You Know You're From LONG ISLAND When....

[THUNDER HANDS]

You don't go to Manhattan, you go to "the City."

You can correctly pronounce places like Hauppauge, Copaigue, Islip, Islandia, Yaphank, Massapequa, and Ronkonkoma.

If you're not from Long Island or NYC, you're not really from New York.

You don't go to the "shore," you go to the beach, of course.

Your parents took you to Nathans or Carvel on the way home from the beach.

You've been on News 12 at least once.

When you hear Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" you try to figure out what place on Long Island he's talking about (It's "Christiano's" in Syosset).

Chances are, you don't have to go far to see your family.

Seriously now - do the Bills and the Sabres really play in New York?

You've been to Utopia (famous head shop) at least once.

You know what Pergament, Modells, Genovese, King Kullen, and Waldbaums are.

You live in a town called Hicksville and it doesn't bother you.

You are an Islander/Met/Jet fan or a Ranger/Yankee/Giant fan: There is no crossover.

"What's country music?"

You know the location of 7 malls, 12 McDonald's, and 26 7-11's.

You vaguely recollect the fact that Roosevelt Field wasn't always a mall.

You remember Hurricane Gloria.

You've gone sledding in the sumps.

It's called "gym," not P.E.

Adventureland was your Coney Island.

"Oh, your parents are from Brooklyn? What a coincidence, so are mine!"

You have a friend who knows a guy who has a friend whose sister knows this girl whose doctor's uncle had a teacher whose daughter sat next to Amy Fisher in 10th grade Social Studies.

You remember being allowed to crush the peanut shells on the floor of the Ground Round.

You've tried to find the Amityville Horror house.

You pronounce it LawnGUYland, just as one word (or get accused of doing so by out-of-staters).

They're called sprinkles, not jimmies.

No matter what you do, you end up at the diner.

You remember when Newsday first added color to Part II.

You'd pay $10.75 for a movie.

You visit somewhere else and are astounded to see that people actually stop at yellow lights.

You just sort of assume that wherever you live, you'll be able to find good delis, good pizza, and good bagels.

You can spout off all the LIRR stops between Penn Station and Seaford.

You never want to change at Jamaica.

Your distant future might involve the state of Florida.

You're still waiting for that bridge to Connecticut.

You've never seen a highway without street lights.

You've watched a game show and wondered, "Why are these people do happy that they won a trip to New York?"

You associate Fire Island with elementary school field trips, not gay men.

You can order a pizza pie and a soda, and people will understand.

You always remark, "Boy it would be cool to see Letterman." You do nothing to achieve that goal.

You've said stupid things like "Strong Island."

You never realize you have an accent until you leave.

[westman]

1. Yep, I'm a LI'er.

And I'm a Yankee/Jet fan (there is some crossover).

I can also pronounce Cutchogue, Patchogue, Speonk, Quogue, Peconic, and Amagansett.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. where is Speonk?

I've never heard of that part of Long Island

[Nite Owl]

6. Speonk

is out east. Past the Moriches. South shore. Very good thread. We moved upstate about a year and a half ago and we're still having withdrawal problems. No 7-11's and the pizza..oh well lets not get into that.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

26. Get the hell outttaheer.... you are kidding, right?

Speonk is the terminus for all the trains on the Montauk branch that don't go to Montauk...

[burythehatchet]

22. more crossover

rangers - knicks - mets - jets

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. We called "PE" "GYM" Growing Up in Mass. too

and you guys DEFINITELY have worse accents than Bostonians! ;-)

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. I was born there

but fortunately I got out while I was still little, when my mother threatened to divorce my father if we didn't move back to the city.

[ikojo]

5. In suburban St Louis we say we are

going to the City when talking about St Louis...

[Bonobo]

7. You forgot about Gristedes...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

30. And Bohacks, for dose of youse older types.

[Sacajawea]

8. Magic Rat....You stole most of that list from last Sunday's Newsday!!!!

Admit it!!!!! ;-)

And don't forget Nissequogue!

Way back in the mid- to late '50s my parents had friends who had built a house out at Orient Point (that's at the very end of the North Fork of our fish-shaped island). This was long before the Long Island Expressway existed. I guess we got out there on Route 25 and 25A. It sure was a LONG trip from where we lived - in mid-Nassau County - in those days. Definitely NOT a day trip back then!!!!!


On edit: Also Comsewogue and Connetquot!

[Sacajawea]

9. Come on, Long Islanders.....where are you tonight?

:kick:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. I can pronounce "Ronkonkoma"

but how DO you pronounce "Hauppauge"?

I'm wondering because I once wrote a book for Barron's and had to send my manuscript there, but I never asked them how to pronounce it.

I spent nine years in New Haven, and many of the things you said about Long Island are also true of New Haven.

[Dookus]

13. pronounced...

hop-pawg

[rasputin1952]

14. Phonetically...

it would come out: HAWpawg

LOL, I haven't said that in YEARS!!!!!!!!

