http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519 &e=18&u=/ap/20031001/ap_on_re_us/vanishing_southerners I used to be one of the people who would say they weren't a Southerner, but then I read the book Dixie by Curtis Wilkie. I realized I like the South and do identify myself as a Southerner. I love the South. I love the people. I love the climate. I even like the accent, which everyone comments that I have. I love that in the South no one commented on my accent because I hardly have one. I'm proud to be from Tennessee, even though we're close to the bottom in education. I used to not be able to wait until I could get away from Tennessee and get closer to New York City. But now I'm 1 1/2 hours from it and I can't wait to get back to Knoxville. It's strange.
[ October 01, 2003, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Rappin' Ronnie Reagan ]
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
The south is waaaaaaay too hot for me. So I'll stick with the northeast.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
Heh...the Northeast is way too cold for me. I'm not used to snow at all. A lot of snow where I'm from is like 5". And it's in the 50s today. The 50s. That's like January weather. Way too cold.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Wow. I like the cold. As long as it's not artic cold to the point of crystilization...
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
quote:I'm proud to be from Tennessee, even though we're close to the bottom in education.
Heh, never stopped me from being proud to be from California.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
*thinks* I don't know if I'm a southerner.
I used to be. I used to be rabid. I read Gone with the Wind in fourth grade and never quite recovered. When I was 12, I chose to stop discussing the civil war with my brother because I would get so upset. I rooted for Robert E. Lee high school, and I LOVE the accent. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book still - does that count?
On the other hand, I hate the social customs - the nasty and nice comments, the emphasis on be-a-good-girl-dear, the heat, the education system, and the love of football. I don't like regionalism of any kind (despite the Texas jokes - those are more of a reflex), and I can't the gun culture. I think I'm one of the Southerners who no longer self-identify as such.
[ October 01, 2003, 06:28 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
I come from one of those Louisiana Southern-elite family things, but I don't particularly identify with anywhere. I grew up in Houston, mostly, and one American city is, to me, much like the next. Just different sports teams.
Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
One of the things I enjoy about being a Southerner is teasing non-Southerners who don't understand/make fun of the accent. When my best friend moved to Louisiana from California, we all embelished our accents to drive her nuts. She still can't say "N'awlins" (as opposed to "New Orleans"). And when she says "Pray-leens" we all have heart attacks... Hmn, maybe it's payback?
Another story: When I was at Presidential Classroom, one of my other roommates, Terra, was southern. Montgomery, I think she said. Devin--who was from Penn.--made fun of us for a while... Until all the guys started hitting on Terra 'for her accent' (which was rather thick, I'll admit), and I picked up a few guy friends from my caucas as well. Around Wednesday, Devin walks in the hotel room, Terra and I watching a movie: "Hi y'all!" Very Scarlet O'Hara, 'I-do-declaire'.
"Oh, she didn't."
Although there are quite a few disadvantages to living in the South: Schools and the teachers' paychecks (my mother's a teacher, so I hear a lot about it), the humidity, the occassional hurricane, and the infatuation with football... Oh, do I have stories about football. Maybe someone should start a thread about that. I've got a whopper about football.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
My stepdad is from Virginia. I get a huge kick out of the way he talks, although, admittedly, much of the way he talks is just him and not because he's Southern. Is it particularly common in the South to turn the question "Hey, how are you?" into one long word?
Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
If it's from the right regional area... Meaning 'redneck central', then yes. I should know, my entire father's side of the family is redneck.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
My Dad's family is southern, and I was born there, but I have serious problems with southern culture.
My uncles and their families haven't had anything to do with me and my siblings while we were growing up because there's some mysterious family grudge against my Mom, the yankee. If I go to visit, I get feigned hospitality and I hear snide comments about the "college girl" behind my back. But as soon as they met my fifteen-year-old sister and saw how beautiful she had become, they wouldn't shut up about it. They come to visit now and rave and rant about how she's a "real Majors girl" while summarily ignoring my other sisters and forgetting that I'm doing anything with my life altogether.
