. I think, even though it will never happen, that NY should annex all the counties north of Burlington and PA should annex the rest.
Screw that lol. I'll just root for the last relatively 'free' metro: Atlantic City
NJ lacks identity because the whole state is either in the NY metro or Philly metro. I think, even though it will never happen, that NY should annex all the counties north of Burlington and PA should annex the rest.
The entire state of NJ is NOT either in the Philadelphia or New York metro area. Atlantic and Cape May Counties in the southeastern part of the state are not a part of either. Warren County in the northwestern part of the state is not a part of either.
New Jersey isn't wall-to-wall development, either. Some of the counties listed in Philadelphia's and New York's respective metro areas are extremely rural. Parts of Sussex, Hunterdon, Morris, Cumberland, Ocean, and Salem Counties are very desolate.
New Jersey has an identity being quickly replaced by other people moving into the state. New Jersey is going through the same issues as Northern Virginia, South Florida, and many other areas in the South whose identities are being taken over.
Northeast NJ is the sixth borough, plain and simple. Anyone who disagress is either not from here, or really very old.
Northeast NJ's landscape is just as dense as the other boroughs. Our traffic is just as bad if not worse. We have ethnic enclaves here as well. We are just as diverse. We are basically an extension of NYC.
Our Accent is even an offshoot of the NY accent.
I have never met anyone from Bergen, Hudson, Essex, or Union county say they are from anywhere other than New York when talking to an out of stater. When we talk to each other we get into more specifics. The same goes for anyone in Westchester, rockland, and long island.
The suburban areas were created for one thing. For people in the Urban areas to move too. Our closest urban area with the largest population is NYC.
How much of what goes on in NYC economics affects what goes on in northeast NJ and vice versa.
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