Q & A Time for Northerners about "The South": I promise to be respectful

[steve2470]

and not make any snarky, snide,pissy, racist, etc.....ad infinitum comments.

[rogerashton]

1. My momma said,

"Everybody down here with any get up and go has gotten up and gone."

Aintchall got any git up and go?

[steve2470]

3. some do, some don't nt

[NuckinFutz]

13. I got up an' went as soon as I gradjeated..

Best thing I ever did.

[yvr girl]

2. It's called "The War of Northern Aggression" down there isn't it?

[steve2470]

4. some people used to call it that. Not sure about now nt

[ThorsHammer]

5. Some people also call it The War Between the States

[mikita]

14. I saw this EXACT phrase posted in a bookstore....

I always check out bookstores in any new city I visit, to get a flavor.... So I went into an indy bookstore in Hilton Head on my first visit there, and lo and behold this was the "heading" on their "history" section. I left a few seconds later. Decided HH would not be a repeat destination, pour moi, at least!

[Zuni]

29. Hilton head is beautiful

I never went into any bookstores though

[blindpig]

108. Hilton Head is an abomination

You should have seen it before they started pouring concrete. That WAS beautiful.

I miss the Low Country that I knew.

[texas1928]

28. IT is the War Of Northern Aggression.

so there.

[Blue-Jay]

36. Good lord. Do people actually believe that?

It was a war to preserve the union. Had several states not decided to declare their independence there would have been no war.

[steve2470]

39. no, you are 100% correct. The South really started it nt

[texas1928]

45. If you Dang Northerners had stopped trying to tarriff goods from England

and making them impose tarriffs on Cotton from the south and causing us such hardships. We would have been fine. But NO you had to butt your noses in and there you go.

:P

[Blue-Jay]

52. First - I ain't no "dang Northener".

My grandparents, after relocating from Scotland, settled in Kentucky and Tennessee. Imagine my difficulty in shaking a combination of a Scottish/Southern accent....

Second - In February, 1861, the confererate army seized Fort Sumter, proving who were the actual aggressors. The first shots were fired by the South. Therefore, "the war of northern aggression" is a misnomer.

Third - Fighting a 150 year old war is stupid, unproductive, and stupid. (did I mention "stupid"?)

[texas1928]

61. Did you see the smiley below?

HMMMMMM

[Blue-Jay]

62. Sure I did!

I just wanted to start a fight.

wakka wakka wakka!

[texas1928]

63. Breaks pool que over Blue Jays head and shouts

THE WAR AIN'T OVER YET!!!!!!

[steve2470]

65. I really laughed out loud at this post !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!nt

[Tyrone Slothrop]

38. I've heard it referred to by that term

as recently as one year ago.

And I don't even live in the South!!!

[solinvictus]

77. Yep..

or "War Between the States" is also acceptable as well.

[Hand]

88. Huh???????????? OH!

You mean the War Against Southern Treason! Of course... jeez, why didn't anybody say so?

Or was it the War to End Slavery in America? I've heard of that one, too.

:evilgrin:

[sparky_in_ma]

102. Very good.

That is/was the correct phrase for what was also known as" the late unpleasantness between the states".:thumbsup:

[Ellen Forradalom]

6. What's your favorite part of the Southern cultural heritage?

William Faulkner, traditional music, what?

[short bus president]

8. BBQ.

Pulled Pork BBQ. With fried okra and hush puppies. :9

The rest of the food ain't bad, nutha. ;-)

[Zuni]

24. I like Baby Back ribs

that is some southern culture I can really enjoy

[asjr]

42. Now that is a true feast! My grandfather used to make

the best Brunswick Stew ever made. He had a restaurant that served that along with BBQ and people came from "all round" just to eat there. Ah, the good old days.

[short bus president]

50. Sounds like Bullock's BBQ in Durham

Family Style special, available every night of the week, is all-you-can eat BBQ (chopped, not pulled, but still very good), brunswick stew, fried chicken, hush puppies, cole slaw, and green beans. At $9.95, you can't beat it. :9

[asjr]

51. This was in Rome, GA in the '50s and '60s. He later opened

a canning company for the stew. He used butter in it and didn't scrimp on anything. When he died his sons sold it to a company that totally ruined it.

