Connecti-cut it out!

December 19, 2010 12:32 PM

Connecticut is apparently no longer part of New England.

Some people are upset. Some have waited long for this day. Some say Connecticut has long-existed as a divided state.


A statement from Discover New England. It's cool guys. You're still on Wikipedia.

posted by auralcoral (149 comments total)

Exclusivity joke.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:36 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

The connection is cut.
posted by Decani at 12:38 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Of course not. Connecticut is a suburb of New York City.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:39 PM on December 19, 2010 [17 favorites]

The CT Governor gave CT $1 tourism budget for FY10 which effectively meant CT had to withdraw from DNE

Wow, what a cheapstate.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [11 favorites]

They couldn't afford the membership dues.

The best part: that's actually what happened.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [43 favorites]

At a couple hundred years old, New England's not really that new any more. Maybe a new name is needed.
posted by Frank Grimes at 12:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not only are they implying that Connecticut isn't part of New England; they're implying that Connecticut doesn't exist. Their map de-emphasizes New York and Canada since they're not part of New England, but Connecticut has actually been removed from the map altogether, as if it sank into the ocean.
posted by John Cohen at 12:41 PM on December 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Of course not. Connecticut is a suburb of New York City.

Only half the state, really. Ever been to UConn in Storrs? Definitely New England.
posted by maryr at 12:41 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

At a couple hundred years old, New England's not really that new any more. Maybe a new name is needed.

Yeah, they should be more accurate and call it "Relatively New England." Or "New England" for short.
posted by John Cohen at 12:41 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

I am proud to count Connecticut as my birth/home state. Litchfield County represent!
posted by ericb at 12:43 PM on December 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

Connecticut does not deserve the bad rap! I love CT! Perfect mixture of old and new!
posted by arveale at 12:43 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

but Connecticut has actually been removed from the map altogether, as if it sank into the ocean

Sigh, if only
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 PM on December 19, 2010 [14 favorites]

Of course not. Connecticut is a suburb of New York City.

You make the too-common error of thinking that Fairfield County is the only part of Connecticut worth considering.
posted by entropone at 12:46 PM on December 19, 2010 [12 favorites]

Good for them. Fuck New England.

Sincerely, Texas
posted by punkfloyd at 12:46 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

But apparently Montreal is. I'm sure the Parti Quebecois will be just fine with that.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:48 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Connecticut Fairfield County is a suburb of New York City.

Middlesex County, CT is more New England than you can ever hope to be.

Middlesex rhep-ree-sent
posted by fugitivefromchaingang at 12:50 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

The Nutmeg Curtain shown in the NYT graphic above more or less gets it right: Eastern CT is closer culturally to MA and RI and the rest of New England these days. By the time you get down to New Haven, they've never even heard of coffeemilk. Philistines!
posted by Kinbote at 12:50 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Sigh, if only

New Yorkers complaining about Connecticut are like the British whining about Australians — you can't export all your obnoxious rich people to Fairfield County and then blame us for them, guys.

Another Litchfield County native here.
posted by enn at 12:53 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

"New England" has been part of the US for quite a while, the longest in fact (except Vermont). So really "New England" really should be called "Old America" although that leaves out the rest of the original colonies. Maybe we can call it "Yankeeland" instead, which makes me think of an amusement park with lumberjacks and maple syrup, a pretty good fit I think.
posted by borkencode at 12:54 PM on December 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Litchfield County represent!

NEW LUCKIN' FUNDON, glad ya asked.
posted by Kinbote at 12:54 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

It'll still caucus with New England.
posted by Beardman at 12:58 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

Good for them. Fuck New England.

Sincerely, Texas

George W. -- is that you? Born and college educated in Connecticut. Later in life you would make people believe that you're just a 'regular guy' from Texas with whom anyone could have a beer. What? -- with your affected twang, clearing bush and pickup driving on your Crawford TX ranch all to make you come across as 'folksy' and not the blue-blooded Yankee you really are.

Ann Richard's words about your Dad apply to you, as well:

"Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

posted by ericb at 1:00 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

as if it sank into the ocean

Just in case, can we get someone in Western Rhode Island to walk up to the border and look?
posted by Mcable at 1:00 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

If you get NESN, you're in New England. If you get YES, you're not in New England.
posted by ifandonlyif at 1:00 PM on December 19, 2010 [13 favorites]

Calling any part of New England "Yankeeland" would not go well around here. Now Red Six Nation? That would work, we'd just need to succeed.
posted by Nanukthedog at 1:02 PM on December 19, 2010

It'll still caucus with New England.

In Middlsex County. heh
posted by NoMich at 1:02 PM on December 19, 2010

Nutmeg Curtain? Not finding it on Google... explanation?
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:08 PM on December 19, 2010

Odd that so many people are just now finding out that Connecticut cut itself loose from
New England. Fact: we separated at 10:45am, Jan 1, 1999. In fact, we left the union, or what
we used to fondly call the United States of America--there were some 50 states back then.
Why did we leave? We got sick and tired of paying so much more money into the govt in DC than we got back in services, and we resented that the southern states paid so little and got so much back and yet were always bitching about socialism, big govt., high taxes etc etc.

Yes ...we do have our own state flag (or national if you will), and our state song--So Long, it's been good to know you.

