Hello Ankitterer,
Wednesday, September 4, 2002, 8:08:24 PM, you wrote:
Aac> In a message dated 9/4/02 4:27:13 PM, spritenut@Exit109.com writes:
Aac> I understand turistas and snowbirds, but what, pray tell, is a benny?
Have a
Aac> good time on the other side of OUR land, anyway.
A bit of local flavor if you will...
Folks who were born and raised on the Jersey Shore are sometimes
referred to as "clamdiggers." Clamdiggers coined two terms that
somewhat derisively referred to those who simply visited the Shore
for the summer. The earlier term was "shoeboxers," later shortened
to "shoobies." The current and more widely known expression clamdiggers
have for out-of-towners is "bennies"
There are two schools of thought as to the origination of the "shoobies"
tag. The most definitive treatise on the subject states the expression
"shoobie" is a distinctively South Jersey expression and refers to a
person who visits the seashore for a single day. In usage since the early
1940's, its origins harken back to the era of bathing caps and woolen bathing
suits and before the invention of flip flops and tennis shoes. The story goes
that locals, young and old alike, never wore shoes. Thus the soles of their feet
were tough as leather. Day-trippers wore their street shoes to walk the graveled
side streets to the beach. Once on the sand, the day trippers would often remove
their shoes and park them in a row under the benches. The quintessential shoobie
would be a person wearing a bathing suit and strolling the beach above the
waterline in leather oxfords with socks.
An alternative theory to explain the term "shoobies" states it was a
clamdigger's
term for those from the Philadelphia area (or south of Jersey) who packed
their change of clothes and lunches in shoeboxes and usually rode the train
to the Shore. In some circles the term also referred to folks from North
Jersey or New York who also traveled by train to the Shore beaches, shoeboxes
in hand.
In the '50s and '60s shoobies became widely known as "bennies" although
it too has roots in the booming era on the Jersey Shore just after the
second World War. As with shoobies, there are multiple explanations as
to the derivation of the term. Neptune City native Jack Nicholson explains
the genesis of "bennies" was in reference to those out-of-towners that
came to the Shore for the benefits or perks.
In other quarters, "bennies" is thought to derive from the combination
of cities or areas such as Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark or New York (BEN)
and the train line running through those cities to the Shore.
Yet a third theory says it refers to members of the Jewish working class
from New York City and northern New Jersey who visited the Shore in large
enough numbers that their speech patterns and mannerisms made them noticeable
to the locals. In this theory Benny or Bennie comes from Benjamin, a first
name once fairly common among Jews or, at least it was presumed to be so,
just as all Irishmen were once called Pat or Mike and Germans were called
Fritzies. While this theory is the most antiquated among the three, there
is no way to ascertain with certainty the true roots of shoobies or bennies.
One thing is for certain, "bennie" has become a generic term in Monmouth County.
--
Best regards,
Bill mailto:w.gilroy@verizon.net
"The liver is evil, it must be punished"
77 Midget
02 Irish Terrier
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