The only way he could have made it worse for himself is if he had an RI plate. Mass residents have never been shy about letting people know how they feel about them (for better, or very worse 😅)
It’s almost certainly the neighbors thing. The specific complaints are mostly that Rhode Islanders have a very distinctive accent (it’s no longer super widespread, but think Lois from family guy) and when your friends/relatives move there, they stop thinking of an hourlong drive (to visit you) as a day trip, but that might just be a trend in my circle.
That, and their clam chowder isn’t real chowder and wtf is coffee milk (yep, those are definitely just neighborly things to pick at). I always liked honey dew better than dunkin though.
Cheese balls are most certainly not equivalent to cheese curds in any form.
Cheese curds are an ambiguous term, they are either fresh or fried.
Traditionally, fried cheese curds are what one does with their extra cheese curds after they are no longer fresh.
Cheese curds are no longer fresh once they have been refrigerated and lose their squeak. Only thing left to do with them then is to batter and fry them. But they still aren't cheese balls.
I just realized I've always thought of it as past time, I guess I usually see it written as "pastime". Past time doesn't make any sense at all, the way I've always thought of it. Neat!