[Huckebein the Raven]

72. I love fried okra and

baby back ribs

:9

[yellowdogintexas]

76. and don't forget the slaw (on the sandwich!)

and the sweet tea

[short bus president]

87. heh - exactly!

And they look at you funny if you ask for the slaw on the side. "Well, OK, I guess... but I'll hafta charge it as a side dish..." I like mine on the Q, anyway.

[steve2470]

9. hmmm.....I guess the "tradition" of friendliness and civility

that SHOULD extend to all non-white, etc... people. As I said, people are so damn nice here if they are real Southerners.

[forgethell]

30. What are you talking about?

Barbecue, bass fishing, southern women.

[Withywindle]

66. Music!

Traditional old-time string-band mountain music. Can't get enough of the fiddling. (I've even taken it up myself, but I'm not very good. Better to listen). Go to the weekend night dances at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA (where people from toddlers up to 90-year-olds all get up and dance together like different generations hanging out is the most natural thing in the world--guess what, it is!) or the Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA--running annually for over 80 years now.

I'm a hillbilly. I don't get what those flatlanders in GA and AL etc. are up to, and I can't take the weather down there--it's too hot, and I gotta have my little bit of snow and ice or else it seems like we skipped a season and that's unnatural.

(Of course, I live in Chicago now, so I guess I'm a traitor. I still try to turn people here on to the music, though, and I'm sure not ashamed of my little bit of an accent.)

[Allenberg]

7. I'm an northeastern condecending elitist.

Where is a good place for me to go to the south?

[steve2470]

10. Atlanta, hands down nt

[Allenberg]

15. I can't say I've ever been to Atlanta

but I've lived for four months in Pensacola FL (which was probably the worst place I've ever lived. Reminded me of West Virginia with too much humidity, too many bugs, and a nice beach), and I've spent a few summers in Whiteville NC with family.

[steve2470]

19. Atlanta is wonderful. Combines the best of the north with

the best of the South.

[Spider Jerusalem]

79. Um...no

Atlanta combines the worst aspects of some nightmare of sprawl like Los Angeles with the bland, charmless, soulless, Anywhere USA feeling of being in a mall. (But the city proper DOES have a nice skyline. I'll give it that.)

[Huckebein the Raven]

74. You should visit Atlanta

it's very nice

[SheepyMcSheepster]

11. Cary, North Carolina

:)

[DrGonzoLives]

89. Cary is not the South

No, seriously, it isn't, I don't care if it is in North Carolina.

[steve2470]

90. why not ? seriously...never really heard of it myself nt

[DrGonzoLives]

110. It's full of Northerners

My uncle (from Indiana) lives there - no one in his neighborhood is from the South.

[SCDem]

12. Charleston, Savannah

We have condecending elitists here too!

Only kidding you Charlestonians and Savannahns!

[Call me Deacon Blues]

16. Nashville is pretty nice . . .

And middle Tennessee is really beautiful. Try driving down the Natchez Trace Parkway.

[xmas74]

18. My house.

My state is stuck between the South and the Midwest-we have a blending of values from both.

[Maine-ah]

22. Florida.

[NoPasaran]

35. The South Pole

[steve2470]

17. We need more Q's, you non-Southern USA'ers. UK GE and CA can join in !

[sniffa]

20. um

how's the weather down there? :shrug:

[steve2470]

21. warm, windy, sunny

Ya'll come back, ya hear ?????????

[Call me Deacon Blues]

23. But on the few occasions that it snows . . .

People go nuts. Can't drive worth a flip in it. They close schools around here if they think it MIGHT snow. Long, hot summers, though.

[steve2470]

25. you are correct. I LOVE to see it snow here nt

[Historic NY]

26. Myrtle Beach seem to be a Northern enclave....

lots of people that live near me have winter homes or condos there. On friends says they even have a Newburgh Day there and more than 500 locals from here showup.

[steve2470]

27. Miami and Orlando and Tampa also have HUGE NY

enclaves LOL no lie. I'm about to get my NY driver's license.

[_testify_]

80. My experience with florida is that

most native Floridians consider the state to be southern only in a strict geographical context. I am a native NYer living in Tampa and I love it here, even if it's not as free-spirited and progressive as it once was.

