Yeah, the women of the state come in all types, nationalities and make-up brands, but beneath their outward or inner facades, they are some of the most real-to-the-bone women you will find outside of Joan of Arc.
Why else would Bruce Springsteen sing, "Nothing matters in the whole wide world, when you are in love with a Jersey girl."
She's humble, but ambitious. She's independent, but family-oriented. She likes pizza, beer and lots of mascara, but don't think for a moment she's not sophisticated.
She's one of the Garden State's most enduring icons -- a readily identifiable personality, as much a part of America's cultural landscape as that other great Jerseyan, Frank Sinatra.
So who is a Jersey Girl?
The Girl has a specific character, both in pop culture and in the hearts and minds of Jerseyans.
First there are the surface qualities: A love of an unpretentious good time, and a certain sense of style.
Jersey girls are about attitude
They're about eating pizza, drinking beer, having great hair -- and enjoying it all
If you really represent Jersey, like I do, then you understand that the look is like a dialect, and it changes from different parts of the state. Jersey City girls have a sexy toughness. Marlboro girls are not afraid to be flashy. Ocean County girls have a sweet veneer, with a little bohemian vibe twisted in -- all that salt water in the air. Princeton and New Brunswick girls are athletic and intellectual. Bottom line, all of them are sexy as hell.
But the look and the party attitude are only part of the Jersey Girl package. She's a girl who enjoys the mall, might wear more makeup than the Ivy League would approve of, and gives some thought to her hair. She's got a mouth on her. She says what she means. And she's got a nice, cheerful laugh. You wouldn't find Jersey girls in Princeton, you'd find them in Menlo Park. Or down the Shore.
Aside from location and looks, a Jersey girl can also be identified by more intangible qualities, like warmth and a certain toughness.
A Jersey girl is crunchy on the outside, and soft in the center. A Jersey girl has the tenacity and drive of a New Yorker, but with the beauty of warmth and humility that being from Jersey is all about.
Don't mistake her toughness as a lack of refinement. Don't misjudge her sometimes 'brash' manners as a lack of 'classiness.' At the center of the crunchy sweet exterior, she is tuned in and knows how and what she's workin'.
Jersey girls may start out somewhere between blue-collar and middle class, but they've always got that hope that they're gonna do better in life.
She's spunky and witty, and she handles competition very well. She's got that confidence -- everyone from New Jersey has that confidence, ever since Frank Sinatra.
A Jersey girl doesn't have to have a high-powered career, but whatever work she does, she gives it her all -- and she takes care of her family at the same time.
No matter what the origin of her heritage is, Bruce Springsteen's 'Jersey Girl' pretty much still fits the overall makeup, if you will, of a true Jersey girl: hard-working, family- oriented, spirited, one of a kind.
And if you're lucky, she's your wife
