New Jersey..New York....Long Island

[moviegirl11]

I've lived on LI for almost 30 years and I've never heard of the NJ/LI thing .

When people ask where I'm from I usually say NY, meaning the state not the city.

Same here re: the NJ/LI thing. If there's an ongoing debate over who is more "NY," I've never heard of it and I lived on LI for most of my life.

When people ask where I'm from I say LI because when I say NY they assume I mean the city.

 

[mickeymyfavorite]

I live on Long Island

 

[metsfan11]

I live on LI, and I've never heard of this debate.

I hate when people ask where I'm from, because I always say Long-Eye-Lund, and I recognize when I do. So I try to say, "That big mass of land east of Manhattan".

 

[moviegirl11]

I live on LI, and I've never heard of this debate.

I hate when people ask where I'm from, because I always say Long-Eye-Lund, and I recognize when I do. So I try to say, "That big mass of land east of Manhattan".

When I say Long Island people sometimes joke "Oh! Lawng Guy-land?!" Like thats how we all talk. I dont know anyone who says it like that.

I live upstate new york now (you know, that big mass of land north of Manhattan) and I can hear my accept much more up here than I ever noticed it when I lived down there.

 

[metsfan11]

I live upstate new york now (you know, that big mass of land north of Manhattan) and I can hear my accept much more up here than I ever noticed it when I lived down there.

Yeah, I never notice it when I'm here because everyone sounds basically the same.

 

[AlwaysEeyore]

Do you actually pronounce L.I. as LonGuyLand? When I say it it sounds like Long-I-land.

When people ask me where DH and I are from we just say Long Island and don't even say what town. The only exception to that would be in a case like we had at 50's Prime Time. We were talking to a family in our dining area and asked where they were from. When they said Long Island we asked where. Turns out they were from Smithtown. DH and I live in East Patchogue.

OT: Disneynutt, did you make a decision yet regarding your MIL? Hope you went with the "Don't Tell" way.

We always do the same thing. I don't even add NY after Long Island. We had the same situation a few times when we were in WDW, our server would ask where we were from and we said LI we have people around us ask where since they were from there too.. Most people didn't know where Yaphank was though. I love my little town.

 

[moviegirl11]

Yeah, I never notice it when I'm here because everyone sounds basically the same.

I can actually hear the different accents from the different regions of Long Island. My cousins way out east have really thick accents and so do some of my cousins who live in nassau county. I grew up on the north shore in suffolk and my and my sisters accents arent as strong.

 

[Boatingmom]

Just chiming in for the record:

If you live in the state of NY you are a "New Yorker"

I live in Long Island, and have worked in Manhattan a number of years. I take the LIRR and the subway. I live off the Southern State(Parkway). I'm not sure of the exit, although I always make it home. I don't go to "the shore", I go to either "the beach", or "Fire Island". Although I do not live in "the city", I am still considered a New Yorker by the people who collect my taxes.

I don't think the folks from across the river can say the same thing.

 

[disneynutt1225]

Do you actually pronounce L.I. as LonGuyLand? When I say it it sounds like Long-I-land.

OT: Disneynutt, did you make a decision yet regarding your MIL? Hope you went with the "Don't Tell" way.

No, I really don't pronounce it that way - but most people assume that's how we all talk, so I figured I'd go with it, LOL. Though I do have family members that seem to add vowels to the end of every word, i.e: shower is showa; water is wata; etc.

And yes, I decided to keep my mouth shut and not to tell MIL that we're going. I still have yet to call to password protect my reservation (if that's even possible, they might think I'm a crazy lady). I was going to take care of it this week, but I had to much other stuff going on so I didn't get around to it.

 

[Haeg]

 

[mom2aredhead]

I grew up in Maplewood, Essex County

OMG - That's where I grew up too...It really is "A Small World" I wish the pic in your signature was bigger so I could see if I know you from the old 'hood!

Now I'm trapped (yes, I said trapped) because of my husband's job in the NYC borough where all of your Old Bridge neighbors migrated from - the land of "Juicy Couture" sweatsuits, stick straight hair, big bug-eye sunglasses and Cadillac Escalades - AKA Staten Island.

I kept my 201 area code cell phone - it's the last little bit of Jersey I can hang on to - but when people ask where I'm from, I still say NJ.

And btw, thank you to all for not referring to my beloved home state as "Joisey" anywhere on this thread!

 

[a1tinkfans]

This was a fun thread to read. I too had never heard about this "debate" before.
I was born in Manhattan, moved to Long Island and grew up in Nassau County. Got married and moved to south shore of Lovely Long Island and then moved to another home across the island on the beautiful north shore (not to say it is any lovlier than the south shore though).
Funny thing is, while at Disneys MK at Liberty Tree Tavern they call your name and location out. I didn't think twice when they asked I said Long Island. But when they called us she said New York, which then prompted about three other families to say "us too!" And a very quick, where are you from ensued!