How do we get by? easy. We attract students from the states who want an education from abroad.
We have our own militia...we do tech work via Skype for many computer firms, and we still matain a good standard of living through our massive sales world-wide of Nutmeg.
Come then and visit us. But you will need an up to date passport
posted by Postroad at 1:09 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Connecticut is the cockblock between NYC and Boston. Mystic Seaport is okay.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

Kinbote: "The Nutmeg Curtain shown in the NYT graphic above more or less gets it right: Eastern CT is closer culturally to MA and RI and the rest of New England these days. By the time you get down to New Haven, they've never even heard of coffeemilk. Philistines"

This may is fascinating, as the border runs right through some towns, it seems. Are there separate Yankees and Red Sox neighborhoods in these towns? Are there checkpoints between them?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2010

I've never been to Connecticuit and decided to pull up a Google Street View image, just somewhere totally random.

This is what I got.

Looks hot.
posted by jimmythefish at 1:10 PM on December 19, 2010

What is this Eastern Coast you speak of?
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 1:13 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

At a couple hundred years old, New England's not really that new any more. Maybe a new name is needed.

More like 400 hundred years old.

"The name New England was officially sanctioned on November 3, 1620."
posted by ericb at 1:14 PM on December 19, 2010

Nanukthedog: Calling any part of New England "Yankeeland" would not go well around here. Now Red Six Nation? That would work, we'd just need to succeed.

I don't know about Red Six Nation, but Red Sox Nation has already been pretty successful, what with a consistently competitive team and two World Series titles in the last seven years...
posted by hincandenza at 1:14 PM on December 19, 2010

I wonder if they’ll get questions about the new MA/RI/NY Bay.
posted by mnemonic at 1:15 PM on December 19, 2010

fuckthesouth much, Postroad?
posted by 7segment at 1:18 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

What others said - Fairfield County is a NYC (not New York) suburb. And even then, there are exceptions in the northern end of the county.

The rest of the state, with the exception of Hartford, which is so grey it cannot be considered as part of any human colony, is New England, with parts approaching maximal non-tourist New England. I'm thinking places like Hebron, CT. My high school in Connecticut had an entire wing devoted to the Ag school, my friend's parents had a sugar shack, etc.

tl;dr GRAR!!!!!
posted by zippy at 1:20 PM on December 19, 2010

Coming from London, driving past signs for 'New London' and 'New Britain' freaked me the fuck out when I was over in NY/NE in the Spring. Clearly I've read too many post-apocalyptic sci-fi novels.
posted by corvine at 1:20 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

The Nutmeg Curtain

Do i need to look this up on Urban Dictionary?
posted by zippy at 1:20 PM on December 19, 2010

"New England" has been part of the US for quite a while, the longest in fact (except Vermont).

Well, Vermont is technically the first state to join the United States of America - the original 13 colonies making it up in the first place and Vermont joining as the 14th state (before then it was part of NY or NH, depending on who you asked, and then, briefly, an independent republic, like TEXAS, so FU2). Besides which, Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820 or so.

I may be slightly defensive about my home state, just maybe.
posted by maryr at 1:22 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

~and nothing of value was lost~
posted by kafziel at 1:22 PM on December 19, 2010

When I was living in New Hampshire in the late '80's, I sparked a lively debate by claiming that I was from New England because I was born in Connecticut. There was about a 50/50 split in opinion as to whether I was right. I see this hasn't changed much.
posted by cali at 1:26 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Washington Depot, Litchfield County btw.
posted by cali at 1:29 PM on December 19, 2010

I am proud to count Connecticut as my birth/home state. Litchfield County represent!

Hell yeah! Representing an area so podunk that the arcade fire interactive video couldn't find enough google maps data of my neighborhood to work.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:29 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

“Connecticut: The state the Red Sox have to drive through after losing to the Yankees”.
- The Late Show With Conan O’Brien, suggested state quarter slogans

(I'm still bitter about the Boston Globe reducing Connecticut to "a nice state to drive through" in their New England travel article circa 1990.)
posted by girlhacker at 1:32 PM on December 19, 2010

Coming from London, driving past signs for 'New London' and 'New Britain' freaked me the fuck out when I was over in NY/NE in the Spring.

Try seeing the 'Wyoming' sign on 95 in Rhode Island looming up out of the fog at 5am on the drive home from a rave in Boston. Scintillating.

Are there separate Yankees and Red Sox neighborhoods in these towns? Are there checkpoints between them?

Except from May to October, we coexist in peace; I know of folks who are in mixed-team relationships, for example. I count several Yankee fans among my best friends. There aren't any formal checkpoints, but living and working as I do between New London and Old Saybrook, I make a point of warmly but firmly welcoming visitors from across the Baldwin Bridge to Red Sox country.
posted by Kinbote at 1:33 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Grew up in West Haven, Orange, and New Haven, where I also lived and worked until my mid-twenties.

Pizza aside?

Fuck Connecticut.

It was so refreshing to discover, upon living in other states and regions, that the everyday level of assholism and negativity experienced living in CT is unusual. Living in Chicago is like living in Candyland compared to my years in the Nutmeg State (and go look up the origins of that nickname for a historical antecedent to my bile).

