A Response to Shore Critics

My editorial page column this week revealed, and rebutted, some shore criticism by Inquirer columnist Daniel A. Cirucci.
It noted that he found the shore too hot, the ocean too cold, the sand too fine, the towns too crowded, and too many beer bellies in Wildwood, which, like the bellies, really hits below the belt.
Cirucci’s most insidious implied criticism, though, was of the people, my people. He wrote that in his preferred vacation spot, Hilton Head, “the friendly natives speak in a slow drawl that invites you to linger.”
What Cirucci obviously does not know is that if the original Mason-Dixon line could be extended eastward, it would run smack through Cape May County. Further, New Jersey did not vote for Abraham Lincoln, preferring Stephen Douglas by 4,500 votes,
The folks around here around can slow drawl with the best of them. Cape May County is said to have some of the slowest people in the world.
Most local restaurants will “invite you to linger” — as long as you order another drink.
Hopefully this settles that final Cirucci complaint.
I invite your comments, but please don’t try to tell me where the Mason-Dixon line is. It was paved over a long time ago.