Aerial cityscape of Paterson, NJ and its old courthouse. Paterson is the county seat of Passaic County and the 3rd most populous city of NJ, with the 2nd largest muslim population in US by percentage.
80 Signs that you know you’re from NJ…
We all know what it’s like to tell someone you’re from New Jersey. The chuckles, the sideways glances, the ‘holier-than-thou’ chin-up looks, or just the impression they give off that you are some kind of polluted trash goblin who recently dragged themselves out of a turnpike rest stop.
Okay, maybe that last one is just me—either way, the judgment is real.
Even when traveling abroad, I’ve encountered people who carry with them the same loaded assumptions—that Jersey is some waterlogged industrial complex where overcooked Americans go to cosplay as Italians. Man, I am a bit salty with this one.
Europeans already assume Americans don’t have culture—do you know how much harder that is to argue against when you’re from Bridgewater? The name is literally a description of something we built to avoid nature, is there anything more stereotypically Jersey than that?
But we do have culture!
A weird, confusing, and sometimes completely ridiculous culture, sure—but if you’re from Jersey I think you’ll recognize the things on this list that make us distinctly, uniquely, wonderfully, well…ourselves.
OK. Hold on tight. Here we go!
Here Are Some Signs That You’re Definitely from New Jersey!
1. You had your flip-flops stolen in Seaside Heights (or at Great Adventure).
2. You can explain explicitly what exit 13 smells like.
3. The F word is the most commonly used adjective in your vocabulary.
4. You’ve been hurt pretty badly on the Alpine Slide or got stuck in the cannonball loop water slide at Action Park.
5. You have slathered on more than your share of Bain De Soleil.
6. You watch that Jersey Shore show but you lie that you don’t when you’re asked.
7. You’ve bought 50 cents or a dollar worth of gas to get you to where you were going.
8. You have siphoned gas from another car with a makeshift cut hose that you made just so you could get to where you were going.
I remember sticking my hose easily into unlocked gas caps and sucking as hard as I could. I would always get gas in my mouth. It was rough, but I got around town just fine.
9. You have stolen a case of beer off of a beer delivery truck.
10. You have drank beer down by the tracks.
11. You have spilled beer on purpose when no one was looking down by the tracks.
12. You’ve driven around for 2 hours trying to find a parking spot down the shore.
13. You’ve driven around drunk down the shore.
14. You’ve jumped onto a slow-moving freight train only for it to speed up so you could not jump back off.
15. Your arms are bigger than your legs.
16. When you’re at a loss for something to do, you go to the mall.
17. You’ve gone to Gunnison Beach but left your clothes on. And you couldn’t help but to spy on the nudies to see what you might see.
18. You have to pay tolls to get to the beach, pay to park, and then you have to pay again to get on to the beach.
19. You have gone Dolphin Watching.
If you haven’t. Here is your chance to do so. 2 hour Dolphin – Seals and Bird Tour in Belmar NJ. Tours run year-round!
20. You’re either missing a lot of teeth or you have beautiful perfect teeth.
21. You know what a Piney is and you know what the Jersey Devil is.
22. You used to think Keansburg and Seaside Heights were really nice towns.
Note: All Kidding aside and before we get the comments, we love Keansburg. If you have never visited Olde Heidelburg for a hot dog, you need to go. Please call first as it was temporarily closed last we checked! We also still love Seaside!
23. You’ve been to the Keyport Fishery.
And we love this place too!
24. You have floated down the Delaware River on an innertube.
25. You think Pauly D is the best DJ in New Jersey.
26. You know what a grease truck fat sandwich is.
27. You know we call them subs but you’re not sure of the real difference between a sub, grinder, hero, hoagie, torpedo, or Blimpie.
28. You’ve had your share of everything bagels.
29. You’ve driven or captained a boat drunk down the shore.
30. You have said this phrase exactly (or very close to it) “Can I get a Pork Roll Egg and Cheese on an Everything Bagel with Salt Pepper & Ketchup”.
31. You’ve had a cheesesteak from the Midway while you were drunk.
32. You’ve eaten French fries with gravy at a diner while you were drunk.
33. You actually really don’t know how to pump gas.
34. You don’t say you’re from Jersey, and you don’t like people that say that. It’s New Jersey thank you.
35. You don’t really understand the pork roll or Taylor Ham debate.
36. You know the difference between Jersey shore pizza, Trenton tomato pies, Clam Pies, Brooklyn Pies, and just plain old pizzeria-style pizza.
37. You call a Pizza a Pie. – So, I’ve got family down South. Most things down there translate well enough—but this one? Not at all.
38. Try going into any pizza place in the South and ordering a pie. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with what you get, but it’ll definitely be a dessert.