:bounce:

[Sacajawea]

15. Well.....I think there are two variations......

You COULD say it like: Haw - pog.

But then sometimes I say it more like: Hop - pog.

I think it's like "I say tomato (with a long "a"), you say 'tomoto'".

After some serious contemplation, I think I'm more likely to say "Hop - pog."

On edit: Also forgot to mention "Cutchogue". As I guess most everybody knows (even non-Long Islanders), all these difficult to pronounce words are from our Native American predecessors. Actually, Merrick also was a tribe. So was Manhasset.

[Dookus]

18. yup...

we always said it "hop-pawg".

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

29. youse forgot Aquebogue, Camusett, Dickepechegans, Quogue

and my fav....Setauket

[Sacajawea]

31. Dickepechegans???

You made that one up. Bet you thought no one would notice. ;)
Someone did!

[rasputin1952]

11. Since I was born and bred in Jamaica, ...

I had little choice in the matter, (LIRR). Used to live just two blocks from the end of the line on the 'F' train of the IND, 179th ST.
We had a Summer House in Southold, and I eventually moved to Shelter Island, where I joined the Shelter Island FD. We would venture to Greenport, Mattituck and Riverhead whenever the notion hit us.

Occasionally, we would go to the South Shore, and I actually worked in South Hampton at the National Golf Links of America one summer.

At one time, there were no vineyards on LI, only potato/cabbage/Brussels Sprout farms, (usually owned by someone of Polish descent). I had a running tab in the little shop by the Southold RR station, and would pay it off every Friday when I got paid.

Those were the days, the '60's-'70's, were a good time to come of age.

:cry: wish I could do it all over again.

But wishes are futile, and memories are permanent; I would not exchange my memories for all clams in Goose Bay, South old.

O8)

[Dookus]

12. Hey this is about ME!

born and raised on Lawnguyland. West islip, to be exact.

and it's pronounced eye-slip.

[ParanoidPat]

17. NO WAY!

Cool! :hi:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

28. Hey.... paisano.... West Babylon heer.

[ParanoidPat]

16. You can get from the O.B.I. .......

........back to the expressway without going through the DUI checkpoint! ;)
Is the Oak Beach Inn still there? :shrug:

I'm originally from College Point, Queens but my wife grew up in Bayshore. We spent the early part of our marriage living in Brentwood. :hi:

As far as Billy Joel and Christiano's goes, I was fortunate enough to get locked in there one night after Billy Joel played at the Nassau Coliseum. A friend brought me there about 7:00 PM for a surprise. At about 11:30 PM the bartender locked the doors and placed a sign that said "Private Party, Locals Only" on the door. Shortly after midnight, the man himself showed up and played piano till almost 4:00 AM! Great night!

[rasputin1952]

19. Nassau Coliseum...

LOL...now. I was with some friends at a Grateful Dead concert, and one of them was busted for possession of pot. Nothing came of it, but it put a damper on the rest of the night. They walked him out while Garcia was singing 'Sugar Magnolia'!

O8)

[westman]

20. Which OBI?

East? West? South?

[ParanoidPat]

21. East, but then again......

....IIRC, any one of them had DUI checkpoints on any given Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. :evilgrin:
We used to send 1 or 2 'decoy cars' out just ahead of us with sober drivers to pull a 'U' turn out of the line at the checkpoint. When the cops would take off to chase them the rest of us would make a break for it! :)

[westman]

23. I spent a lot of time

at the Smithtown (West?) OBI, just past the bull on 25A (if you're from LI you know what I mean!). Always a good time.

Also spent a lot of time at Henry Afrika's, Tuey's, Hayloft, Hobbit Hole, etc., etc., etc.

[markses]

25. College Point, eh?

I lived in College Point for two years before moving back to Brooklyn. Went to PS 29 for 4th & 5th grade. What a shithole College Point is! I call it "New York City's very own Lewistown, Pennsylvania."

Needless to say, I played soccer and roller hockey!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

27. OBI is now a development zone for the Town of Babylon

leveled last fall.

[markses]

24. I grew up in Brooklyn, and I can relate to almost all of those

Now, of course, Brooklyn is technically on the island called "Long Island," but no self-respecting Brooklynite (or person from Queens, for that matter) would evah, evah, consider themselves from LawnGUYland. Nevah. That's straight Nassau and Suffolk.

You of course forgot a few:

You ain't worried about Rikers, but Riverhead.

You met your significant other cruising on Hempstead Turnpike.

One time, you and your boys parked the car in a speed trap near Jones Beach, and hopped a little fence marked "No Entry: Bird Sanctuary" in order to go smoke yet another joint on the beach, but were chased out when a thousand birds raised up from the marsh upon your stoned arrival, and your friend suggested that they were going to attack you, and you all ran back to the car, screaming and laughing.

Oh. Maybe that last one's just me...;-)