A shoobie is…

I checked my twitter feed on Saturday and found that beach chairs and blankets weren’t the only thing dusted off for summer use: shoobies.

Most were from year round residents noting the influx of visitors that invade their islands for three months a year. But others were Philadelphians self-identifying themselves as part of that mass.

So what is a shoobie?

The origins of the word date back to the 1890s. As John T. Cunningham explains in his 1958 book The New Jersey Shore, fast trains to Atlantic City that only cost $1 round trip meant that Philadelphians “laden with their ‘shoe box lunches'” poured into Atlantic City every Sunday.

Now, shoobies zip to the shore via car. 

My question is this: what exactly is a shoobie?

Is it the daytrippers?

People who come down on summer weekends?

Families who rent shore houses for a week?

What about those with shore summer homes? Are they shoobies? Only if they come down on summer weekends? But what if they come to their shore house year round?

Urbandictionary.com makes note of tourists who wear socks with their sandals, but I’m not sure how that fits in.

Give us your definition of shoobie in the comments below, or post them on twitter. Make sure to use the hashtag #shoobie — and cc me, @jerseyshorejen and @newsworksnj if you have room.