Tosh, bosh and oh my gosh. So often traditional New England reticence is misinterpreted as New Englanders' unwillingness to let others violate *their* personal space. Very often, though, I think this just reflects New Englanders' disinclination to risk invading *others'* personal space. This would seem simple courtesy in a nation where aggressive instant intimacy so often characterizes the hustler. I would quote the wise words of writer Florence King, who has observed: "Familiarity doesn't breed contempt. Familiarity *is* contempt." Of course I realize offering this quotation increases my chances of being jeered at since Ms. King (a) is a professed conservative, (b) is a self-admitted misanthrope, and (c) <gasp> is a Southerner.
Full disclosure: My qualifications to speak out on the subject of neighborliness may be open to challenge in any event since I, a transplanted Massachusetts native, have lived on Long Island now for well over twenty years and haven't made a single friend here in all that time.
Hermitically yours,
Carl
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