You know, when a massive noxious stink enveloped Manhattan, the first thing that occurred to me was that something was wafting in from New Jersey. But then I thought, "Nah. It'll seem like I'm just making a cheap joke at the expense of the Garden State. So I won't say anything."
And now it turns out that, yeah, apparently it WAS New Jersey, something that should come as no shock to anyone who's ever had to roll up their windows traversing the Jersey Turnpike lest the stench cause them to lose control of the wheel.
What the hell goes on in that state, anyway?
PAD
Posted by Peter David at January 10, 2007 06:58 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingThere's a Kevin Smith joke in there somewhere. I just know it.
Obviously what happens in New Jersey does NOT stay in New Jersey....
I'd say it was the Jets' performance on Sunday, but they played in New England.
Go Eagles!
I guess it isn't surprising. I've driven the NY Turnpike many times and agree with PAD. The "Garden State" stinks.
The best part about it is some gov't official from NJ was bitching on Monday (to the NYTimes) about the smell being from Manhattan, and that they were going to set up giant fan blowers along the waterfront to blow the smell back where it came from...
What the hell goes on in that state, anyway?
That smell is Testosterone™, baby, fresh off the hairy backs of New Jersey men.
Wow, going for the cheap joke about New Jersey but where do all the people from NY and Long Island love to go over the summer? Jersey Shore, baby. Never underestimate the drawing power of the Garden State folks!
Jersey RULES!!!!!
There was a joke years ago that the reason they called NJ the Garden State is because they couldn't fit Toxic Waste Dump State on a license plate...
I've said for years that Elizabeth, NJ, and the surrounding area was specifically designed by us Jersey-ites to keep New Yorkers out of the state.
It didn't work...
The unofficial quote of New Jersey:Happiness is a New Yorker heading north on the Garden State Parkway, with a Canadian under each arm.
Hey, a garden as big as a whole state takes a lot of fertilizer to keep it going! :)
So, Brian, what's the explanation for why South Jersey, Atlantic City in particular, smells so bad? Is it all the bodies that have been dumped in the swamps?
There's a talk show I listen to on the way from one job to my other job, and the host is originally from New Jersey. He was joking around about this yesterday. He said that if you drive on the Jersey Turnpike with your eyes closed and your windows down, you can tell which exit you're at by what it smells like. At least, he says that's the way it used to be.
Well of COURSE you'd associate New Jersey with a bad smell. I mean, it's football season, right? And what do football players wear?
Jerseys.
Would YOU want to be around a Jersey after two really bad games? I wouldn't.
Speak for yourself. I think the Eagles/Jersey Giants game was great. As much as it pains me, I have to admit that the Jersey Giants put on a great game. But, the Eagles prevailed in the end, so all is right with the world.
The Jets against NE, though. That was just an embarrassment for New Jersey.
And now it turns out that, yeah, apparently it WAS New Jersey, something that should come as no shock to anyone who's ever had to roll up their windows traversing the Jersey Turnpike lest the stench cause them to lose control of the wheel. What the hell goes on in that state, anyway?
Luigi Novi: It wasn't me.
"...In Jersey, everything's legal, as long as you don't get caught...."
Lucky Wilbury
Well NJ is the Garden State after all.....
And for a good garden to grow, you need tons of horse s---.
So now you know what that smell was.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force lives there. Any state that produces junkfood mutants can't be sanitary.
I went to Ithaca College, which drew in a lot of students from NYC and NJ.
The men's room in the library had the following bit of graffiti written on the inside of the stall:
"Flush twice. It's a long way to New Jersey."
Hey, I'm just the messenger...
I'm in Jersey, not from it, so I can honestly say I am not surprised that the smell came from this state...
Den--the Giants had ONE problem, and one problem only.
Inconsistency.
As in, no matter how well Barber or Burress or Shockey played all season, there was always someone on the offensive line looking to muck it up. Same for the defense.