The pizza can be really good, though. And there is one thing the place is good for...
posted by jtron at 1:38 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nutmeg CUrtain - the curtain running through CT separating Yankee Country from Red Sox Nation. Named for the Nutmeg State.
posted by Navelgazer at 1:38 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticut is actually an awful state to drive through.
posted by swift at 1:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [10 favorites]

By the time you get down to New Haven, they've never even heard of coffeemilk.

This brings to mind the Dunkin Donuts' ad currently playing on radio stations through New England. It pokes fun at the regionally different terms such as coffee milk, frappe* and coffee cabinet, etc.

* -- When in Massachusetts a 'milkshake' is milk with chocolate syrup; no ice cream. Order a frappe, if you want ice cream. Also -- if you order a chocolate frappe, it will be milk blended with chocolate ice cream. If you want milk blended with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, order a 'black cow.'

Trivia: A Frappuccino contains no ice cream. It was developed, named, trademarked and sold in the Boston-area coffee shop chain, The Coffee Connection. Starbucks purchased The Coffee Connection in 1994. Some believe a primary motivator of Starbuck's purchase of the local 24-store franchise was to gain the rights to the beverage.
posted by ericb at 1:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Nutmeg Curtain? Not finding it on Google... explanation?

New England's line of defense against incursions from New York. For many years, the shoreline between New Haven and Old Saybrook was the DMZ, but now, like the Swiss, we take comfort in the fact that we can, if necessary, blow the Baldwin Bridge crossing the Connecticut River in order to preserve the integrity of the Greater Southeastern Connecticut Co-prosperity Zone alluded to by Postroad above.
posted by Kinbote at 1:43 PM on December 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

Newyorkachussetts. Most of RI considers it "the woods," inside which there's an Aquarium and somewhere beyond the Aquarium there's New York City, so don't go there.
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:46 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Kinbote: "I know of folks who are in mixed-team relationships, for example. "

"Oh, man, I hate those Shelbyville jerks."
"Honey, I was born in Shelbyville."
"And it tears me up inside!"
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:47 PM on December 19, 2010 [8 favorites]

Living in Chicago is like living in Candyland compared to my years in the Nutmeg State...

buuuuuck buck buck buck
posted by Kinbote at 1:47 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Here in Belgium, there is the same sort of cartographic cleansing going on.
posted by Steakfrites at 1:54 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Connecticut does not deserve the bad rap!

Indeed, Connecticut actually had some pretty good rap.
posted by Rangeboy at 2:11 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

If you get NESN, you're in New England. If you get YES, you're not in New England.

But...but...I get BOTH! Nooooooooooo!! (sinks into the Atlantic Ocean)
posted by arveale at 2:16 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

"At a couple hundred years old, New England's not really that new any more."

God, you're such an American. Remember, original England is the place where they call a 600-year-old church "new" because the old one was 1000 years older than THAT.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:20 PM on December 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

"Official"? This is the opinion of a goddamn marketing association. One that's trying to extort some money out of Connecticut. I wouldn't given them dime. (Well, maybe a wooden nutmeg....)

And even occupied Fairfield county has its share of long term natives who are unhappy with the non-rest-of-New-England carpetbaggers. There is a secret handshake no Manhattanite will ever learn.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:23 PM on December 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

True Facts about Connecticut: 1) Connecticut has never been part of New England. 2) Connecticut has always been at war with Eastasia. 3) In New England, it's preferred that one enunciate all three c's in Connecticut, including the oft-elided second c. 4) Connecticut's state bird is the outstretched middle finger.
posted by .kobayashi. at 2:40 PM on December 19, 2010 [6 favorites]

swift: "Connecticut is actually an awful state to drive through"

Clearly you've never driven on the Merritt Parkway.

Regardless, lol connecticut.
posted by billypilgrim at 2:51 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Jefferson Jones: [telling Liz that he isnt engaged anymore] "She married my shipmate."

Elizabeth Lane: "She did!"

Jefferson Jones: "Im as free as a bird!"

Elizabeth Lane: "Oh, thats what you think." [she kisses him]

-'Christmas in Connecticut' (1945)
posted by clavdivs at 2:53 PM on December 19, 2010

As a life-long West Coast-er, I never realized that there were 3 c's in Connecticut. Then I realized I'm not sure if I've ever written the word Connecticut before this very comment.
posted by Existential Dread at 2:57 PM on December 19, 2010

Wasn't there a interstitial on Family Guy where a guy from Hartford was writing a complaint letter? Wasn't his accent more New England-y than New York-y? There is your ruling.
posted by gjc at 3:09 PM on December 19, 2010

Chiming in with a childhood in podunk, northeast-corner, geographic-limbo Willimantic in Windham County, CT. It was a very pretty and safe place to grow up when I was in grade school, but come high school, I started going stir crazy. Started college in New York when I was 18, settled here for good on graduation and after my parents moved to Cape Cod I only visited once in the past ten years.

I used to amuse myself by playing a word-association game with states to prove my assumption about Connecticut -- I would name states and ask people to name the first thing to pop into their heads:

"California."
"Hollywood."
"Texas."
"Cattle."
"New Jersey."
"Turnpikes."

But then after a while, I'd throw out:

"Connecticut."

And their answer always was:
"......."

