Today I got a comment from Audrey at Pinks & Blues, who not only, along with her mom and sister, have their own fabulously fun site, but is also a regular contributor to the New England Mamas blog, which I have just spent hours, er, several minutes, perusing. Gosh that site brings back memories - so here are the top 10 references that, when I use them here in Virginia, people don't have a clue about what I'm talking about. So please indulge me as I venture off the Green Path and instead take a trip down memory lane.
10) A Raspberry Lime Ricky - What was summer without one?
9) Regular Coffee - You order a regular coffee at D & D and it came with milk and sugar
8) The Importatude of The Blizzard of '78 - Snow days + February School Vacation = SWEEEEETTT!
7) Wicked - No, not the book. Or the musical.
6) Peanut Butter and Fluff - Surely this was not invented in Massachusetts {update: well, I'll be darned it was!}, but from the reaction I'm getting down here in Virginia I'm guessing it did not originate south of the Mason/Dixon Line.
5) Radiators - If you have never heard a radiator clanging as the water heats up, you don't know what you've missed. Same goes for using a radiator key.
4) Bubblas - Yes, those things. Where do you get a drink?
3) Lobster Rolls at McDonalds - Was this just a dream?
2) Triple Deckers - I have never, ever, seen a Triple Decker anywhere by Massachusetts. Granted I don't get out much, but people here tend to think I'm referring to a sandwich, so that can't be good sign.
and the number one thing Virginians look at me funny about:
1) Jimmies - Need I say more?
8 comments:
I believe Fluff was started in Lynn, MA. Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin. Never come out the way you went in.
Omygosh Miss Kitty - I forgot about that saying!
My son just ordered "sprinkles" at Brigham's today and my heart sank. Jimmies, dear, we call them jimmies. And since I mention Brigham's, what do I get there to drink with my meal...you guessed it, a RASPBERRY LIIIIMMMME RICKEY!!!
Great post from one New Englander to another.
RD
My cousins are from Boston and always said wicked ... it was definately very Massachusetts! My husband tried feeding the kids the fluff and PB sandwiches ... (he's from Illinois though), I vetoed that one pretty quick ... the last thing my kids need is more sugar. In Wisconsin we said bubblers, that's one I've held onto and have passed down to some of my kids.
I had a roommate from Massachusetts, he had the coolest accent.
Oh, what laughs you gave me today! My favorite New England thing is ICED coffee... and that means double brewed, not just coffee poured over ice. Or a Newport Creamery AWFUL AWFUL... Awful Big, Awful Good (or is that just a Rhode Island thing?). And, of course, COFFEE MILK! A long glass of ice cold milk with Eclipse or Autocrat Coffee Syrup. My daughter Jane still orders her chocolate Awful Awful with chocolate Jimmies while I enjoy a REAL iced coffee and my husband chugs his coffee milk!
I will be visiting you often!
Sharon - Pinks & Blues Girls
I'm a grad student in the urban planning dept. at MIT, and another student wrote his master's thesis on triple deckers. He called them part of a "stacked flat" typology, or something. Mostly I wanted him to interview my Irish OFD relatives about growing up in them!
Fun list. I'm going to link to it.
PS: What about whoopie pies!!!
I'm from Western MA and what I get picked on for here in NYC is the term "grinder". They have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about here - they call them heroes. Great article, thanks for posting!
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