 

[iluvdizknee]

MOM2aredhead......I am a red head also. LOL

I graduated Columbia HS in 1979 and my dad was a cop in Maplewood for 23 years. Did you go to the Maplewood Pool? I went to Seth Boyden in Elementary. It is a small world!

PS My daughter is on the Comet All stars....we have cheerleaders in common also...OMG LOL

 

[metsfan11]

I grew up on the north shore in suffolk and my and my sisters accents arent as strong.

That's where I am now, and I agree. I have friends who live near Montauk and they do have stronger accents than I do.

 

[cybrkitn]

We always do the same thing. I don't even add NY after Long Island. We had the same situation a few times when we were in WDW, our server would ask where we were from and we said LI we have people around us ask where since they were from there too.. Most people didn't know where Yaphank was though. I love my little town.

Hey, you're pretty close by. Yaphank is not that far from E. Patchogue.

 

[checkwriter]

I dont understand what you are getting at?!??! I said be proud of where you are from... Obviously you were because you said Hicksville... Just because people didnt know where so you said long island?!?!? There have been plenty of times that I have said I was from Staten Island and still got asked where that was and happily said NY. I am proud of where I am from. I dont expect people from around the world to know all places of NY/NJ/LI... just as I wouldnt expect to know where they are from in I havent heard of it!

Jrabbit910, I apologize. I sometimes forget that not everybody shares my Midwestern roots. In Central Illinois, where I grew up, a "hick" was a hayseed, a country bumpkin, a rube, an unsophisticated farm boy. Think of the "Eb" character from "Green Acres." So to many people in the US, "Hicksville" is a place where hicks are from. Hence the laughter on the Jungle Cruise. I have to say that no one from the NY/NJ/CT area has ever raised that issue with me. My Midwestern friends, on the other hand, did.

 

[KatGarcia]

This thread was amusing to read! As someone who grew up in Suffolk County Long Island and moved to Nassau then to Brooklyn (and a short stint in Manhattan and the Bronx along the way) I find it funny that people even worry about the specifics. When in WDW and asked where are we from we say New York, if asked further then go nuts and say where specifically you are from, but jeez this was such a debate over something so funny!

And I think if you live almost anywhere surround Manhattan you call it "The City" out of habit, I know I do.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Hey...you East Coasters aren't the only ones with an identity crisis: I'm from Vancouver (and you automatically think Canada, right?), WA -- so sometimes I try to make it easier by saying I'm from the city right across the river which is Portland (and everybody thinks Maine!), OR. So most of the time I just say I'm from the Pacific Northwest!

 

[ElenitaB]

Born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island, travelled the world, lived abroad, returned to Brooklyn and am raising my son here.

We live in Brooklyn and whenever anyone asks us where we're from, DH never says Brooklyn. He'll always say NY or NYC, which I think is weird because I'm proud to be from Brooklyn.

Me too! (Bay Ridge checking in here)

I grew up in the Midwest and migrated to NY after college. My spouse is from Long Island, and at first I found it presumptuous to hear people there talk about going into "the" city. Isn't there more than one city?

Well, after 20 years here I can give you the answer: No. There is no other city. New York is THE city. Sorry Chicago, LA, Atlanta, and all the rest of you. That's just the way it is.

Oh, and that "exit number" thing? That's Jersey, not Long Island.

"The City" is Manhattan... haven't you ever seen that New Yorker magazine cover? On Lawn-Guy-Land we do talk about exit numbers as well... I grew up in N. Massapequa, aka Exit 30 off the Southern State. We're just not as obsessed about our exit numbers as much as the Jersey folks are.

Just chiming in for the record:

If you live in the state of NY you are a "New Yorker"

I live in Long Island, and have worked in Manhattan a number of years. I take the LIRR and the subway. I live off the Southern State(Parkway). I'm not sure of the exit, although I always make it home. I don't go to "the shore", I go to either "the beach", or "Fire Island". Although I do not live in "the city", I am still considered a New Yorker by the people who collect my taxes.

I don't think the folks from across the river can say the same thing.

Well said! New Jersey is not New York. I guess even the Jets and the Giants think so too.

 

[cybrkitn]

Hey...you East Coasters aren't the only ones with an identity crisis: I'm from Vancouver (and you automatically think Canada, right?), WA -- so sometimes I try to make it easier by saying I'm from the city right across the river which is Portland (and everybody thinks Maine!), OR. So most of the time I just say I'm from the Pacific Northwest!

And don't forget, there's also Ontario, California. That one always gets me when I have to type it on a PO for the ship to address . My mind keeps telling me Canada, when it's California.