It seems to somehow be completely devoid of any of unique identity. Pockets of the state can stand out, but the state as a whole seems to fly under everyone's radars.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:18 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, before I discovered the Merritt Parkway the only fun thing about driving down to NYC was watching the antics of the Fung Wah bus drivers, deftly changing lanes and slowly passing out of sight as they navigated the traffic jams I would inevitably be stuck in, more surely than I ever would, in a vehicle ten times the size of my Honda.

I'm kind of fascinated that one small town in NY state, Hoosick, is on the Red Sox side of the border. The related article is short on details though, merely citing people at a pig roast.
posted by A dead Quaker at 3:20 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

We could call it "Lovecraft Country." It would scare away fewer people than "Red Sox Nation." Assuming we don't want to scare people away.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:34 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wasn't there a interstitial on Family Guy where a guy from Hartford was writing a complaint letter? Wasn't his accent more New England-y than New York-y? There is your ruling.

There have been a few, but I think you're thinking of the complaint letter from Bridgeport.

The view outside the window, with the factories, looks exactly like Bridgeport.
posted by cobaltnine at 3:47 PM on December 19, 2010

Sarah Noble's body lies a moldering in the grave.....
posted by humanfont at 3:47 PM on December 19, 2010

Actually, there's a plaque (and my google-fu is failing me) about here in the parking lot to Orchard Beach in the Bronx stating that this exact point is the geological Southernmost point of New England, whatever that is supposed to mean.
posted by digitalprimate at 3:53 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticut, Pluto feels your pain.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:53 PM on December 19, 2010 [10 favorites]

fuckthesouth much, Postroad?
posted by 7segment at 4:18 PM on December 19

this is why i love the internet
posted by liza at 3:57 PM on December 19, 2010

Wasn't there a interstitial on Family Guy where a guy from Hartford was writing a complaint letter? Wasn't his accent more New England-y than New York-y? There is your ruling.

He was supposed to be a guy from Bridgeport (which is in Fairfield County, so much for "everyone is rich there"*), and his accent was totally wrong. But Seth MacFarlane is from North of the Nutmeg Curtain, so I guess that just supports the ruling.

And if this disappearance from the tourism map spares CT the Leaf Peepers that descend upon MA every fall and clog up my route to work, thankyouverymuch, I'm more jealous than anything else.


Disclaimer: I grew up not-rich in Fairfield County and may be a smidge defensive.
posted by camyram at 4:03 PM on December 19, 2010

Spent four years one century in Milford, Connecticut, and told my husband "I want to go home to Philadelphia. If we're having kids, I don't want to raise them here." It was a vast morass of nowheria, and had nothing to do with New England as far as I could see.
posted by Peach at 4:17 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seth MacFarlane is from North of the Nutmeg Curtain...

Yep ... he's from Kent (in Litchfield County).

He graduated from the Kent School where his father was a teacher; his mother an administrator before heading on to RISD in Providence.
posted by ericb at 4:22 PM on December 19, 2010

Heh. I'm from the part that pronounces Versailles "Ver-sales," and where the Thames ("Thames") river flows. Definitely New Englanders, though "Swamp Yankees" works too. Also, coffee milk: My folks send me a case of Autocrat syrup every year on my birthday.

Oh, and fuck Texas.
posted by turducken at 4:28 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Y'know, jokes aside, this actually bothers me rather a lot. And no, I have never lived in CT.

I have no problem with them pulling all CT-related content. Removing it from the map, not so cool.

The former amounts to ads. The latter, facts. Twisting facts to fit your business model does not count as "okay". Ever.

Congrats, discovernewengland.org - As a resident of a (different) New England state, I intend to contact my state's office of tourism and explain to them the error of your ways - In a bad year, you outright lie - And encourage them to seek more legitimate websites with whom to do business.
posted by pla at 4:35 PM on December 19, 2010

Starbucks purchased The Coffee Connection in 1994.

I am still ticked off that the ruined the perfectly wonderful Coffee Connections in Lexington and Harvard Square and Newton Centre. Besides coffee, CC had a great tea selection too. And dark wood. Starbucks turned the locations into bland, blond-wood latte sipperies.

The pizza can be really good, though. And there is one thing the place is good for...

No disagreement there.

And Rhode Island? You're calling Connecticut out?

Rhode Island isn't New England. It's a suburb of mob-controlled Sicily. Exhibit A: ex-Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci who governed from '75-84 and then '91-02, his first term ending when he assaulted someone with "a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log." and his second ending on "federal criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud" followed by a four year prison sentence.
posted by zippy at 5:04 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is hilarious. I literally just walked in the door from a weekend spent in CT, much of which I spent thinking "wow, this place is just soooo New England."

Just goes to show, you can't let a mere website dictate your opinions.

Um, unless it's this one. Of course.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:11 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

"California."
"Hollywood."
"Texas."
"Cattle."
"New Jersey."
"Turnpikes."

But then after a while, I'd throw out:

"Connecticut."

And their answer always was:
"......."

...Gateway to Rhode Island!

*ducks and runs from Connecticutters*
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:20 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Of course CT has never been part of New England. New England Telephone only ever served the five other states.
posted by mkb at 5:42 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticut is actually an awful state to drive through.

