jfc do foreigners confuse me

Okay, a-hole clickbait title, I know.

I don't mean in a racist "how can the Mexicans not like Christiphor Columbus?" way, but in a more practical "why is that big bald dude with NJ plates wiping his black SUV down on a dirt road in rural NH while wearing a black suit?" way.

I almost thought about calling the cops--not because he's doing something illegal (he probably is though), but because of the whole scene that just screams disrespect to the locals.

Should I go check it out on foot?

On foot? Only if your heavily armed.

(See what i did there?)

I did walk down with pepper spray and a multi-tool. "Well dressed fire hydrant" man and his shiny black SUV were gone.

Am I going to hear about a body or a bunch of people losing their shyt on some new synthetic psychedelic?

What's the bet he's just some real estate guy or something, keeping his vehicle clean. How he's a 'foreigner' criminal in your mind, idk.

Maybe it was the bumper sticker:

"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Ok, I best depart the thread at this point

I get you are being funny (or at least I hope so) but on a serious note I’ve met some people perpetually confused or outraged or scared of “foreigners” (doing mundane every day things but in a “foreign” manner). It doesn’t even matter that perceived “foreigner” is actually American, naturalized or born here. But for them we are all forever foreigners, as soon as they hear your accent or see you looking different or doing something that somehow is “disrespect to locals”. Lol

I know people who travel for work often have to wipe their cars before meetings because it’s just a bad look to show up in a filthy car after long commute. I don’t travel for work but I commute through a long chain of road constructions and my car needs wiping if I go to something important after

So even if it’s a joke, it’s sadly not an uncommon sentiment.

Oh and I gave a good friend, Italian immigrant, although not in NJ. She has multiple examples of people alluding indirectly or making very direct jokes about Italians being in Maphia. Right to her face. She shared that it’s painful every single time. It’s maybe funny but on their expense.

Ultimately stereotypes are painful, not funny though

Right behind you

Muddy never said foreigner.

I inferred pharmaceuticals.

Sorry if i upset anyone.

Eta - sorry, she did say foreigner in the title. I assumed, based on her recent posts, that she was referring to out-of-state (ie non-NH) license plates, as NHians have a reputation for considering new arrivals to be new longer than other states.

The last thing muddy would do is make an "-ist" remark. And if you find such a bumper sticker, please send it to me.

It was definitely more of a joke, but that road is a dirt road with like three houses primarily used for logging and drug deals (if we're talking business, historically, I was kinda being honest about the psychedelic part just because that's where I got my drugs) or hiking/hunting (if we're talking recreation). We also just got out of leaf-peeping season so everyone around here myself included is kinda sick of seeing walking SAR statistics and just looks at people in the woods with shoes obviously not meant to get muddy thinking "this is why property taxes are high." I'm going to admit I am one of those "New England arseholes" who part take in joking about "out-of-staters" (and yes, I've been the receiving end of "Cow Hampshire" jokes when in Boston, 'tis all in good jest usually, of course we know when going 65 in a 55 we're going too slow). And, yes, I am more aware than I'd like to be that everybody wants to do real estate in NH, and this dude might just be looking for a nice forest to take from responsible loggers and chop down and put up some part-time residents in multi-million dollar homes. They hate where they live so they want to come here to make it like where they came from...

Okay, maybe I do have a bit of a hateful mindset towards people who haven't proven themselves to be "safe people," and there's no excuse for that, but you have to understand we have a history of people doing stupid or shady shyt around here because they (think they) can, and sometimes they die, sometimes SAR dies, sometimes someone ends up lugging multiple trash bags of litter from a trail that's not even half a mile long. We've had an astonishingly high (maybe record?) number of fatal car accidents this year, and we're in a horrific opioid crisis, so sorry for bringing this here for whatever reason and hurting people's feelings.

(But you still don't wipe down your car on a dirt road when if you drive 20ft it's going to be covered again. Maybe he got blood on it after hitting an animal. I have seen a startingly high number of dead animals on sides of roads lately. Not sure if they've just gotten stupid or if the sudden influx of people into their environment is causing all that death.)

For sure was referring to out-of-staters. We also have a reputation for rivalry with basically every state south of us to PA/NJ/NY saving RI.

(We do welcome Vermonters and Mainers much more eagerly than anyone else too)

And it's NH-ites ******mit!

There are shady people of course. Everywhere in the world. Don’t have to be foreigners lol Not sure why people from out of state are referred to as “foreigners”. Couldn’t possibly know you meant people from other states. Didn’t see previous posts and didn’t know it’s an ongoing topic. Just going by what’s posted in this post and comments

Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of foreign: situated outside a place or country. Some out from out of state is foreign to the state such as NJ and NH. It's really not much different from countries or planets or whatever, just different levels (if I were talking "planetary foreigners" I'd probably legitimately be confused though ). I mean, other words can fit better situations that are commonly used depending on the situation: Masshole, flatlander, implant, SAR statistic, touron, snowbird, Danny, peddler...

I don't think it is an ongoing topic? I thought saying "clickbait title" and "dude with NJ plates" implied I was talking foreign to state rather than whatever you were inferring.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli

Thankz! Ordered!

@MuddyBoots

Oh, so it was all a joke and that's why you went down there with your pepper spray and your makeshift weapon (pocket knife). Lucky he was gone or you might've done something to totally inconvenience him or even endanger his safety. Or even your own safety if he had shot you or punched you, for trying to pepper spray attack him because of your prejudice thoughts/actions. Should I put a "lol" here at this point to make you think I'm joking? To soften it? Nah.