I just found it funny that they say the, um, malodorous emanations were originating from Bayonne, where my dad worked before he retired. Pretty sure that, if he were alive now, he could've TOLD us it came from Bayonne.
Ah, screw all of you. I like where I live. :-)
,b>Den--the Giants had ONE problem, and one problem only.
Inconsistency.
And on behalf of Eagles fans everywhere, we are grateful for your inconsistency.
Just imagine how inconsistent you'll be next year without Tiki.
Ah, screw all of you. I like where I live. :-)
Why?
Luigi Novi: All jokes aside, I have been to New Jersey and I enjoyed it. I visited friends in Hoboken five or six years ago and while we spent most of our time across the river in NYC, I found Hoboken to be a very pleasant place. I can understand why my friends chose to live there and work in NYC.
Den: Crow while you can. Chicago's gonna represent the NFC this year, and they're gonna get their ass kicked by San Diego.
(I'm a Bills fan. When they don't make the playoffs -- which is, like, always -- I root for the AFC. Bills detractors beware, though -- next year is their year. J.P. Losman's coming into his own, and GM Marv Levy will continue building on the solid foundation he laid down in '06. You're gonna be sorry you laughed at Buffalo come the fall.)
I think that stink from New Jersey was from the combined awfulness of Season 6 of the Sopranos. I mean, did anyone WATCH this boring season? Ye Gods!!
Den: Crow while you can. Chicago's gonna represent the NFC this year, and they're gonna get their ass kicked by San Diego.
Probably.
Then again, I have a friend from Chicago who insists that Grossman is the worst QB in the history of football and wants Da Bears to lose in the playoffs just to prove that to his fellow fans of Da Bears.
Of course, if the Eagles do make it to the Superbowl, they'll it lose anyway. It's what they do.
Den: You Philadelphians really are harsh on your teams. I mean, geez -- I've heard of you guys boo-ing your teams when they're winning!
I'm a Bills fan, but I have a soft spot for Philly because of Syracuse U grad Donovan McNabb. I actually live in the Rochester, N.Y. area, and I didn't go to Syracuse U, but when it comes to college football they're the team to root for in my area.
Anyway, for Christ's sake, have a little more swagger, man! I mean, here I am mocking you, and I root for a team that hasn't made the playoffs in years! This was a gift-wrapped chance to give me what-for!
Eagles fans and fans of Philly teams in general, have to deal with lowered expectations. Now granted, the Eagles didn't blow the Superbowl four years in a row like the Bills did, but they've never won it. Period.
When it's been 26 years since the last time any team from your city has won a championship, you develop a love-hate relationships with them.
"That smell is Testosterone™, baby, fresh off the hairy backs of New Jersey men."
...and women...
PAD
When Laura San Giacomo shaves her back, you'll take it, and you'll like it.
Speaking as a proud New Jersey resident, (i know there's an oxymoron in there somewhere) Let me say this-
HE WHO SMELT IT,
DEALT IT
Quoth Mister Carlin:
"Kiss her where it stinks---Take her to New Jersey!!"
Den: Why?
Luigi Novi: It's my home.
// What the hell goes on in that state, anyway? //
Wild crazy orgies with Playboy Playmates, (no seriously) and New Yorkers aren't invited. So there.
I sort of agree with the "he who smelt it dealt it" statement.
Has it been absolutly determined that NJ was the cause? The last news report I read seemed to have NY officials blaming Jersey and Jersey officals denining that the smell originated here.
BTW my parents seem to remember this happening once before when there was bad weather.
And I would also point out that the streach of the Turnpike that everyone complains about doesn't smell as bad as it did a few decades ago. There have been legitimate attempts in the past 20 years of so to clean up the decades of enviormental abuse and those who travel that area regularly, (like me) will attest to the fact that some of those attempts are working. It use to smell "BAD!!!!!!!", now it just smell "Bad!".
