Right on schedule ugh

[phamton]

The bennies have arrived. They are like stink bugs, nothing you do gets rid of them.

I feel your pain. The tourist season has started here in my hometown, too.

It's getting so hard to drive anywhere in the area. Tourists are always lost on the road and changing lanes at the last minute to turn before they miss their exit. And it's crowded everywhere I go now. Fortunately your tourist season is only 3-4 months. Ours is 10-12 months a year.

 

[njmom47]

Brick here.....Near Exit 91.

 

[sweet angel]

Brick here.....Near Exit 91.

I used to live in Wall Twp and worked in Pt. Pleasant Boro.

 

[Dax]

I feel your pain. The tourist season has started here in my hometown, too.

It's getting so hard to drive anywhere in the area. Tourists are always lost on the road and changing lanes at the last minute to turn before they miss their exit. And it's crowded everywhere I go now. Fortunately your tourist season is only 3-4 months. Ours is 10-12 months a year.

Did it ever end? Getting out of the airport on a daily basis is a challenge...I almost lost my front end today because a tourist decided he wanted to get on the 417 and was in the wrong lane for it...UGH...

When I lived in S Jersey, we called em Shoobies...

 

[sweet angel]

Dax, you must have been LBI or further south in NJ to call 'em shoobies.

 

[mdsoccermom]

I grew up in NJ - 45 minutes door to shore - and never heard of a benny.

We used to do day trips to Pt. Pleasant, and would also go and spend time with cousins at their house in Beach Haven.

 

[Dax]

Dax, you must have been LBI or further south in NJ to call 'em shoobies.

Born and raised in Cape May!

 

[Lady Godiva]

The bennies have arrived. They are like stink bugs, nothing you do gets rid of them.

How friggin rude are you Sorry we "bennies" disturb the peace of your Garden State. I wonder what would happen if all the tourist dollars dried up? God forbid, you might have to pump your own gas

 

[Ceila]

Only if you wear your shoes on the beach! Which is really a losing battle, sometimes the sand is so freaking hot, you can't go barefoot and if you wear shoes yuck!! I wear water shoes so I guess I'm a shoobie but you won't see me with socks and sneakers on!

I think you're joking, but do you know where the term shoobie really comes from? Back in the 30s and 40s people from Philadelphia would take the train to the shore. They would spend their day at beach (for free back in those days, I believe - no beach tags), and they would bring their lunches in shoeboxes. By bringing in their lunch, they deprived the beach towns of tourist dollars. That bothered locals, who had to deal with them but never saw any benefit, thus the term shoobie (from shoebox) was coined.

 

[MissUndastood]

How friggin rude are you Sorry we "bennies" disturb the peace of your Garden State. I wonder what would happen if all the tourist dollars dried up? God forbid, you might have to pump your own gas

Proving my point

 

[Ceila]

Proving my point

Nope, but I think you just proved hers.

 

[declansdad]

Nope, but I think you just proved hers.

 

[MissUndastood]

Nope, but I think you just proved hers.

Touché

 

[Buckalew11]

I think you're joking, but do you know where the term shoobie really comes from? Back in the 30s and 40s people from Philadelphia would take the train to the shore. They would spend their day at beach (for free back in those days, I believe - no beach tags), and they would bring their lunches in shoeboxes. By bringing in their lunch, they deprived the beach towns of tourist dollars. That bothered locals, who had to deal with them but never saw any benefit, thus the term shoobie (from shoebox) was coined.

True that!
That's the story my Nana told me. And yeah, free. Sometime after '75 they made you get beach badges.

I have lots of photos and things from LBI back in the 30+. Love the history of that place!

 

[mhsjax]

I feel your pain. The tourist season has started here in my hometown, too.

It's getting so hard to drive anywhere in the area. Tourists are always lost on the road and changing lanes at the last minute to turn before they miss their exit. And it's crowded everywhere I go now. Fortunately your tourist season is only 3-4 months. Ours is 10-12 months a year.

Thank you. Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[mhsjax]

Proving my point

Never mind, I don't want to be rude.

 

[Aisling]

Fortunately your tourist season is only 3-4 months. Ours is 10-12 months a year.

Agreed! The Jersey Shore peeps should try living here in NYC. There are always more tourists here than residents, it seems! You can't walk down any city street on any day without people looking up at the skyscrapers bumping into you. I don't mind, though, as long as they spend LOTS of money here.

 

[Planogirl]

I wonder how many of those complaining about tourists go to Orlando and clog up their highways?

 

[LBIJim]

Dax, you must have been LBI or further south in NJ to call 'em shoobies.

Yes, shoobie is generally a southern NJ shore term, while benny is more for Monmouth country and northern Ocean county.

Another (probably obsolete) term is WEB (week end bast--d).

Several different versions of how the term shoobie originated. The most popular seems to refer to tourists, especially men, who wore an old pair of dress black shoes to the beach. Sometimes with black socks. My father was the quintessential shoobie.

Some years I dress as a shoobie for Halloween parties.

Jim

 

[LBIJim]

True that!
That's the story my Nana told me. And yeah, free. Sometime after '75 they made you get beach badges.

I have lots of photos and things from LBI back in the 30+. Love the history of that place!

I first heard the shoebox story as a kid, but I like the wearing shoes to the beach version better as an adult.

Atlantic City, the three towns of the Wildwoods, and the small town of Strathmere still have free beaches. I remember Seaside Heights charging beach fees in the late 1960s. Most of the rest of the shore towns started charging during the 70s.

Went to Seaside Heights boardwalk on Saturday evening. I've NEVER seen it so crowded, but then again I've never been there on a holiday weekend. Lots of good "Jersey Shore" wannabes on the boards.

Jim