BENNYS??

Sian called to say he's on his way but is stuck in traffic. I guess the Bennys are coming down early this weekend... the traffic shouldn't be bad until after work!

What's a Benny you ask? Well... this sums it up better than I could...
(Grabbed from here:)


First, something that came up in our last sack 'o' mail, the definition of bennies as it relates to people commuting from New York to New Jersey.  Some thoughts from readers:

Bennies, or Shoebees, are people from out of state who go to the Jersey shore for the day. I'm not sure where bennie came from, but Shoebee was from New Yorkers coming to the beach with their lunch packed in a shoebox. Its derogatory, pretty much a local calling a day tourist names for using his beach.

-David

One theory is that they come from the North Jersey areas of Bergen-Edison-Newark. B-E-N. But if that's the case, why are the majority of them from NYC? Another theory is that there was a guy named "Benny" in the '50s who had a thriving business renting out beach umbrellas, and if you walked along the boardwalk during the summer you saw large beach umbrellas with the word "BENNY'S" printed in block letters across them. But the truth is, nobody really KNOWS why the Hell we call them Bennies!! We just always have.

-Craig

My guess is that it's a corruption of "B 'n T's" (say it out loud), short for "Bridge and Tunnel," an epithet Manhattanites use to describe the unwashed masses from Jersey.

-Astoundo

"BENNY" is actually an acronym for Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York . . . for the sake of anyone who might not know, Bayonne, Elizabeth, and Newark are cities in North Jersey.

-Deven

Acronym: Be Extra Nasty to New Yorkers

-Steve