The only value a female posesses in southern culture is attractiveness. It's some weird debutante holdover that I really don't understand. And the hypocrisy of it all kills me, too. They'll be oh-so-excited to see you and rant and rave about nothing and then as soon as you leave the room unleash the vicious gossip.
Sorry, just a little to antiquated for homely, frigid, spinstery me.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
I used to have the darnedest time telling the difference between a Southern drawl and a Western twang, but between a stepdad from Virginia, a grandfather from Arkansas, and a coworker from Kansas, I seem to have things more or less straightened out now.
Annie, honey, unless you're posting fake pictures and assuming a false personality, I wouldn't characterize you as either homely or frigid. And fortunately, Yankee society places the minimum age for spinsterhood a little higher than your relatives seem to.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
quote: They'll be oh-so-excited to see you and rant and rave about nothing and then as soon as you leave the room unleash the vicious gossip.
This is true.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
quote: he only value a female posesses in southern culture is attractiveness.
I'm sorry your family acted like that, Annie. That is horrible for them to treat you like that. My family wasn't like this. My grandparents were as Southern as you can get, but they're the nicest people in the world. Well, scratch that. My grandmother is the nicest person in the world. My grandfather has some issues...They both only made it through grade school, I believe, but were incredibly excited for me when I chose to go to Vassar. And, Annie, you need to get in Hatrack Chat.
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
I don't want to hear anyone not from Lexington complain about the Southern fetish for football. It disgusts me how many people still come to every home UK football game, despite the complete and utter suckage of our team. Yes, it has gotten better over the last few years, but frankly breaking two wins is not that much of an accomplishment.
The worst part of it is that UK has probably the best basketball team in the country, at least over the years. Certainly the winningest. So we do not even have the excuse of not knowing what a good team is like.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Dan,
UofA has the same problem. (Shakes head.) And I'd so much rather watch football.
Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
Annie, I get that too, from my father's family. But it's mostly because I'm only the second out of that side of the family to go to college--the first was my father. So it's uuber-jealousy on their account.
And with the whole Yankee thing... My family jokes about it with Bernard, only because we have a family history involving that. My mother's aunt went to college in New England, and my great-grandmother told her that she was 'going to marry a Yankee and never come home again'. Which is what she did. So my mother jokes about me marrying Bernard, moving up North and never comming home, but that's about the limit of our jokes about it.
It just really depends on who you talk to who's Southern. Not all of us are gun-toting, Yankee hating rednecks holding onto the past. It's just the way the media enjoys painting us as backwater, ignorant people. But if people believe that, why should I be the one to change their minds? Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Boy, that reminds me we having heard from Mrs. M in a long time. Now there's a southerner. I try but I'm only from Northern VA and I was born in MD. Does this article bring up the love of sweets connection? I read an article once about how in the deep south they add sugar to Coca cola. Also how Krispy Kreme started in the south. The plain KK.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
I am from Savannah, Georgia. That is as South as it gets. Didn't Krispy Kreme originate there?
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Mayday- D'you know a girl named Stormie?
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
Nothing beats Richie Kreme donuts. Maryville, Tennessee, baby. And Ruby Tuesday. That started there, too. And Dollywood's really close. Though it's not that great.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Ah, dang! Ruby Tuesday used to have the best little cigar shaped pumpernickel bread rolls that were pipin' hot! So good!
Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
Stormie? Sorry, nope.
[ October 02, 2003, 12:23 AM: Message edited by: MaydayDesiax ]
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
If I'm from the Florida does that make me a "Southerner"?
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
I consider the Florida Panhandle Southern, but not much else of it. That's just my opinion, though.
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
The Florida panhandle isn't Florida, its southern Georgia.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
That must be why I consider it Southern, then.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
quote:Boy, that reminds me we having heard from Mrs. M in a long time. Now there's a southerner.
Here I am, y'all. You know, I didn't realize what a Southerner I was (and still am) until I went to college in New York City. People thought I was being sarcastic when I called them sir or ma'am, none of the men on the subway stood to give the ladies their seats, no merchants wanted to know about how my day was going. To this day, my Yankee husband cannot understand why it takes me 4 hours to run 3 errands or how I came to know that our vet's sister lives in the town next to the town where I grew up.
quote:I read Gone with the Wind in fourth grade and never quite recovered.
