bridge-and-tunnel

See also: bridge and tunnel

English

Traffic on the George Washington Bridge, a conduit of bridge-and-tunnel people from New Jersey

Alternative forms

• bridge and tunnel

Etymology

From the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and the fact that road travel to Manhattan Island requires passage over a bridge or through a tunnel.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

bridge-and-tunnel (not comparable)

1. (New York City, slang, derogatory) Of people who travel to Manhattan via bridge or tunnel from surrounding communities.
   • 1990 July, Joe Bob Briggs, “My Life as Joe Bob Briggs”, in Texas Monthly, →ISSN, page 132:

     "Tonight we get the Bridge-and-Tunnel People." He said this like, "Tonight the Nazis attack."
     "The Bridge-and-Tunnel People?"
     "They come from Jersey and Long Island to get drunk and have a good time."

   • 1999 August 1, Bernard Stamler, “Whose Hamptons Are They Anyway?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     And much to the consternation of their city cousins, many of whom view them with the same disdain they reserve in the other three seasons for the bridge-and-tunnel people who dare to cross the Hudson and East Rivers for a bit of Manhattan glamour, they seem to be taking over.

   • 2003, James St. James, Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland, →ISBN, →OL, page 67:

     The worst drug calamity, the worst-case scenario, was that you accidentally took too much ecstasy and were actually nice to a Bridge-and-Tunnel person.

   • 2009 March 9, Flowers for Your Grave (Castle), season 1, episode 1, spoken by Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion):

     Well, you're not bridge-and-tunnel. No trace of the boroughs when you talk. So that means Manhattan, that means money.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bridge-and-tunnel.

Synonyms

• B&T, BNT

Derived terms

• bridge-and-tunneler

See also

• townie