Even if I-95 in Connecticut wasn't basically Purgatory (but uglier), it would suck because the state's economy appears to be based on ticketing out-of-state highway drivers. Seriously, the next time your life sucks so bad that you have to drive through Connecticut, amuse yourself by looking at the license plates of the cars you see pulled over. They will all be from Massachusetts or New York. Meanwhile cars with CT plates scream by at 80.

No, I have never received a citation in Connecticut; I have noticed this trend and drive the speed limit. I am bitter because it means when I die, for not speeding I will have cumulatively spent an extra couple of days in Connecticut.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:44 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

its Connecticutians, get it right.
posted by arveale at 5:47 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's it's get it right (saving you the effort)
posted by arveale at 5:48 PM on December 19, 2010

Oh, psssh. It's not that it's not there, it's just been restored to its proper color scheme: white on white.

also, LOLMarthaStewart
posted by kittyprecious at 5:49 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

also, LOLMarthaStewart

She's not a true New Englander. She's an interloper/carpet bagger. Martha (née Martha Helen Kostyra) hails originally from Jersey City, New Jersey.

She lived with her former husband (Andy Stewart) in Westport, CT.

One of her homes is on Mount Desert Island (Seal Harbor, Maine) -- aka known as 'Skylands (the former summer estate of Edsel Ford).
posted by ericb at 6:04 PM on December 19, 2010

Wasn't his accent more New England-y than New York-y?

FWIW, Connecticut is well-known in the linguistics and broadcasting communities for having the the reference-standard NEUTRAL AMERICAN ACCENT. So many of the US's top radio and TV news personalities were trained at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, among others.

New Haven County, represent, especially Madison!!! (The "Greenwich of the Eastern Shoreline" according to the New York Times ... not sure whether to be proud or weep, actually ...)

And furthermore ... all the stuff about Rhode Island being infested with mobsters ... ALL TRUE.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:05 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've looked at trees in moonlight on Vermont (RIP DVV), eaten lobster in Maine, had a girlfriend in New Hampshire (Manchester, in fact. I still haven't recovered from discovering it did have an Elm Street, or that a state that did its level best to stop me having a drink had Live Free Or Die on its plates), and done many questionable things in Boston, which most certainly didn't mind me having a drink.

Rhode Island is on my list of places called Island that aren't in fact islands.

But Connecticut. I know it's there, sorta. I don't know why. I don't know how. I don't think in my social, political, economic, sexual or aesthetic life, it has ever impinged or even been detected.

It must be famous for something, right?
posted by Devonian at 6:15 PM on December 19, 2010

You make the too-common error of thinking that Fairfield County is the only part of Connecticut worth considering.

It isn't? Wow.

I-95 in CT is pure hell. I-84 is actually kind of a nice drive, and one of the best diners in the world exists in Veron, CT. In fact, I'd say it's the one redeeming feature of the state. I mean, come on, they gave us Joe Lieberman. (Ok, yes, that was a low blow.)

Signed

A masshole transplanted into NYC.
posted by Hactar at 6:17 PM on December 19, 2010

Of course CT has never been part of New England. New England Telephone only ever served the five other states.

Yes, Connecticut had Southern New England Telephone. Because it is in New England. The southern part.
posted by enn at 6:20 PM on December 19, 2010 [7 favorites]

Westport, CT.

GAH. Just reading the time gives me flashback hives. You know it was the inspiration for Stepford, right?

gah Westport gah.
posted by The Whelk at 6:30 PM on December 19, 2010

Did they really take CT off the map because they didn't pay their dues or because the Notch finally failed and the whole state slid into the Sound?
posted by adamg at 6:39 PM on December 19, 2010

It must be famous for something, right?
Off the top of my head:

Mark Twain.
Hartford Circus Fire.

And many famous celebs live quietly in the northwestern part of the state; William Armstrong, who taught at Kent School, wrote "Sounder" there and so on.

Griswold v. Connecticut.

La Amistad slavery case. A few 1960s activists, including Father Berrigan, wound up in the federal prison there.

There's also the horrible Barbara Gibbons/Peter Reilly case--son accused of murdering his mother after many hours of questioning by the state cops. Conviction overturned after much outcry.

Other than that, not much. Oh, the oldest newspaper of continuous publication, The Hartford Courant, since 1764. As we used to say of the place, the oldest paper of continuous publication never to have won a major journalism prize. But finally it did, twice.
posted by etaoin at 6:43 PM on December 19, 2010

meant to write, Peter Reilly, accused, after many hours of questioning by state police, of having murdered his mother...
posted by etaoin at 6:44 PM on December 19, 2010

I thought you were seceding Punkfloyd. What's the hold up?
posted by Scoo at 6:47 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticut has actually been removed from the map altogether, as if it sank into the ocean.

Hey, y'know, we're not saying anything bad is going to happen if you don't start paying your dues like all your friendly neighbors here on the map. But we're not saying it won't, either.
posted by krinklyfig at 6:49 PM on December 19, 2010

and one of the best diners in the world exists in Ver[n]on, CT

I assume you mean Rein's ... Or is there some other one that I've somehow missed?
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:16 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

*ducks and runs from Connecticutters*

Actually, a friend of mine came up with the term "Connecticutlery" once, and I use that now.

