I am from Rhode Island, originally, and read a quote somewhere: “In Rhode Island, everything is local”.
Rhode Island is the kind of state where you ask for directions, and this is what someone will tell you: “Okay, so you go down this street and you take a right where the A&P used to be … then you stay on that road, and when you come to the end of it, take a left where the Bess Eaton used to be … and what you’re looking for is on Rt. 138 where that Tae Kwan Do studio used to be.”
Local Rhode Islanders like myself will nod knowingly at these directions suffused with the past, and newcomers will be completely lost. “Tell me what is there NOW, please.”
And when the direction-givers say stuff like “where the A&P used to be”, sometimes they are talking about what hasn’t been there for 30 years!
I love that.
My sister Jean pointed out, as well, that all directions given in Rhode Island usually contain the words “Dunkin Donuts”. The moment she made that observation, of course I started hearing it all over the place.
“Take a left at the Dunkin Donuts…”
“And then you pass the Dunkin Donuts…”
“There’s a stoplight, and a Dunkin Donuts on your right…”
Or sometimes the two particularities of Rhode Island directions will happen in the same sentence: “Take a right where the Dunkin Donuts used to be…”
Heh, I’ll take directions based on “Dunkin Donuts” over “Starbucks” any day.
There’s a Dunkin’ Donuts somewhere in RI that we used to stop at on the way back to Boston from Foxwoods.
Know which one I’m talking about? :-)
Sheila, I think Stephen is referring to the Dunkin Donuts in Wyoming(RI) which is directly off of 95North. There is also a Job Lot there, but not nearly as good as our Wakefield Job Lot.
Yes, I know that Dunkin Donuts. It is quite close to Foxwoods, and right off 95.
I dunno… One of my experiences was frustrating. My mother was giving me directions from East Providence (yes, Young China restaurant) to my grandfaher’s new place in Gorham. Did fine, route numbers and everything, until some miles past Keene where suddenly out came “and then turn left where the old oak tree used to be…”