how close is maine to the canadian maritimes, culturally?

[bartzman]

One of my friends, who is from Ontario, was complaining about "Newfies" (people from newfoundland) and he defined "Newfies" as people from Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick and Maine.

Now, Maine happans to be in a completely differant country than the other jurisdictions. sure, it borders the canadian maritimes, but is it culturally similar?

Now i know that maritime canada is a bastion of celtic/gaelic culture, and alot of neo-celtic fiddler bands like "great big sea" and ashley macissac come from that area.

is Maine the same way?, how much of a rural, celtic/scottish culture does maine have?

in canada, there are endless jokes about maritimers being dimwitted or ignorant....are there similar jokes/perceptions about mainers from other americans?

[Evergrey]

in canada, there are endless jokes about maritimers being dimwitted or ignorant....are there similar jokes/perceptions about mainers from other americans?

Stumpy Grinder and his wife Martha were from Portland, Maine. Every year they went to the Portland Fair, and every year Stumpy said " Ya know Mahtha, I'd like ta get a ride in that theah aihplane."

and every year Martha would say "I know Stumpy, but that aihplane ride costs ten dollahs.... and ten dollahs is ten dollahs."

So Stumpy says " By Jeebers Mahtha, I'm 71 yeahs old, if I don't go this time I may nevah go."

Martha replies " Stumpy, that there aihplane ride is ten dollahs...and ten dollahs is ten dollahs."

So the pilot overhears them and says " Folks, I'll make you a deal, I'll take you both up for a ride, if you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say ONE word, I won't charge you, but just one word and it's ten dollars."

They agree and up they go.... the pilot does all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not a word is heard, he does it one more time, still nothing... so he lands.

He turns to Stumpy as they come to a stop and says " By golly, I did everything I could think of to get you to holler out, but you didn't."

And Stumpy replies " Well, I was gonna say something when Mahtha fell out...but ten dollahs is ten dollahs!

[bartzman]

thats pretty funny

[kirjtc2]

In general, Maritimers feel closer culturally to Maine than the other way around. The only areas in Maine that I get a feel of cultural similarity are the areas on the border in Aroostook and Washington counties, and to some extent the Bangor area. The rest of the state (where the vast majority of the population lies) looks almost entirely southward to Boston.

On the other hand, some people here in western New Brunswick (whose residents are mostly of English descent with some French) feel more culturally connected to those parts of Maine (similar) than they are to the Scottish and Irish areas in Nova Scotia or PEI.

I think Maritimers' perceptions of Maine are generally that of Bangor and places northward, even though most of the population is to the south. It's a sort of a reflection of the Two Maines theory that some have put forth.

[Evergrey]

I would be interesting in learning more about this "Two Maines Theory".

[kirjtc2]

In a nutshell....Maine is culturally and economically divided into two very distinct regions:

* the coastal/urban southern third or so of the state (anywhere south of Augusta or so), where the population, money and power are - generally politically liberal
* the inland northern two-thirds, which are resource-heavy but economically depressed - generally conservative

Generally, the second region blames the first one for screwing up their local economy.