In Philadelphia, can you feel a difference between someone from a NJ suburb vs one from a PA suburb? (Reading: school districts, property taxes)

[Truth11]

With my eyes closed

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Truth11

With my eyes closed

Yeah man, the Main Line and Haddonfield? It's like they're on different planets!!1!!1

[s1oozne]

It's more like what part of Philly they're outside of or what side of the city they border. Bucks County and South Jersey are pretty much identical to me.

[soug]

Ugh this thread again.

[s1oozne]

After reading this thread some more, there are some things I feel I must respond to.

Originally Posted by frankgn87

exactly the same.. I grew up in a Pa burb and ow in a NJ burb. Exactly the same

Originally Posted by kidphilly

Mostly agree on the whole very little difference

Because you're both from Bucks County. It's no different than South Jersey. In fact, the same goes for Chester County outside of the MainLine or the city/borough areas.

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Excepting some people from the outer edges of Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester Counties (whom are on par with people from the outer edges of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties), there is absolutely zero truth to that statement.


Given that the majority of South Jersey was undeveloped farmland until the 1950s, that simply isn't true; suburban South Jersey's growth was far and away primarily fueled by families who left Philadelphia proper. Given that a much larger proportion of the Philadelphia suburbs were developed before WWII, and most of the people who moved there came from Pennsylvania, it also makes sense that PA suburban residents are more likely to be multi-generational than NJ suburban residents. I also don't think until you get around, say, Winslow Township, there's much of a distinctive South Jersey culture to speak of.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by BPP1999

I couldn't agree more with this and I don't understand river123's comment.

While I don't have the statistics so much of South Jersey is made up of ex-Philly people. Consider the vast amounts of people who fled South Philly and other parts of the city to South Jersey over the last 40 years. They have much stronger ties with the city than places like Ambler or Norristown or West Chester which have been independent towns for over 100 years. It's almost as if, when fleeing Philadelphia, the residents wanted to leave the city and the state to try to start again in greener pastures. Not too many people said "I'm sick of <insert city neighborhood here> so I'm going to move to Plymouth Meeting. The housing prices have also been historically been cheaper in SJ then in PA and selling a city row home does not often provide for enough to buy in many PA places.

This is one of the delusions of people from Montgomery County. Norristown, Conshohocken, etc and the Main Line may have been independent places but the rest of Montgomery County exploded in population in the post-war era. Montgomery County is not the least bit independent. Hell, how many things does Montgomery County call "Greater Philadelphia"? And people from Montgomery and Bucks Counties are the quickest to claim Philly outside of South Jersey, especially the parts closest to the North/Northwest/Northeast sections of the city.

Originally Posted by frankgn87

absolutely 100% untrue. Spending over 20 years in Bucks and now in Burlington counties in NJ they are exactly the same. Now maybe in Camden county with all the south Philly transplants it may be different. But us in Burlington county we get the NE Philly transplants. I believe Bucks county people are also a large part of the NE Philly transplants.

Because Bucks County and South Jersey are exactly the same.

Originally Posted by soug

One thing I've noticed is people from the PA burbs just say they are from Philly while people from the NJ burbs (most of the time) say South Jersey. I actually prefer the second, because it allows for a subidentity within the overall region.

When radio stations, advertisements, etc say "Philly Jersey Delaware" are you supposed to assume that the PA burbs fall under "Philly" or does this phrase unwittingly exclude the PA burbs altogether. I personally think it's clear that it's the first, but it's interesting to think about.

This is another delusion of South Jersey people. More people from Bucks County and South Jersey claim to be "from Philly" than from Delaware and Montgomery counties combined.

People from places with their own identities say they're from where they're from because they're proud of it. When somebody local asks me where I'm from, I say where I'm from. When I'm somewhere else, I say I'm from "right outside Philadelphia". I have never claimed Philly and I never will.

As for the radio stations, well maybe it's because most of the ads are for places in suburban parts of the metro, namely Bucks and Montgomery counties and South Jersey.