However, before moving to Tampa I lived in Birmingham. Apologies to anyone who actually lives there but that place is a cesspool of ignorance. Apparently the term 'race relations' still refers to something you can get hanged for.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

82. Orlando sucks...

and so does most of Florida. Everyone says there are lots of liberals down here, but I've been living here for three years and almost 100% of the people I have met have been conservatives. In fact, I can't think of anyone that I've met that was a liberal. New England is so much better. I think New Hampshire is more liberal than Florida (at least based on the type of folks I've met in these places).

[steve2470]

84. ouch nt

[Aiptasia]

40. and refugees from various other states

I've lived in Myrtle for most of my adult life, and there are enclaves and groups of snowbird refugees from just about every northern east coast state in the union here.

P.s.: Go home. Just kidding. :)

[Historic NY]

31. I would love to find a small town or area where I could build me a cabin..

but not have to put up with anti-northern bias.

[steve2470]

32. Go to Miami. I'm serious nt

[PittPoliSci]

33. in louisana...

i heard that almost all food comes covered in sugar from a friend of mine that went down there. is this true?

[steve2470]

34. honestly, I don't know. Anyone else know ? nt

[NoPasaran]

37. Not in my experience

Cajun food tends to be spicy. Mmmm-mmmm. Although I think to really grok crawfish you need to be born there.

[livinginphotographs]

91. Wasn't born there...

But my dad's family is Cajun/French from the New Orleans area, and we moved there when I was about one.

And I still don't like crawfish. Yech. Liked it was I was younger, but the idea of it now makes we want to puke. Although, there seems to be a genetic thing about covering every meal with a ton of Tabasco sauce.

[kwassa]

47. A stick of butter in every plate, in N'Awlins, not sugar

I love spicy food, but much of the cuisine was a little heavy for my tastes.

We said to a friend from there that it tasted like a full stick of butter in every place, and he said "That's about right."

The biegnets (kind of a flat square doughnut) come covered in powdered sugar, are the standard breakfast treat at Cafe Du Monde, along with the cafe au lait. Famous tourist trap.

[PittPoliSci]

59. thanks!

it sounded kinda suspicious to me, i was just curiuos. :-)

[Revillusion1]

105. Noooo...not true

Our food is, indeed, very rich...but it mostly depends upon what area of the state you're in. Most people, in the central portion of the state, which is where I was born and raised, and have returned to and live now, is a mixture of what locals call Redneck cooking and of course, Cajun cooking. Redneck cooking is just basic southern cooking, or soul food. The Cajun cooking is mostly smothered and cooked in heavy sauces and gravies, such as piquants, creoles, and etouffees. (I probably spelled those wrong-I'm of the redneck variety-as far as food is concerned, anyway!)

I've never heard of the "covered in sugar" one...that's a new one! I can say with confidence that one would be hard-pressed to throw a dart at a map of our state and not find a good eating establishment anywhere it lands! We may be over run with conservatives, but at least we have good food!

[PittPoliSci]

109. thanks!

I definetly want to check out the cajun sometime, it can be very difficult to find good cajun up here in Pittsburgh.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

41. Texas or Carolina style BBQ??? n/t

[steve2470]

43. are you asking me a question ? nt

[Tyrone Slothrop]

53. Yes

Perhaps I misunderstood the thread topic.

I, a Northener (damn Yankee) was questioning you about the South, specifically about your BBQ preference.


(I'm a Carolina fan, myself. I dig the tanginess of the vinegar.)

[steve2470]

54. I am not a bbq conoisseur (sp?). sorry nt

[Scout1071]

97. Neither. Kansas City is BBQ king and it's definitely not southern.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

107. What's KC BBQ all about?

Is it vinegar-y? Tomato-y?

Sugary? Spicy? Bitter?

Never had it before...

[RaleighNCDem]

44. Eastern Carolina Style BBQ

[texas1928]

48. Texas BBQ

That eastern stuff is just nasty I tell you, it is too sweet. Has no kick.

[RaleighNCDem]

55. Eastern NC BBQ isn't sweet. That's western NC.

But I guess that's east to you...

:D

[texas1928]

60. y'all

are all easterners to us.