First things first--Go on, Den, it's nothing I haven't heard before. I work at PHILLY Park, so walking in in New York colors, I'm automatically labeled as The Worst Enemy To Hit Philadelphia Since Apollo Creed. Unlike most of the people I work with though, I keep a sense of humor about it.
Now, I know there are nice sections of New Jersey. Trust me, I get a TV job in New York, the next move we make is to someplace around Wayne.And I also know there are some NICE looking women in Bayonne. (Went to picnics at the ocean terminal with my dad a few times. After that, I was ready to move.)
And no, I'm not just saying that last part as a means of self-preservation since my sisters and all my female cousins but one were born in Paterson. The self-preservation is just an added bonus.
You're lucky to get out alive, Sean.
I have a lot of in-laws in NJ. I keep hearing about these alleged "nice" places in Jersey, but none of them ever seem to live there.
Every place they live in smells like Tony Soprano's armpit and every guy there looks like he kills people for a living.
gene hall-
"Speaking as a proud New Jersey resident, (i know there's an oxymoron in there somewhere) Let me say this-
HE WHO SMELT IT,
DEALT IT"
===
To which New York responds "He who denied it, supplied it."
I've taken some vacations to the Jersey shore and I've never had any problems with bad smells there. The trips were generally to Long Beach Island, which is a nice vacation spot. You've got to like a place that actually has towns with names like Ship Bottom, Loveladies and Surf City.
Though, the one thing I notice when people joke about New Jersey is that the complaints usually come from people from the New York City area. I really have to say that I'm not sure they should talk. I've been to New York City and I can't say I can attest to the air quality around there. The air is brown and it sure smells funny. Surely a product of all the people and the smog. I wouldn't want to even try to get used to that. No offense, but I'd prefer to stay upstate. Albany may be small, but at least I can breathe up here (besides, it's home).
"the one thing I notice when people joke about New Jersey is that the complaints usually come from people from the New York City area"
you are correct. that is because they are dealing with North Jersey, the feculent & disgusting part of NJ that has been infected by NYC. down in South Jersey, we don't have black clouds of toxic death hovering over us at all times & the air doesn't always carry the aroma of urine-soaked plague rats set ablaze. true, there are some places that smell like pig farms. BUT THOSE ARE PIG FARMS.
Yeah, South Jersey, baby, with towns that rip the bones from your back, it's a death trap, it's a suicide rap where Bruce Springsteen had to get out while he was young.
Except for Atlantic City, which, as I noted, smells like dead bodies rotting in the swamps, because, well, there are dead bodies rotting the swamps.
Scary as this may seem, here's a possible answer. Back when I first started truckin',if a druver looked in his atlas, there was a list of phone numbers to call for permits to haul hazardous material. A different number for each state.
11 years ago, there was NO NUMBER for Jersey. Maybe something got loose.
// Yeah, South Jersey, baby, with towns that rip the bones from your back, it's a death trap, it's a suicide rap where Bruce Springsteen had to get out while he was young. //
I happen to be one of those rare few who think that Springsteen did more damage to the states image them good.
A lot of his early lyrics are romantizied but not in a good positive way, your quote is a typical example. NJ's homegrown rock hero is the guy who became famous writing songs about how his home state sucks, does that make sense.
Why does North Jersey smell so bad? That's obvious. North Jersey is all the nasty infrastructure that's required to support the eight million selfish bastards who want to live in the nation's largest city but don't want to have to see, hear or smell that stuff on their precious little island. They sure are glad it's nearby in someone else's backyard, though.
And yes, South Jersey is truly lovely, the periodically sulfuric bay marshes notwithstanding.
The worst parts of NJ are the ones that exist solely to provide services and people to the dingy dirty disgusting place that is New York City. It's true. Sometimes, it wafts back in NYC's direction. You get what you give, basically.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force lives there. Any state that produces junkfood mutants can't be sanitary.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I fell outta my chair.