FWIW, Connecticut is well-known in the linguistics and broadcasting communities for having the the reference-standard NEUTRAL AMERICAN ACCENT.

That's exactly what my college speech and dialect teacher said. It gave me a leg up in class while everyone was working on smoothing out their Southern US and Boston and Chicago, and Midwest dialects, and I was just able to skip ahead to other things.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:21 PM on December 19, 2010

FWIW, Connecticut is well-known in the linguistics and broadcasting communities for having the the reference-standard NEUTRAL AMERICAN ACCENT.

Okay, people from literally every single place I've lived (California, Connecticut, Ohio) have claimed this, and I've heard it from plenty of others (PA in particular). I'm sure it's true about one of these places but otherwise it's like a strange new linguistic urban legend.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:29 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

So, I spent what seems to me, on reflection from my advanced age, some happy formative years in New London County. Was I in New England? So confused.
posted by maxwelton at 7:40 PM on December 19, 2010

Rhode Island is on my list of places called Island that aren't in fact islands.

Aquidneck Island, represent! That's where Newport (and Middletown, and Portsmouth, and maybe a little bit of Bristol?) is. I lived in Newport for a little over two years, and came to discover that it really is it's own little world, and if something is off the island (no matter how close) it's still seen as a great big trip to get there.

But Connecticut. [...] It must be famous for something, right?

Asshole drivers, mostly. I commute between Worcester MA and Hudson MA and for some reason my drive is lousy with 'em. They drive fast, pass in the far-right lane, and don't use their directionals.
posted by xbonesgt at 7:44 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

its. Not "it's." GRAR
posted by xbonesgt at 7:45 PM on December 19, 2010

"At a couple hundred years old, New England's not really that new any more."

God, you're such an American. Remember, original England is the place where they call a 600-year-old church "new" because the old one was 1000 years older than THAT.

This New England is newer than that New England, and it's never had Connecticut in. And for untold thousands of years, it's been inhabited by people who didn't even know they were New Englanders.

Come to think of it, if New England doesn't want Connecticut, I can think of some people who might be willing to take it off their hands.
posted by gingerest at 8:29 PM on December 19, 2010

I-84 is actually kind of a nice drive

*head explodes*
posted by mlis at 8:39 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is my favorite thread, ever. :D
posted by zarq at 8:45 PM on December 19, 2010

Though there are two places in Waterbury worth stopping for: Uncle Willie's BBQ and Brass City Records & Old Tools.
posted by mlis at 8:55 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticutters

Connecticutians, get it right.

Nutmeggers. Dammit.

A few years back in San Francisco I saw a California license plate that said "NUTMEGR" so I said to the couple getting out of the car "you're from Connecticut!!!" and the women said "You get a nutmeg!" and gave me one from out of her glove compartment. We then traded hometown names and happily went on our way. (Hmmm, I wonder if the WA equivalent plate is taken.)
posted by girlhacker at 8:56 PM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Connecticut and Delaware are in talks to create a new region called the Non-Contiguous Eastern Buffer States.
posted by HeroZero at 8:57 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

In all seriousness, there really is a divide (or identity crisis) in CT between the Tri-State Area and New England; growing up, it all depended on what out-of-state TV station you were watching (we didn't have one of our own, as far as I knew). Wherever the car dealers staked their claims ("The Tri-State Area's biggest Ford dealer!" or "We sell more Subarus than any other New England dealer!"), then that's what/where you were.

As for the Nutmeg State business, I was always told it was because whenever tourists passed through CT back in days of yore, local yokels would sell them wood carved in the shape of nutmeg instead of the real thing; by the time they got home to NY or MA and stuck the precious nugget in their grinder, it was too late.
posted by turducken at 8:57 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

A friend from Maryland has been accusing my home state of not being a part of New England. This is not helping my case.
posted by QuarterlyProphet at 9:07 PM on December 19, 2010

Connecticut and Delaware are in talks to create a new region called the Non-Contiguous Eastern Buffer States.

Then I assume this means that you have finally agreed to face our two finest sons in a bout of tag team wrestling. If you'll excuse me, I need to inform our champions.

SEE YOU IN NEW JERSEY, WASPS
posted by MidAtlantic at 9:15 PM on December 19, 2010

SEE YOU IN NEW JERSEY, WASPS

*Sniffs, raises vodka tonic, runs hand across brown sweater vest and Nantucket red stripped dress shirt*

hardly
posted by The Whelk at 9:19 PM on December 19, 2010

Yeah, Aquidneck Islanders... they leave the island once a year, to go to eat junkfood on a stick at Quincy Market. That way they can say they've travelled to foreign parts.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:30 PM on December 19, 2010

*Sniffs, raises vodka tonic, runs hand across brown sweater vest and Nantucket red stripped dress shirt*

hardly

Judge, hold him down so that the Vice President can steal his big pile of money! We're going to build ourselves A NEW TOLLBOOTH ON 95!
posted by MidAtlantic at 9:31 PM on December 19, 2010

I don't want to change the world.
posted by maudlin at 9:38 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just want your half.
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Though there are two places in Waterbury worth stopping for: Uncle Willie's BBQ and Brass City Records & Old Tools.

... aaaand, the post-apocalyptic Holy Land USA!

