New Jersey Culture & Language

New Jersey has a strong and slightly defensive identity, formed by sitting between two cities that get the credit. It expresses itself mostly through food, music and an attachment to the shore.

The state has more diners than anywhere else in the country, and they are a genuine institution rather than a nostalgia act — open late, chrome-fronted, and the default meeting place.

It is one of the most diverse states in the country. Newark's Ironbound is Portuguese and Brazilian, and there are long-established Italian, Cuban, Indian and Korean communities that shape whole towns.

The north-south divide is real: the north looks to Manhattan, the south to Philadelphia, and the two halves disagree about sports teams, accents and what to call sliced pork roll.

English is universal. Spanish is the major second language, and Portuguese is unusually strong around Newark. Gujarati, Korean, Tagalog and Arabic all have substantial communities.

Local usage worth knowing: the sliced pork product is Taylor ham in the north and pork roll in the south; going to the coast is going down the shore, never "to the beach"; and a submarine sandwich is a sub in the north and a hoagie in the south.

Residents identify by highway exit number, and are not entirely joking.