They shure don wave lahk ah dew, but then, they hev en axcint, yew kno…

Bah th’ way, them folks think salt ‘n’ peppah ar spices. Whut kin they be a’ thinkin’? They dew hev sum fahn Ice Cream, tho…

New England’s been like that forever, back to when this area was conservative.

Fact A: New Englanders don’t use umbrellas.
Yes, well, I own an umbrella. At least I used to. It’s around here somewhere. I can’t use it because when it really rains the wind is about 40 miles an hour, and the umbrella would never survive.

Fact B: New Englanders don’t use garages.
Oh, yeah.

Fact C: If you weren’t born here, forget about it.
Yes, I’ve lived in NH for about 17 years, and I’m still “the new guy”. I’m from the South, but my Mom’s family is from Minnesota. When people talk about last year’s winter being tough, I just laugh.

Fact D: Women mow the lawns.
Not all of them, of course, but a lot of them do. And it is striking to see. I think that New England girls, like MN girls, are pretty tough. When the men are away, they have to plow the driveway, rake the roof, and hack the ice dams. Summer-time yard work is nothing.

(One of my first memories after moving up here was driving by a little girl waiting for the school bus. It was probably 10-15 degrees with a pretty good breeze blowing. She was dressed in a short skirt and a little jacket, leaning against a snow bank. Only the strong survive.)

Fact E: New Englanders love ice cream.
Big time. I personally don’t eat much ice cream, but then again I’m not a native. With some, it’s almost an obsession.

Do you think Fact C is related to the elitist strain that runs through what is passing for libralism these days?

A lot of it, from their position on school vouchers to smart growth policies, which are really no growth, seem steeped in an us vs. them mentality that is focused on preseving the status quo for the benefit those who’ve already got their’s and keeping both the less fortunate and the new money at arms length.

lmao

You’re on to a few things, a recalibration required for others.

I am a born and contented Swamp Yankee from Massachusetts, by way of Maritime expats from the one time Great White North.

I am not a liberal (was one briefly, before muggings, divorce, and giving up medicinal jane), and so detest the politics of this Staat, but I can attest that there is much of Old New England still extant heeyah, and even in gorgeous and corrupt Little Rhody.

Spend some Summer time among the natives along Duxbury Beach, or fishing off Cohasset, or sun-shiney drinking in Newport and Jamestown and Middletown, and know that this is our Ancient Home, without parallel or comparison.

One could be misled, however, when hearing the Rhody accent. It sounds Nyawk, but its speakers are Yanqui, without any doubt.

Let me re-Staat, I despise the politics, but I would choose no other place to live.

You are correct about Connecticut, however. It is an extended suburb of New York.

I am a male and have always mowed the lawn. Until the divorce, that is. Then I mowed two lawns.

Umbrellas? I use them, when not already attired in a canvas baseball cap.

Garage? Wish I had one, to put my stuff.

Ice Cream? Most certainly. But not commie Nyawk flatlandah Ben and Jerry stuff, but Far-Far’s, and Scoops, and once upon a time, Bliss Brothers and Newport Creamery.

Northern New England?

A strange and magical place, where many a heavenly Summer week passed. Vermount is no longer a constituent member, and is today some freak rump outpost of atheist Quebec and the lost tribes of Nyawk.

Way Down East?

Won’t tell ya bout it, cuz ya might go theyya.