Talk:Shoobie

Removed section

I removed the following text, which had no sources listed for it and was likely original research. This could be put back if sources are found verifying it: "Typical "shoobie" behavior is said to include:

• Driving carelessly or recklessly, with little regard for local traffic regulations.
• Having their children stand in parking spaces while they turn their car around.
• Boorish, loud conduct in public areas.
• Standing out in the middle of the street and blocking traffic.
• Going through the exact change lane at the toll bridges -- without actually possessing exact change.
• Wearing no shirt or shoes in the supermarket.
• Quickly acquiring a full-body sunburn.
• At times, public urination or vomiting.
• Littering on the beach.
• Arguing with beach taggers.
• Sitting at the beach and talking on the cell phone, usually about real estate and property values.
• Generally crowding the stores and restaurants, making life difficult for year-round residents.
• Not knowing what the word "shoobie" means.
• Wearing socks with sandals.
• Wearing shoes on the beach.
• Arguing that "they do live here."
• Driving a car with an out-of-state license plate.
• Wearing a t-shirt with the name of the same beach that you are visiting".

Definitional list reinstated as at least some of these descriptions are commonplaces among various sources. (See external links for examples.) Particular descriptions with POV inaccuracies should be identified on a case-by-case basis rather than summarily deleted. That said, additional sourcing would aid this entry.

Re: Removed section

Please stop deleting that section. I put a statement that it is not factual, but a list of characteristics. Some of those attributes may not be verifiable by the scientific method, but accepted as common knowledge from the collective unconscious.

Derivation and Revenue

My family goes back over 100 year in Atlantic City, NJ... so we know a thing or two about shoobies. There are a few things in the article that I would suggest editing. If you need a citation for this, I'll write a blog entry about my grandparents (see below) and you can cite that.

1) The Shoe BEAch is one valid potential origin. Another is SHOE Boxer... "shoob".

2) The origin of the term is actually a little earlier: in the 1920's and 1930's, there was a train from Camden, NJ to Atlantic City. Day trippers from Philadelphia... mostly people who could not afford to stay the night... would take the ferry to the train and then spend the day out of the heat of the city. In fact, the train had a better price on multi-trip tickets and these tickets were then shared by groups of people, with one person in the group using it on a given weekend. (Yes, even those few pennies saved were important.) Because these people were pretty poor, they economized by bringing everything they needed rather than paying inflated resort prices. My grandparents ("the Philly side of the family") met on one such trip in 1929 and spent the next 80 years together.

3) Shoobies are not a "mixed blessing". The term is derogatory specifically because true shoobies do not bring revenue. Think about it: if a day tripper brings "everything he needs in a shoe box including food," then he buys nothing from the beach community. Therefore, a shoobie draws on the resources of the community (e.g., the local taxes pay for lifeguards and beach cleaning) and adds to traffic/crowding, while contributing no economic benefits. This draw on local resources has been ameliorated only in the last few decades through beach fees/tags and by an increase in the number of people staying overnight. Thus, originally a shoobie is "not like a tourist at any resort" because tourists contribute to the local economy, while shoobies do not.

Dan Greenberg, Atlantic City High School '82

Son of

J. Greenberg, Atlantic City High School '51

Son of

L. Greenberg, Atlantic City High School '17

and

E. Greenberg, Atlantic City High School '23

Find me at www.linkedin.com/in /dangreenberg

--72.93.211.16 (talk) 12:47, 26 May 2009 (UTC)