Shoobie

Shoobie is a term used in South Jersey to describe a tourist who visits the seashore for a day (a daytripper), primarily to use the beach during the summer months. Shoobie is used in resort towns along the southern Jersey Shore, between the areas of Long Beach Island and Cape May. The term "shoobie" originated in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and it derives from the habit among daytrippers of bringing their lunch in a shoe box, thus depriving local businesses of the revenue the tourists would have spent on food. The term "shoobie" may sometimes now be applied to tourists who are more likely to wear shoes on the beach, although this is not the original meaning. Homeowners (whether year-round or seasonal) often walk to the beach barefoot or remove their shoes immediately upon reaching the sand. Similar terms are "Benny," which is mostly used in the resort towns of the northern Jersey Shore.

Shoobies are essentially a mixed blessing for local beach residents. They bring in enormous revenue during the summer months, but at the same time they add numerous obstacles and annoyances to day-to-day life. In that sense, shoobies are not unlike the tourists that descend on any resort area.

The term has also been mentioned frequently on the Nickelodeon show Rocket Power. The reference in the show is to folks that wear their "shoes" on the "beach", as in SHOE-BEAch. The term is also used to describe "day-trippers" on Nantucket Island. Slightly Stoopid & Toko Tasi recorded a song "Shoobie" which appears on Slightly Stoopid's Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid EP

External links

• Shoobie.org - Visitor Information Resource
• Matthew in the Morning's Shoobie Guide
• Surfline.com - "What is a Shoobie?"
• "Locals to hard-partying renters: Show some respect", The Press of Atlantic City, May 12, 2006
• American Dialect Society mailing list