Being a Long Islander in Upstate New York is the ultimate struggle. Going to school at Le Moyne College has taught me just that. You are the complete minority, especially at this school. I can count on one hand how many Long Islanders I have encountered here. The constant remarks such as, “Why do you talk like that?” and “I’ve never heard of that before” never stop. To everyone here, you are an alien, and although Long Island is part of the same state they live in, you are from another planet. The list of things could go on for days;
5. The vocabulary
The amount of words that I have to explain to people is unreal. You’re constantly being corrected for saying things that have been right all your life, the wrong way. Not calling my dad, daaaaaad or saying I want to go baaack, with the elongated A that we quickly dismiss on the Island is preposterous to Upstaters. According to my friends every word I pronounce, is the wrong way compared to them. The most classic example is when they start shooting questions at you like you’re some sort of science experiment, the classics consisting of: “coffee,” “dog,” “walk,” and “talk”.
4. Constantly being disappointed by the food
Anyone from Long Island knows you will never ever find food that is comparable to Long Island, especially the infamous bagels and pizza. We pride ourselves on our delis, bagel places, and pizza joints. Even though Wegmans is sworn to have everything under the sun, I can promise you that you won’t find Long Island bagels or pizza there. Another thing that you will never find, is a deli in the morning to go to get a good “egg sammy,” because I can promise you every place you go will put pre-made eggs on your precious BEC. Again, upstaters will swear that Brueggers will do, but any Long Islander would kindly disagree.
