I’ve often bragged about New Hampshire and denigrated Massachusetts — often in the same piece. I genuinely think that New Hampshire has it a lot better than Massachusetts, and it’s because of deliberate choices made on both sides of the border. And on the average, I think the typical New Hampshirite is generally a bit nicer and more considerate than their Massachusetts counterpart. (There are reasons we call them “Massholes.”)
Every now and then, though, I see something that runs counter to my prejudices. I drive a bit in Massachusetts, and they have a well-earned reputation for being lousy drivers. And every now and then I’ll see someone do something incredibly stupid, and I’ll cuss them out.
Unfortunately, at least half the time the driver has New Hampshire plates.
And recently, I saw a couple of license plates that really, really didn’t put my fellow Granite Staters in a good light.
One read “USHMUCK.” The other “MAZL TV.”
One Yiddish insult, one Hebrew blessing.
The insult was in the green-on-white livery of New Hampshire, the blessing red-on-white of Massachusetts.
That really, really hurt.
Usually I agree with your political stance and there are times I can’t help but agree with your disgust at Massholes (though it makes me feel like a traitor to my home state). But other times, it pisses me off that you don’t seem to realize that not EVERYONE in Massachusetts is a liberal cry-baby and that lots of us HATE the fact that this state spawned the Kennedys.
I’m glad it took something as simple as two license plates to help you come off that particular high horse. 🙂
When I lived in N Jersey, it was the durn NY DRIVERS who’d drive slow in the left hand lane that used to drive us nuts. Then I moved to Philly, and it was the crazy Jersey drivers swerving and passing on the right hand lanes that were the bane of the highway. Perhaps you suffer a similar problem with perspective?
I haven’t spent much time in New Hampshire, but I can say that yes Massachusetts drivers do suck. And I’m from Delaware so I have some objective distance on the matter.
Sometimes it isn’t their fault though. I been in parts of Mass where the road design is so bad that you really can’t be anything other than a total jerk and expect to get anywhere.
For some reason, Chelmsford springs to mind.
A previous place of employment had a large client in MA. On my first business trip, my boss made certain that we drove through Chelmsford so I could witness a truly amazing intersection that I cannot figure out how to get a link to from Mapquest.
OK, I think this is the intersection. I do recall having to look in about five different directions simultaneously to make certain I didn’t get hit.