What is it really like to live in Massachusetts?

Question

My daughter (in fourth grade) has to do a large State project on Massachusetts and would like any helpful information you can share to make her report more personal...not just facts and figures from the Internet or a book. Thanks!

Answer 1

Do you mean information like:

We refer to trash cans as "barrels"

Water fountains are often called "bubblers"

Hardly pronouncing our "R's" in words

We have coffee milk...it's soOo good!

We have the advantage of seeing the foliage turn and also see snow (not so much this year)

Most of us hate the Yankees (I don't have a preference)

Mass. is a big state. I'm sure the cities/towns we live in also affect how our lifestyles are very much. For example, some places in Mass are very diverse and others are not. Education varies as well.

Answer 2

I lived in Mass. for a year. Things that really struck me:

Pizzerias almost never allow you to order pizza by the slice. It's a whole pie or nothing unless they have a sign saying so - and very few places do.

Shrimp with lobster sauce is a brown sauce, not a white sauce.

Many street intersections don't have signs telling you the road names. Sometimes highways turn left or right at a light but there's no sign for that either. They figure if you haven't lived around here all your life and KNOW where you are to hell with you.

People drive like maniacs without looking where they are going. Mass has the highest insurance rates in the country for a good reason. Connecticut won't even take a Mass license as proof you can drive and will retest you - they'll take a license from any other state though.

They pronounce their city names strangely. Worchester is pronounced "Woosta", Peabody is pronounced "Peebadee".

There is a law defining the insurance rates for drivers based solely on the number of years they've been driving to avoid any biases. Because the insurance companies all offer the same rates by law the only differentiators they have is service. Because of that insurance companies will actually go to the DMV for you and wait on line to get your license plates. You just pick them up at the insurance office whenever you'd like. I miss that.

Answer 3

The weather and landscape are my favorite things about MA. We get all four seasons and everything that represents them. We have beautiful rocky beaches and gorgeous hills. The trees are stunning in the Fall. There's acres and acres of farmland and old homes built in colonial days.
The people can be gruff and guarded, but I think it's because the winter can be long and stressful. When summer finally gets here, people come out of hibernation and really enjoy the beautiful sunshine and flowers.