While I'm on the topic of things I like about Connecticut, Litchfield County is a beautiful place. Kent Falls is gorgeous all the time, and I have rarely felt closer to nature than when I hiked to the top of it in the winter.

There is no better cheeseburger than that made by Shady Glen in Manchester.

The thin crust pizza in New Haven is extraordinary, and I have labored hard to find a decent approximation of it in California (Amici's in SF and San Rafael).

WXCI and WHUS are excellent college radio stations.

Rein's deli is as good as any in New York.

The Traveler Restaurant (aka FOOD AND BOOKS) has great turkey, but skip the mashed potatoes.

I think it's time to visit mom.
posted by zippy at 12:30 AM on December 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

New England Telephone ... oh, you mean NYNEX, sellouts.

Yes, Connecticut had Southern New England Telephone. Because it is in New England. The southern part.

Connecticut also had SNET because, well, SNET, founded in 1878, predated New England telephone, as Connecticut had the first telephone exchange. And the first phone book. All you other New Englanders were still hollering to your relations on the next hill while we were already online.
posted by zippy at 12:37 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't want to change the world.

As a huge Bragg fan and someone who lists his ethnicity as "New Englander," I've thought about that pun a million times.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:32 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Glad to hear it. Connecticut is by far my least favorite of all the states. I like it even less than I like Delaware, which smells funny. Suck it, Connecticut. Go and join New York like you've always wanted to do all along.

I am only sort of kidding.
posted by sonika at 5:49 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I am about to move to CT from the midwest and I have to stop reading these CT threads because they are totally depressing.
posted by Kwine at 6:10 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

The thin crust pizza in New Haven is extraordinary ...


Sally's Apizza and Frank Pepe's! Fantastic pizza!
posted by ericb at 6:11 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Far be it from me to defend Rhode Island (or Buddy Cianci), but:

Rhode Island isn't New England. It's a suburb of mob-controlled Sicily. Exhibit A: ex-Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci who governed from '75-84 and then '91-02, his first term ending when he assaulted someone with "a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log." and his second ending on "federal criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and mail fraud" followed by a four year prison sentence.

a) the first case is supposedly involved the assaltee being involved with Cianci's wife. It was a crime, yes, but not a mob crime.

b) again, Cianci was guilty of racketeering, etc on his own efforts. Were there mob people involved? I wouldn't be at all surprised, but the conspiracy was Cianci's.

Not all crimes, even in Rhode Island, need to be committed by the mob. Rhode Island has a rich tradition of political corruption going back to Colonial times. Do not sell it short!

Rhode Island is on my list of places called Island that aren't in fact islands.

The state's name is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." It's kind of a portmanteau name, describing all the parts. (Like "The State of Michigan and the Upper Peninsula" or the State of Texas and that Sandbar Galveston.") A lot of people don't like that "Plantations" part, seeing an echo of the slave trade there, but my suggestion to change the name to "The State of Rhode Island, Aquidneck Island, Block Island, Some Other Islands, and a Bit of Mainland" has not caught on yet.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 AM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

Don't listen to the naysayers. They're just jealous.

Connecticut is a fantastic place to live.

After all, The Economist looked at health, education and wealth and computed that if Connecticut were a country, it'd be third-best place to live in the world!
posted by ericb at 6:17 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I grew up in Indiana and moved to Boston. I met a woman who claimed to be from Connecticut, I disputed her claim on the grounds that I had no true evidence that Connecticut existed.

Obviously, I ended up marrying her and eventually moving to Connecticut.

Inspired by Jessamyn I recently printed out a map of all 169 towns in the state, I'll try to visit every one.

I tried to get Metafilter's help on good stuff to do in Bridgeport. Got a few clues but the thread was a bit of a bust.

Anyway, I like it here, for the most part. Our neighbors and my coworkers are mostly nice. It's not cheap by a long shot, but it's not all Fairfield County either.

The state has this weird obsession with hot dogs, though. There are multiple hot dog restaurants in the towns I work and live in.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 7:00 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Before Hartford started its feeble effort to become "New England's Rising Star", it was long-known as the "Insurance Capital of the World". That says everything you need to know about CT.
posted by rollbiz at 7:52 AM on December 20, 2010

I-84 is actually kind of a nice drive

The stretch of 84 from Hartford to Danbury is literally my least favorite place on Earth.
posted by rollbiz at 7:54 AM on December 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

I tried to get Metafilter's help on good stuff to do in Bridgeport. Got a few clues but the thread was a bit of a bust.

Honestly CT is so small that it's easier to just go to better places than to find the hidden gems. I can get to Bridgeport or New Haven in the same time, which one will I pick?
posted by smackfu at 8:31 AM on December 20, 2010

Sally's Apizza and Frank Pepe's! Fantastic pizza!
posted by ericb

Add Modern Pizza to that list, their toppings are unbelievably tasty.
posted by haveanicesummer at 9:13 AM on December 20, 2010

Progress!

(You're next, Rhode Island.)
posted by rusty at 9:14 AM on December 20, 2010

The best part about Connecticut? Leaving, especially if you manage to do so without getting a ticket.