39. You’ve been to a Polar Bear plunge at least once.
And you thought you were cool and jumped in and froze your “you know whats ” off. You then never did another Polar Bear plunge.
One is coming to Seaside Heights February 23, 2023 if you want to give it a spin.
40. Wawa is your go-to spot after midnight.
41. You have worn in the past or still wear wife beaters.
42. You know what a pork store is.
43. You think Olive Garden is good Italian food.
44. You get your Slurpy from 7-Eleven. – Nothing better than slurping up that sugary goodness straight to a brain freeze and that sickly-looking red ice melted at the bottom. I have plenty of childhood memories of trying to slow down and scoop out that ice-cold refreshment with those weird spoon straws. Those never worked—so brain-freeze it was.
45. You were the ugliest person at a Shore bar.
46. We don’t like when Benny’s and Shoobies come to our beaches.
47. You’ve seen the guy with no shirt, long hair, wearing country boots, kick someone in the head on the boardwalk down the shore. Or you were that guy.
48. You’ve seen more than one person with a mullet and a wife beater on. Or you were that guy.
49. You don’t know exactly where the Statue of Liberty is and you’ve never gone to the top.
Here are some more fun New Jersey stereotypes
50. You’ve been to clubs where the Guido’s & Guidettes were 10 times more beautiful than you.
51. You know what a Fugazi is.
52. You’ve thrown pennies, slugs, washers, or faked the throwing motion and threw in nothing at all into the baskets when paying the tolls on the parkway.
53. You’ve tried to show off body surfing skills in front of your friends and you’ve gotten hurt really bad.
54. You don’t consider South Jersey to be part of New Jersey but more Pennsylvania or Delaware.
55. You’ve paid $40 for a pizza at Great Adventure.
56. It’s definitely Great Adventure and not Six Flags.
57. You’ve been comped at an Atlantic City Casino.
58. You’ve been drunk at Great Adventure or Mountain Creek.
59. When you’re drinking in the dive bars, in dog beers, you’ve only had one.
60. When you get pulled over by a cop, you’ve only had 2.
61. There were always empty beer cans in the back of your car.
62. You have eaten at a New York Style Deli, White Castle, multiple diners, and at a Taco Bell.
63. You’ve been to at least one Bruce Springsteen or Bon Jovi Concert, and know someone who met them in person.
64. You know that a Ripper goes in your mouth and not out your other end. (A fried Hot dog).
65. You are still that person that doesn’t have an Easy Pass.
66. You know at least 5 people named Tony.
67. You have been to many concerts on the lawn at the PNC Arts Center.
Speaking of Concerts, we have Taylor Swift Tickets
SEARCH AND BUY TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS
68. You Ski/Snowboard in your Jeans. – Okay, I’m a culprit for this one. I’ve done it more than a few times. And sure, I looked pretty stylish going down the slopes. But who was the one warming up their wet underpants over a heater while everyone else had a well-deserved beer? Yeah, that was also definitely me.
69. You’ve shoveled snow in a wife-beater tee shirt.
70. You’ve taken out the garbage in the middle of winter with no shoes or socks on.
71. You’ve cleared the ice on your windshield with a cassette tape box.
72. You have excitedly dug up sand crabs and put your new pets into a bucket only to watch them die 2 minutes later.
73. You spent your prom night in Wildwood or Seaside Heights.
74. You or your girlfriend had big hair.
75. Your best state college for academics & and best party school is one and the same – Rutgers.
76. You smoked pot in between classes in high school right in front of the school.
77. You went to the movie “My Cousin Vinnie” with your cousin Vinnie – or brother/friend Vinnie.
78. Somebody has at some point asked you what exit you live off of. This one is mine BTW.
79. You’ve driven in circles in the middle of the highway and you’ve taken jug handles.
80. The nickname “The Garden State” is appropriate and not a joke! – To the surprise of outsiders, New Jersey has a ton of green-spaces. Parks, forests, and even natural preserves are dotted all over the State. Sure, we have some industrial runoff issues and tons of cars affecting air quality, but you don’t achieve the 10th-highest GDP in the US without a few bumps in the road!
81. You call the Beach the Shore. – I’m tired of people thinking the term ‘shore’ sounds uneducated—that’s just plain classist. Shore is short for shoreline, which, as a term with a deep etymology, sounds straight out of a natural-science textbook. So, pretty smart right? It’s simple, concise—and, unlike ‘beach’, you can say it without sounding like you’re swearing.
Conclusion
So, there you have it—irrefutable evidence that Jersey has a beautiful culture to be proud of. Sure, we might not be the most sophisticated or healthiest state in the Union (though who can blame us for such good fast food!)—but these unifying experiences for all of us really show that there is something uniquely wonderful going on in New Jersey, and you just can’t fake that.
Please leave comments and more reasons for how we know were from New Jersey so I can add them to this post!More