Just some history.

"there is an old Maine joke told by proud natives. In the joke one old timer is telling the other, “I was born in Boston but I moved to Maine with my family when I was an infant so I guess you could call me a native Mainer.” to which the native Mainer replies, “Really? Last week my cat had kittens in the oven but I don’t call them biscuits.”"

I can see where this raised fears of xenophobia in the current environment. Werent people wearing safety pins 8 years ago to signal their side? I wonder if it will come to that again.

I think you're assuming I went down intending to attack him? Nah. I bring bear spray/pepper spray/capsaicin aerosol most times I, as a female not professionally trained in any martial arts, go out alone in a place I probably won't feel safety from being in a crowd (AKA a dirt road only used for logging, hunting (incl. bears, which spray could be helpful if, like in Lincoln woods, there was a human conditioned bear that was too friendly to humans and associated us/me with food), hiking, and drug deals). Multi-tool is more than a knife. It's 16 things that AREN'T a knife (and more if you get creative). And I think you're forgetting that we're in America. I'm not one for every single person owning a gun even if it's for "self-protection"--I'd only think that if I knew there were only like 10 bad guys and everyone else had pure intentions and no one ever had any sort of mental illness or got prone to stress and acted out--but what I'm trying to say is people DO carry weapons around, and if you see someone with anything generally considered a weapon around, I'm willing to bet they will say it's for self-defense, and in most cases, that is true. Every time I go to the woods for more than a few hours I bring the multi-tool and spray. I've never used the spray (although once I almost did with a bear and probably would have if I were not with others), and I have used the multi-tool for fishing, opening bottles, helping someone gut a deer, cooking, and starting fires. So, no, having spray and a multi tool doesn't mean I'm going to attack someone for no reason. Never has and never will. So, no, not concerned about his safety as far as me being a threat to him, and I'm not super concerned about my safety because, well, that's only an issue when I give a shyt which is never, and I don't get how walking by, maybe asking him how it's going and if he needs help or directions is inconveniencing him? It'd be freaking hilarious if I got shot though for walking down a road and people thought I was the bad guy because I had a multi-tool I had no intention of using in the same way no one intends on using a first aid kid on a hike or a spare tire on a road trip or a fire extinguisher in a kitchen.

There are a gazillion reasons he could be there, and it's not like I was 100% set on him being there as a criminal or I wouldn't have checked it out (if I genuinely thought he was burying a body or selling rohypnol to a known rapist or some shyt like that that is a genuine threat, yeah, I WOULD have called the police regardless of where his license plate stated he was from). Maybe he was lost and decided to take a break and decided cleaning his car was a good idea. Maybe he was with the logging company. Maybe he broke down (in which maybe having that multi-tool with a wrench would help him, or having something to help get a good fire going to stay warm while waiting for a ride or tow if it took too long).

Anyway, he's gone, and I'll let you know if in the coming years we have even more problems with wildlife/people encounters because real estate agents (like, supposedly, this guy) think they can pull a Columbus, kill a bunch of flora and push bears, deer, moose, turtles, snakes, birds, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, beavers, toads, newts out to make room for a bunch of people who may not know putting a bird feeder up can lead to a bear associating that backyard with food, maybe realizing the kitchen smells good and it's easy to get through the door... (has happened).

This is a bit of a tangent, but I also want to add that in the past 10 years we've spent $3.1 billion on SAR missions, too many due to, something like a guy in dress shoes deciding a walk in the woods on a chilly day in wetlands is a good idea. That's like 40 years of our education budget if it stays at what it is for 2024. I'm not saying NH-ites aren't being carried out of the woods or down mountains, but more often than not it's the people that don't know that weather is unpredictable because they haven't woken up in a blizzard and had to strip to a sports bra and shorts on their run or hike later that day, or started at a trailhead when it's 75, calm, and sunny, but 90 minutes, 2 miles, and 2000ft up later, it's 35F, 35mph, and pouring AKA death by hypothermia weather. (Does the iPhone weather app for the closest town that too many people use account for this? No. But MWOBS/Mountain-Forecast/weather.gov/the higher summits forecast text line do and non White Mountain regulars don't know about those as often).

I'm not against out-of-staters. But for a little thought experiment let's turn this around and ask how it would look if a hunter was in some business district in a big city in camo/bright orange covered in moose blood? Yeah, maybe he's just handing his brother that works somewhere a steak, but it is going to be a "one of these things doesn't belong here" situation.

I'm just going to leave it there @MuddyBoots. I respect your journey of self healing and I understand your rationale. I obviously disagree with your approach. All the best. 🙏

Agree to disagree I guess. I do tend to favor overprepared than underprepared (obviously). If something's wrong I'd like to know in case I can or have to do anything. I wouldn't wear a Yankee's hat to Boston, and I don't understand with hard logic why I'd have to impress nonexistent people in the middle of the woods with a suit and shiny car, and I guess I didn't realize curiosity as to that reason was xenophobia simply because a license plate indicating they drove over 300 miles made it seem more important, planned, and unusual than if someone drove 10 miles there, walked there, were in a logging truck, etc. I will apply such reasoning to all circumstances and not give a damn if something looks off. Not even gonna consider a mustang or motorcycle turning on a mountain road in a Nor-easter or someone in a dress and heals on the trail that ascends some ridiculous slide.