SNL and Scranton (Pittsburgh, Denver: college, to live, train)

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

The jokes not funny, nor is it even a joke. Not sure what NJ has to do with it and Im a transplat myself.

This place is sliding into a sink hole of financial disaster faster then ever before, the hole is bottomless and it will take generations to fix what has been done by one mayor and his cronies in just a decade.

What NJ has to do with it is that NJ has been the butt of similar jokes forever. Its called an analogy. And a light-hearted one at that.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by sues1

Archie doesn't even want to go to Scranton in the 70's,,,,,,,lololol

But he did like the Poke-Yer-Nose!

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

The jokes not funny, nor is it even a joke. Not sure what NJ has to do with it and Im a transplat myself.

This place is sliding into a sink hole of financial disaster faster then ever before, the hole is bottomless and it will take generations to fix what has been done by one mayor and his cronies in just a decade.

I think it's funny. *shrug* What does NJ have to do with this thread you ask? Surely, you must have heard the neverending jokes about how dirty and smelly NJ is or how people from NJ are among the rudest in the nation? Come on. I've been hearing this my entire life and I am a PA resident.

[toobusytoday]

Whenever I hear Biden referred to as being a Pennsylvanian I always think to myself that that's not right, he's a Delawarean! He moved from Pennsylvania when he was 10, graduated from the University of Delaware and never lived in another state except for law school at Syracuse. So, while I can see why he wants to claim those PA roots, he never really knew Scranton as an adult.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

I think it's funny. *shrug* What does NJ have to do with this thread you ask? Surely, you must have heard the neverending jokes about how dirty and smelly NJ is or how people from NJ are among the rudest in the nation? Come on. I've been hearing this my entire life and I am a PA resident.

I'm the one that is usually crackin the jokes about Jersey, but still don't see the tie to Scranton and the situation the city is in.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Whenever I hear Biden referred to as being a Pennsylvanian I always think to myself that that's not right, he's a Delawarean! He moved from Pennsylvania when he was 10, graduated from the University of Delaware and never lived in another state except for law school at Syracuse. So, while I can see why he wants to claim those PA roots, he never really knew Scranton as an adult.

He does have family roots here. It was recently revealed that his great-grandfather and two great-uncles went to Lafayette College in the 1890's. Presumably that fact is kept quiet because going to college in the 1890's doesn't square with being born "working class" in the 1940's.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

I'm the one that is usually crackin the jokes about Jersey, but still don't see the tie to Scranton and the situation the city is in.

You're taking it too literally. NJ and Scranton have nothing to do with each other. The only similarity is that they both get made of fun of....

[TUowl06]

Scranton is a dump. There is no way around it. The political landscape is corrupt beyond belief, the general public is poorly educated, the roads/infrastructure are a mess and the job situation is a train wreck. If you have ambition or motivation to succeed you will be looked at with curiosity. The people of Scranton consider average to be acceptable. Also, if you don't spend 1/2 your paycheck at the local bar you'll be considered unsociable. The fact that 85% of the labor force is hungover each morning might have something to do with the area's poor work ethic.

It has a stigma that is extremely hard to escape, mostly because it's based on fact. I now live in Bozeman, MT and whenever I tell someone where I'm from I get a little chuckle.

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by TUowl06

Scranton is a dump. There is no way around it. The political landscape is corrupt beyond belief, the general public is poorly educated, the roads/infrastructure are a mess and the job situation is a train wreck. If you have ambition or motivation to succeed you will be looked at with curiosity. The people of Scranton consider average to be acceptable. Also, if you don't spend 1/2 your paycheck at the local bar you'll be considered unsociable. The fact that 85% of the labor force is hungover each morning might have something to do with the area's poor work ethic.

It has a stigma that is extremely hard to escape, mostly because it's based on fact. I now live in Bozeman, MT and whenever I tell someone where I'm from I get a little chuckle.

Scranton has its issues, some of which you are hitting the nail on the head about, but there is another way to look at some of the statements you're making. It is certainly more of a blue-collar area, and there is nothing wrong with that. The pace is slower than in other areas of the Northeast, but there's not really anything wrong with that either (heck I'm in Arizona now...things are way mellow here). I don't think the area has a poor work ethic. Some individuals might, but you'll find that anywhere. The 1/2 your paycheck/85% hungover is an obvious exaggeration. Sure, there's the joke about finding a bar and a church on every corner and to an extent that's true but its a holdover from the coal days. Scranton's never really recovered from the loss of the railroad and coal industries, that is true. Jobs are hard to come by due to the depressed economic situation, also true. But don't paint the entire area and its people in such a negative light because of those issues, its unfair. Most of the people I came to know from living and working in that area were some of the nicest, friendliest, and generous folks I've ever come across.

Heyna or no?

[jimazee]

Many of those bars and churches have gone out of business too...the times they are a changin'