Is sarcasm part of the New Jersey culture?

[JerseyGirl415]

Originally Posted by bookspage

I could see how it would be jarring for you.
I can hardly converse with native Californians. I find them dry and standoffish. And I'm sure they're thinking stuff about me too lol

I agree the Californians I know do tend to be more dry and standoffish than us, but in a weird way they're also strangely more friendly (I say weird and strange because it would seemingly contradict "standoffish"). When my aforementioned friend from Orange County lived in New York for a few years, she would complain that the people at Dunkin Donuts were rude, simply because they wouldn't really talk to her. They just weren't "friendly." This doesn't faze me. I want the people at Dunkin to make and give me my coffee, and that's about it. I don't care how willing they are to engage in small talk. If people do happen to want to talk, that's fine, but if they don't I don't take it personally or label them rude. Similarly, on the other side of the coin, when I worked at an ice cream place through school, I also didn't engage much with customers outside of simply taking their orders and serving them unless they initiated it. I didn't think it was rude if they didn't.

There was also one time we were driving somewhere in northern NJ, just on a road in a downtown. There were construction workers right beside us working on the street. We were at a red light, so stopped right beside them. My friend suddenly waved at one worker who happened to glance in our direction. He gave her the weirdest look and she was so confused. I was like... why would you wave to him? She was like, why not? Why does he seem so rude? It was odd. I wave to people I know that I see, and if they recognize me as I'm driving or walking they will wave to me too, or say hi real quick. But wave to strangers? Just... why?

I don't know if these are general CA things or just her quirks, but there are definitely some noticeable differences between the Californians I know and us.

[toothpaste]

Originally Posted by profnot

My elderly landlord makes sarcastic remarks all the time and I've wondered why he is such a curmudgeon. I've wondered if he is in constant pain or something.

Youre goddam right hes in pain... from having to deal with clowns like you.

I'm just being sarcastic, take it easy.

[h_scott]

Sarcasm is so ingrained in NJ culture that we don't realize that we're using it until we're somewhere where it's not recognized as such. At those times it can be very cutting / crude and very likely not received as intended. I learned this the hard way when I moved from NJ to CA. Had to drop the sarcasm in the business environment unless I was dealing with someone from NJ or the east coast.