bburtner@moran
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Why do they call people from Maine "Maniac`s???
Lizzie?
It's a term originally intended as an insult -- originated by people from Massachusetts and Connecticut who move up here and figure they're going to show the rubes what it's all about. But like a lot of insulting terms, we've claimed it as our own and throw it back in their faces at every opportunity. Mainiac Pride!
One of the things to understand about New Englanders is that we have a very antagonistic relationship with each other, like six siblings bickering in an overcrowded house. The only time we agree on anything is when the topic is baseball, and even then everybody west of New Britain has it all wrong.
I thought people from Maine were called Mainers. (An "ers" sound added to the end, like Vermonters or New York Staters.)
The term "Mainer" has a certain pedigree associated with it. I consider myself from Maine, but my family didn't move here until I was eight, which makes me not a Mainer. You have to have few generations of family history under your belt before you can assume that particular title.
The same with being an upstater- at least in some parts.
Just because your cat crawls in an oven and has kittens doesn't mean you call them biscuits.
Miss Patricola -- Away Down East In Maine (1922)
accompanied by the Virginians
The Virginians??? What, they couldn't get The Acadians?
The term "Mainer" has a certain pedigree associated with it. I consider myself from Maine, but my family didn't move here until I was eight, which makes me not a Mainer. You have to have few generations of family history under your belt before you can assume that particular title. Which is fine; I mean, I haven't felt ostracized because I've never ridden a snowmobile or pronounce a distinct, midwestern "r" at the end of "car." It's just a bit complicated. I always thought "Maniac," or "Maineiac" was a cutsey term employed by summer people and the like. I didn't know about it's history as a slur.
Then I guess that no matter where I go I will always be a Brooklynite.
I consider myself from Maine, but my family didn't move here until I was eight, which makes me not a Mainer. You have to have few generations of family history under your belt before you can assume that particular title.
I don't know when redneck came in, it's not really a New England term. When I was growing up we were called "boonies" by the students at the elite prep schools.