[RaleighNCDem]

67. Yes, but us Eastern NC BBQ fans don't like being mixed up with the

Western NC ones. There's quite a rivalry between the two.

I can't say that I've ever had Texas BBQ.

[texas1928]

68. Well NC BBQ is good, I have had it, but

I love Texas BBQ, But I like any BBQ that does not use a lot of Sauce. I like dry rubs.

[Zuni]

92. Eastern Carolina is vinegary

I love it

[beyurslf]

46. I can't figure out why anyone would want to live in much of the south.

Wasn't is Alabama that had trouble voting segregation out of its Constitution last year? Just seems like a whole other world to me.

[steve2470]

49. alabama is......mostly...the OLD South. Florida, most of it, is the

NEW South.

[cally]

56. What's the reputation of Californian's in the South?

I've gotten a few snide comments when I visit but I get those most places. :shrug:

[steve2470]

57. Well....my take is that the "real southerners" born here think

of Californians as "flaky". Not me, mind you, but have heard those comments.

[Radical Activist]

69. Most of the nation thinks Californians

are flaky. Especially Southerners and Midwesterners.

[cally]

70. What I don't get is how Californians can be seen as 'flaky"

(I know I'm being defensive.) We have a huge economy, much success, several great Universitys, we're the home of the silicon valley, much of the origins of the environmental movement, we have a great trading system, etc. I just don't get the charge of 'flaky.'

[petronius]

106. They're all just jealous of us

They hate us 'cause we're beautiful... :)

[steve2470]

58. kick nt

[dback]

64. We all know the South gets blamed for being poor, ignorant, racist, etc...

...but in all fairness, let's name some other places in the U.S. that share these flaws just as much as the South does.

(Eastern California by Bakersfield, for one--very heavily right-wing, Christian, poor but opposes all forms of job training or diversifying the economy, racist by blaming everything wrong on "the Mexkins," etc.)

[erinlough]

86. Where I live

there is a well known group, the Michigan Militia, does that count?

[steve2470]

71. kick nt

[B Calm]

73. Why is it the further south one goes, you notice people with

protruding foreheads and very few teeth? Or is that just in heavy republican areas?

[steve2470]

75. just the Republican areas. The more purplish areas, we look

more like Cro-Magnon men and ladies.

[erinlough]

78. O.K. not trying to start anything

just a real impression and then a question. When I am in the south or Texas, the people seem overly sweet, but I get the impression that they are very insincere and wish I would just go back up North. I feel they aren't real with their feelings but have a code that says, "just humor the damn Northerners and take their money".

Now the question, is this generally the attitude or am I a victim of Midwestern cynicism? Does anyone else feel this when visiting the south?

[_testify_]

81. You are dead-on

That is very much the feeleing I came away with after spending three years in Alabama. When I told people I was from NY they would smile but their eyes told me everything I needed to know. 'Southern hospitality' is quite generous when compared to NYC hospitality I suppose, but it reeks of insincerity.

[_testify_]

83. I knew I was in the deep south when...

I realized that barbeque is a verb to me and a noun to them.

[erinlough]

85. So true

when people started talking about which barbecue they liked I'm thinking the debate between rather to use briquettes or LP gas.

[livinginphotographs]

93. I'll answer....

I live in Virginia, which is not deep-South, but I've noticed a trend here that didn't even exist where I was born in Lexington, KY, where there are quite a few northern-transplants. If you walk past someone, it's incredibly rude not to make eye contact and say hi or at least acknowledge them. It seems very natural to me, but I've started to notice how that seems to be almost exclusively a Southern thing.

Of course, when I went to LA the first time, the saying hi to strangers thing wasn't a custom, but everyone I met (gas station attendants, waiters, etc.) were INCREDIBLY nice, so nice that they would've put this whole Southern hospitality thing to shame.

Just an observation (fellow Southerners or even Californians welcome to chime in)

[steve2470]

94. I used to be more friendly years ago here, but then it "became"

the norm in Orlando to ignore each other. So, so did I. The people in LA are friendly, in general. It's amazing.

[livinginphotographs]

95. It really was amazing....

I actually had to comment on it to a gas station attendant who was chatting me up. I've never been treated that nicely before by a stranger.