Originally Posted by frankgn87

This is true..

South Jersey has more of a named geographical area then the pa burbs for some reason

Not really.


By the way... Bucks County/South Jersey= the central part of Delco that goes from Springfield at the Clifton Heights border to Glenolden and Darby township, to Ridley, to Aston, to Middletown Township, and to Marple. The only exceptions to this are the older, more walkable areas, as is the case in that part of Delaware County as well.

[soug]

You don't own my reality or anyone else's. I'm speaking from my experience, and you're speaking from yours. That's fine. But don't call me delusional.

After all the bs South Jersey gets on this board by internet warriors for supposedly not being as "Philly" as the PA burbs, this guy is giving me crap for asserting that SJ has its own subidentity. Hilarious.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by soug

You don't own my reality or anyone else's. I'm speaking from my experience, and you're speaking from yours. That's fine. But don't call me delusional.

After all the bs South Jersey gets on this board by internet warriors for supposedly not being as "Philly" as the PA burbs, this guy is giving me crap for asserting that SJ has its own subidentity. Hilarious.

I agree. Plus his post was full of huge generalizations - "Bucks County and SJ are exactly the same." Right. There are huge differences between Croydon, Warminster, Newtown, New Hope, and Quakertown, all in Bucks County. There are huge differences between Cherry Hill, Marlton, and Woolwich, all in South Jersey.

I consider many SJ towns to be "more" Phillly than lots of the PA towns simply because the SJ towns often have larger populations consisting of ex-Philly people, and larger %'s of their populations consisting of ex-Philly people. When I posted that I, too, was called delusional.

[s1oozne]

Originally Posted by soug

You don't own my reality or anyone else's. I'm speaking from my experience, and you're speaking from yours. That's fine. But don't call me delusional.

After all the bs South Jersey gets on this board by internet warriors for supposedly not being as "Philly" as the PA burbs, this guy is giving me crap for asserting that SJ has its own subidentity. Hilarious.

If you think South Jersey is independent, has its own identity, and doesn't claim Philly then yes, you are delusional. Let me be clear though that I'm not talking about Camden or legitimately older, urban parts of South Jersey but the suburban or small town parts. I don't lump the older, urban parts in with "South Jersey" the same way I don't lump Conshohocken, Norristown, etc with Montgomery County, Coatesville, West Chester, or Pheonixville with Chester County, or Newtown, Bristol, etc with Bucks County. It honestly annoys me when people do that, or when people from other suburbs talk about South Jersey as being suburban just because they're living in the city now. I'm talking specifically about the places that produce people who won't say where they are from when you ask them. I know that is definitely not the case with older, urban parts of those counties.

Considering I've never given South Jersey crap for not being "as Philly" as anywhere else, I don't really care that people do that, nor is it relevant to what I'm saying.

The truth hurts.

Originally Posted by BPP1999

I agree. Plus his post was full of huge generalizations - "Bucks County and SJ are exactly the same." Right. There are huge differences between Croydon, Warminster, Newtown, New Hope, and Quakertown, all in Bucks County. There are huge differences between Cherry Hill, Marlton, and Woolwich, all in South Jersey.

I consider many SJ towns to be "more" Phillly than lots of the PA towns simply because the SJ towns often have larger populations consisting of ex-Philly people, and larger %'s of their populations consisting of ex-Philly people. When I posted that I, too, was called delusional.

Yeah, they are exactly the same. The Far Northeast is thrown in there too, as is Chester County outside of the Main Line, the boroughs and cities. There might be differences but they are the same outside of those exceptions. This makes them even more similar given that they are both mostly soulless sprawl with the exceptions of the few older, more walkable parts.

They both, as well as Montgomery County, have these delusions of being independent and of being more important than the city, all while naming everything either "Philadelphia" or "Greater Philadelphia" and claiming to be from the city.

Because you are. Many of the people from the suburbs outside of Philadelphia are delusional about many things.

[LHM]

[s1oozne]

Refute what I said.