Richard
Hi Joy et al thatis New England America not New England Australia is it not? This would explain a lot. How can you tell the size of a stone if the back is closed? With opals how can you tell if the stone is solid, doublet or triplet. The value difference between a solid opal and a triplet can be thousands of dollars.
New England is some of the earliest states to formally incorporate
themselves as states, and the geography was similiar to England, so
our early American settlers called themselvers New Englanders, to
difference fromold England. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut all make up New England.
Since I’m a native New Hampshirer, and born, bred and trained in NH,
MA and RI, I’m your classic New Englander. Just a figure of speech.
America may be one big country, but oh boy, you have some pretty
radical regional characteristics, speech patterns, slang, attitude
and much more. I tend to cringe when New Yorkers and New Jesery’ers
speak, for they draw out the R and we NHers, Mainers and some of
Mass’ers tend to eliminate the R. As a result, we have a more
clipped speech when talking.
Bostoners have their own twang so you can hear a metro area Bostoner
speak from a mile away. Rhode Island also has their own regional
twang, and I still pronounce a few words the RI way, while the rest
of my speech and attitudes are NH and the older classic New England
(mind your own business, and don’t talk so much! the right to bear
arms, “leave me alone”, being thrifty, are some of them). I find I
don’t like small talk, and get impatient when people dawdle. We can
also be extremely cheap, taking being self-sufficient to a fine art,
and can pitch pennies so much, they squeak in protest. My grandfather
was one of those frugal Yankees, and really defined being a NH’er. I
apparently inherited a lot of his attitudes. and his tinkering
skills. He could fix just about anything.
However, we New Englanders have a very dry wit, and a quirky
attitude, and completely obsessed with weather. Thought you would
enjoy a little New England humor. If you ever read Yankee magazine,
you’ll get some of the tongue in check humor.
Joy, who is still weary from the 2 feet of snow, and we are supposed
to get more snow on Sat. Snowblower and shovel and I are pretty much
married by now.