Seriously, I've been in cars when friends, driving slower than many other cars, got a speeding ticket for DWM. (Driving while being from Massachusetts.)
posted by andreaazure at 9:47 AM on December 20, 2010

Just stay away from the steamed hamburgers. No, "the Simpsons" did not make them up.
posted by jtron at 9:56 AM on December 20, 2010

Just stay away from the steamed hamburgers.

Sage advice. There's a reason these haven't caught on elsewhere...
posted by rollbiz at 10:20 AM on December 20, 2010

Ah, but let's not forget the birthplace of the hamburger in the U.S.: Louis' Lunch (Est. 1895) in New Haven, CT.
posted by ericb at 11:06 AM on December 20, 2010

Which are also not that great, at least not waiting for 40 mins great.
posted by smackfu at 11:27 AM on December 20, 2010

A dead Quaker: I'm kind of fascinated that one small town in NY state, Hoosick, is on the Red Sox side of the border.

This is probably somehow related to the fact that the Battle of Bennington (Vermont) actually took place right around Hoosick. That state line is merely a suggestion. Perhaps some Green Mountain Boys (or New Hampshire militiamen) hung around after the battle?
posted by GodricVT at 11:56 AM on December 20, 2010

Before Hartford started its feeble effort to become "New England's Rising Star", it was long-known as the "Insurance Capital of the World". That says everything you need to know about CT.

Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum is one of the finest small museums I know of and the beer at City Steam Brewery is wicked good. They will sell you growlers on request.

(Oh, and I can assure you that the cops do indeed ticket even moderately speeding locals on 95.)
posted by IndigoJones at 1:43 PM on December 20, 2010

There is no better cheeseburger than that made by Shady Glen in Manchester.

This is absolute, unshakeable, incontrovertible, inarguable truth.

Pair that with a soda from Hosmer Mountain and it is ideal.

...Okay, fine -- aside from Hosmer Mountain, my hometown also has one fun thing to recommend it -- every July 4th they have a parade where all the music is provided by portable radios playing the local radio station's all-marching-music playlist. And....It's pretty.

But other than that; I was just discussing this whole issue with a friend today; he went to Yale, so he's sort of familiar with some parts of Connecticut. But even so, he was wondering, "if you think about it, all the big 'New England' tourist spots aren't in Connecticut anyway, are they?"

"There's Mystic Seaport and New London Whaling Museum."

"Oh, right." He frowned. "And what else is there....Mohegan Sun?"

And that's when it hit me. Connecticut is becoming the Reno of New England.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:10 PM on December 20, 2010

Connecticut is becoming the Reno of New England.

More like the Las Vegas + Monte Carlo, etc. of New England.

"Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel-casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Together with the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, it is one of the largest casinos in the world in terms of floor space for gaming, with over 400,000 sq ft. The entire resort comprises 4,700,000 sq ft of space. The casino has over 380 gaming tables including blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker. Foxwoods also has the most slot machines of any casino in the world, numbering over 7,200." *

posted by ericb at 6:44 PM on December 20, 2010

oh, you little-state people with your tiny little states. it's kinda cute.
posted by Makwa at 7:16 PM on December 20, 2010

Foxwoods is big, yeah. But Vegas it ain't. Vegas has its own....je ne sais quoi. Reno's casinos -- and -- are just big-ass casinos.

Although, to be fair, the one and only experience I've had with either was one time when three friends and I drove in from New York to see a concert, and then played one came of craps because "we're at a casino, why not" and then went home. So my experience is limited, I"ll grant....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:43 PM on December 20, 2010

Pair that with a soda from Hosmer Mountain and it is ideal.

Orange dry, birch beer, or cola red?
posted by zippy at 9:05 PM on December 20, 2010

Not that I know anything of Hosmer Mountain, but Polar makes fine versions of the first 2 of those.
posted by maryr at 8:21 AM on December 21, 2010

Mmm, Foxon Park's version of Iron Brew... it's sad that it's easier for me to get proper IRN BRU here than it is to get the finest nectar ever to escape East Haven...
posted by jtron at 8:52 AM on December 21, 2010

GAH. Just reading the time gives me flashback hives. You know it was the inspiration for Stepford, right?


I thought New Canaan was.

New Canaan is way, way, way worse than Westport.
posted by entropone at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2010

I am entirely unhappy to state that my hometown was the inspiration for Stepford, according to Ira Levin.

Wilton, Conn., where I lived in the 1960s, was the inspiration for Stepford, the fictional town I later wrote about in “The Stepford Wives.”
posted by girlhacker at 11:15 AM on December 21, 2010

Ah, Wilton! Home to the great jazz musician Dave Brubeck (and his musical sons -- Darius, Dan, Chris and Matthew).
posted by ericb at 6:15 PM on December 21, 2010

oh, you little-state people with your tiny little states. it's kinda cute

Connecticut? Had a constitution before anyone else, anywhere in the world.

Minnesota? Elvis sightings.
posted by zippy at 6:35 PM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ah, Wilton! Home to the great jazz musician Dave Brubeck (and his musical sons -- Darius, Dan, Chris and Matthew).

Yes, indeed, we did collaborations with the Brubeck family in the high school music groups. Alas, I never ran into Christopher Walken, another resident. But my friends on the New Canaan side of town often said they saw David Letterman out jogging. Westport wins for showbiz name dropping though.
posted by girlhacker at 7:22 PM on December 21, 2010