Hoboken or Broboken?

The women’s online news source Jezebel wrote a breakdown of “bros” this April, but they missed the mile-square city.

What is a bro? Jezebel defines a bro as:

“a young, usually unmarried, often immature guy who just does what everyone else his age seems to be doing. He’s not necessarily a bad guy . . . [but] he’s not secure or confident enough to do it on his own.

While Jezebel gave plenty of information on the Manhattan Bro, the Midatlantic Bro, and the Brooklyn Bro, but missed the bros of the square-mile city. This is a grave oversight on Jezebel’s part, because a quick scan of twitter and instagram using #Broboken shows that many Hoboken residents (and visitors) are ready to identify themselves as Bros.

The online slang encyclopedia Urban Dictionary explains the “Broboken” title and hashtag:

“A geographic location in NJ known for it’s bars, singles, and accessibility to NYC. Typically stigmatized by the excessive ‘bros’ blacking out at the bars during the week, hitting on chicks and heading to work in a suit on the Path Monday-Friday. Oh and Cake Boss is there.”

A few Yelp reviews, like these for Wicked Wolf Tavern, make note of the bros that inhabit the downtown Hoboken bars on the weekend:

“Broboken at it’s finest, This place gets extremely crowded on the weekends, it sees a lot of the rambunctious “bro” crowd that is loud,obnoxious, and pushy.”

“The crowd is decent, good ratio of guys to girls. Def recommend checking out if you’re into the BROboken scene.”

This review for Pilsener Haus and Biergarten also advises people to avoid the “bro” crowd:

“The ambiance is a solid change of pace from the typical ‘Broboken’ scene.”

So, really, whether you’re a bro or no, Hoboken has something for everyone.

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