Jersey Shore: What's a Shoobie and What's a Benny?

Summertime means vacation time, and so many people come to the Jersey Shore to spend some free time.

Whether it's North Jersey, Central Jersey (does it even exist?), or South Jersey, the beaches and the islands are usually flooded with out-of-towners during the summer months.

Who are these people and where do they come from?

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What's a Shoobie?

We're starting in South Jersey, and we'll work our way up from there.

A Shoobie is an out-of-state visitor to South Jersey, including places like Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Wildwood, and Cape May.

The term "Shoobie" goes back to a time when people - mostly from Philadelphia - brought their lunch to the New Jersey beaches in a shoe box! Sometimes people would pack their own lunch, an sometimes it would be included in the price of their train ticket. They'd come "down the shore" for the day, have their lunch, then head back home.

Wikipedia says, "These daytrippers deprived local businesses of the revenue the tourists would have spent on food."

Wikipedia says that while the term "Shoobie" originated in South Jersey, it's also used in Delaware and in coastal towns in Southern California.

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What's a Benny?

As you work your way up the New Jersey coast, Shoobies change to Bennies. This happens somewhere in Ocean County.

From about Manahawkin and Long Beach Island north, Bennies outnumber Shoobies.

According to Wikipedia, "Benny" "is a pejorative term used by year-round residents of the Jersey Shore to describe stereotypically rude, flashy, loud tourists from North Jersey and New York."

As far as the origin of "Benny": "One common theory says the term originates from an acronym that was stamped on the beachgoers' train tickets, representing the city in which they boarded the train to the Jersey Shore: Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York City. The term "Benny" may also originate from the early 20th-century practice of wealthy New Yorkers taking trips to the Jersey Shore as a treatment for myriad of maladies such as anemia, hemophilia, and hysteria. These therapeutic trips were called "beneficials" by doctors and patients. Often, visitors would claim to be at the Jersey Shore on a "beneficial", hence the term Benny. "Benny" refers to Ben Franklin, whose picture is on the $100 bill. Still, another theory refers to off-shore boat racing during the 1970s sponsored by the restaurant chain 'Benihana's'."