Virginia is probably still a bit more rural than Orlando, though. We have Arlington and Alexandria and that area, but even the beach and Richmond are still very "southern" in the way they treat strangers. (Of course, depending on the areas of each part of the state, that is, and depending on your skin color, sexual orientation, etc.)

[tinfoilinfor2005]

96. Sign in my office reads...

We charge Five Dollars to anyone who insists on telling us "How we do it Up North"

[Wapsie B]

98. Where's a good place to retire

that isn't already overrun with snowbirds? Needs to be large enough to have a culural community, university, good hospitals, and warm weather year 'round.

[steve2470]

99. I think by your criteria, they are already full up nt

[Wapsie B]

100. I've used

www.findmyspot.com and several cities in Louisiana came up for me. Monroe, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans were right up there. I just love the Big Easy!

[steve2470]

101. Louisiana gets a little colder than Florida. Just a little fact for you.

Not drastically so, but it IS further north than Florida.

[Wapsie B]

103. Thanks.

I just know that when I was down there in an October here where we had an early winter it was nice and toasty in NO.

[HamstersFromHell]

104. An old joke e-mail... Understanding the rural southerner.

In an effort to help outsiders understand the rural Southerner's mind, the following list will be handed to each person as they enter a Southern State.

1. That slope-shouldered farm boy did more work before breakfast than you do all week at the gym.

2. It's called a 'gravel road.' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Navigator. Drive it or get it out of the way.

3. The red dirt - it's called clay. Red clay. If you like the color, don't wash your car for a couple weeks - it'll be permanent. The big lumps of it - they're called "clods."

4. We all started hunting and fishing when we were seven years old. Yeah, we saw Bambi. We got over it.

5. Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get you whipped...by our women.

6 . Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis Fly Rod. Don't cry to us if a flathead breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little 13-inch trout you fish for... bait.

7. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

8. Men, if you want to wear earrings, pierce your nose and whatever's, and wear your hair long- go right ahead - but if we call you ma'am, don't be offended.

9. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their final approach, we will shoot it. You might want to ensure it's not up to your ear at the time.

10. That's right, whiskey is only two bucks. We can buy a fifth for what you paid in the airport for one drink.

11. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two pounds of ham and turkey.

12. Tea - yeah, we have tea. It comes in a glass over ice and is sweet. You want it hot - sit it in the sun. You want it un-sweetened - add a lot of water.

13. You bring Coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice.

14. So you have a sixty thousand dollar car. We're real impressed. We have quarter of a million dollar combine that we only use two weeks a year.

15. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow.

16. Our women hunt, fish, and drive trucks - because they want to. So, you're a feminist. Isn't that cute.

17. We eat dinner together with our families, we pray before we eat (yeah, even breakfast), we go to church on Wednesdays and Sundays, we go to high school football games on Friday nights, we still address our seniors with 'yes sirs' and 'yes ma'ams', and we sometimes still take Sunday drives around town to see friends and neighbors.

18. We don't do "hurry up" well.

19. Greens - yeah, we have greens, but you don't putt on them. You boil them with either salty fatback or a ham hock.

20. Yeah, we eat catfish , bass, bream, and carp , too. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the bait shop.

21. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't like it? Interstate 95 goes two ways-Interstate 40 goes the other two. Pick one.

22. Grits are corn. You put butter, salt, and maybe even some pepper on them. You want to put milk and sugar on them - then you want cream of wheat - go to Kansas. That would be I-40 West.

23. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season or dove season. Both are holidays. You can get pancakes, cane syrup, and sausage before daylight at the church on either day.

24. So every person in every pickup waves? Yeah, it's called being friendly. Understand the concept?

25. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazards. It spooks the fish and bothers the gators - and if you hit it in the rough, we have these things called Diamondbacks, and they're not baseball players.

26. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving like an idiot...his name is "Sir"...no matter how old he is.

27. We have lots of pine trees. They have sap. It drips from them. You park your Navigator under them, and they'll leave a logo on your hood.

28. You burn an American flag in our state - you get beat up. No questions. The liberal contingent of our state legislature (all 4 of them) enacted a measure to stop this. There is now a $10 fine for beating up the flag burner.

Now all of this isn't totally true, as long as you don't get too far off the main roads in some places. :)