Today marks my 1-year anniversary in New Jersey!
I've held my tongue for a year but there are some things about New Jersey that I just don't understand. If you were born in New Jersey, lived here for a considerable amount of time or have some refined knowledge of how this state operates...please enlighten me!
In no particular order....
1) Why isn't there a self-service gas station in the entire state of New Jersey? Did some cheapskate run off without paying one day and the governor signed an executive order requiring all gas stations to convert to full-service? Maybe, I'm old skool but I like pumping my own gas.
2) Why can't you take a left hand turn at most major intersections in New Jersey? You have to get in the right hand lane pass the street you want to turn on and veer into a righthanded roundabout just to loop back around and merge onto the street you want to be on in the first place. Insane!
3) Why are there stop signs when you are merging onto one highway from another highway? For example, if you are traveling on Route 138 east from Belmar and want to get onto Route 18 North (where they intersect in Wall) there is a stop sign just before you get onto Route 18 North. I've driven in a lot of states (Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky and Delaware) and can not remember this on any of their roads.
4) Why aren't all the exits numbers uniform on the Garden State Parkway in both directions (North and South) ? Of course, I missed my exit going to an event and had to loop back around onto the GSP but the damn exit didn't exist on the North-bound side. So, I had to drive another 10 miles to the next exit and then loop back around again and then go back South again. This is an absolute scam since the GSP is a toll road.
5) Why is New Jersey's nickname the Garden State? I have yet to find a reasonable explanantion of how the 3rd state into the Union got its nickname.
6) Why is New Jersey's black population listed at 13.6 percent in the 2000 census and why does that number drop to 8.1 percent for Monmouth County (where I live)? You know it makes it kind of hard for a man to date.
7) Can you name the 3 New Jersey colleges that were ranked amongst the top 100 schools in U.S. News & World Report's latest ranks? If you said Princeton (No. 3), Rutgers (No. 60-tied with five other schools) and Stevens Institute of Technology (No.71-tied with two other schools) you are correct...wait a minute! Stevens Institute of Technology! (scratches head).
11 comments:
What is a Stevens Institute of Technology? Is that like, Wentworth?
Awwww....SIT! Steven is the bomd-diggedy, son. But anyways, traffic woes exists for all places. Just think how many folks come to MA and hate rotaries with a passion...
We have those turnabouts in MI - they're called "Michigan lefts." I feel you on the stop signs (which we also have in Detroit). And if you do ever figure out how NJ got its nickname, let me know. A sister's been curious...
I'm sorry but I have to speak up for my home state (as you knew I would lol)... sounds like there's alot of hateration and hollaration going on with these queries...but I'll address a few. New Jersey is the Garden State because of beautiful South Jersey where we have A) trees B) farms and c) massive open spaces. It's just lovely. And, I personally love not having to get out and pump my own gas. So much better to sit in the car and have someone else do the work (especially in the winter). As for the turnabouts (or jughandles as we prefer to say), no word on that one, but if you grow up with them, they grow on you. A final word... stop hatin' on my state. That'll be all :)
One thing I will say about Jersey, is that the natives sure do have a lot of pride. No, there are no pro sports teams, and there are like 5 exits in the whole state, and that road sometimes smells like hot garbage when you roll your window down on the Turnpike.
Great state, though.
(I love hating on Jers haha)
Born and raised in New York,I STILL dont understand New Jersey! I dont even try: Why the "New York" Jets and Giants play there, why the Grambling Game moved there, why the State Troopers continue to shoot and maim People of Color and no one stops them, why there are like sixteen Exit 14s on the NJT and you have to go south from there to go North to Exit 18-George Washington Bridge, why they closed the original Palasades Park, the free unbound toxic waste freely pouring into the air during the seventies on I-80, how in the world did Christine Todd Whitman go from NJ to working for the EPA?
...they have good shopping there though, huge malls DECADES before NYC built it's first strip mall, and no sales tax on clothes and shoes. If you can make it past the Troopers, the traffic and the toxic waste to get in and out of the malls, you're Golden! Good Luck! LOL
Did not know that the Garden State was like. That's a lot of "Whys"
KD
Damn. I was born in Willingboro. What an icky state. As Gracie Lou Freebush (Sandra Bulluck) says in "Miss Congenialty," New Jersey is called the Garden State because "Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State" wouldn't fit on a license plate.
New Jersey has, is and is called all of those things, because: Da Jerz got it like that. Anyone who doesn't like it, well...you know where the turnpike is. :)
ok. so i just can't sit and let you play my beloved state ... are you serious about the garden state comment? new jersey has some of the most beautiful gardens in the nation!! and i do believe that it's against the law to pump your own gas in the n.j. but that's fine with me cause my hands don't get dirty ... and as for the oil refineries and the smell -- hold your nose and your pants, cause this is about the best place you will ever be!
ps- the shore? of course there are no folks. hello?! but the beaches are beautiful all the same.
I see ya'll New Jerseyians have some thin skins...lol
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