Me, too.
quote:Is it particularly common in the South to turn the question "Hey, how are you?" into one long word?
Actually, it's, "Heyhowyouhowsyourmomma."
quote:The only value a female posesses in southern culture is attractiveness. It's some weird debutante holdover that I really don't understand.
Annie, I understand how your dealings with your father's family could give you that idea. I'm sorry that that's what their values are and I certainly won't deny that physical attractiveness is an asset for women in the South. However, it doesn't exactly hurt women to be pretty everywhere else in America. And I wouldn't say that prettiness is the only thing that Southerners value in women. No one was prouder of my academic achievements than my Uncle Ray, who was born in a shack with a dirt floor in South Carolina. He introduced me as "my niece who got a full scholarship to Columbia, in the Ivy League." My family, which is just as representative of the South as your father’s family, has always valued education and I was always praised just as much for academics as for looks. The South has produced women such as Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts), Oprah Winfrey, Zora Neale Hurston, and Elizabeth Dole.
quote:They'll be oh-so-excited to see you and rant and rave about nothing and then as soon as you leave the room unleash the vicious gossip.
quote:I hate the social customs - the nasty and nice comments
This is true. Again, it’s not like there’s no nasty gossip outside the South. Southerners simply feel that it’s rude to be ugly to people’s faces. Plus, we understand what we mean and it’s hard for us to realize that non-Southerners don’t. I have made many, many comments to Andrew’s aunt and uncle about their rude, unruly children that would have shamed any self-respecting Southerner who allowed their children to run and scream in someone else’s antique-filled house. It always goes completely over their heads and I dread their visits to this day. Andrew doesn't understand why I won't say anything direct to them or let him say anything. I just cannot stand to have ugly words exchanged in my family.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
My mother recently emailed me the following list.
1.) Only a true Southerner knows the difference between a hissy fit and a conniption, and that you don't "HAVE" them, -- you "PITCH" them.
2.) Only a true Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc. make up "a mess."
3.) Only a true Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
4.) Only a true Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is - as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
5.) All true Southerners, even babies, know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl on the middle of the table.
6.) All true Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
7.) Only a true Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. (If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a peach cobbler!)
8.) Only true Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.
9.) Only a true Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck and a good ol' boy.
10.) No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
11.) A true Southerner knows that "fixin'" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
12.) Only a true Southerner knows that the term "booger" can be a resident of the nose, a descriptive, as in "that ol' booger," a first name, or something that jumps out at you in the dark and scares you senseless.
13.) Only true Southerners make friends while standing in lines. We don't do "queues", we do "lines," and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!
14.) Put 100 true Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
15.) True Southerners never refer to one person as "y'all."
16.) True Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them. [With butter and salt and cheese]
17.) Every true Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon [turkey bacon for Jewish Southerners], grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that redeye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
18.) When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin' .. ," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner! [This will get you into no end of trouble on the New York City subways. Trust me.]
19.) Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it - we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
20.) A true Southerner knows that if you are with a couple of friends you, you could be with 2 or 10. The number doesn't matter.
21.) And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the highway. You just say, "Bless her heart" and go your own way.
Posted by Godric (Member # 4587) on :
I'm not from the South but I always liked reading about it. I especially enjoy Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
I think the politeness/hypocrisy thing is only a cultural difference. Southerners will think a yankee is horribly rude and insulting for saying something right out that we would say in a coded polite way. Also that yankees are oblivious and inconsiderate because they can't hear what you are saying to them when you give the sort of hints that make up this code. It's a very clear code which southerners understand but people from other parts of the country do not.
I think the correct solution is that when y'all come here you learn the code and use it yourselves, and when we visit you up there we will try to do things your way. Likely still we'll catch ourselves calling people ma'am and sir, and not being able out say outright things that are baldfaced impolitenesses, but we can try.
Southern women are definitely valued for more than beauty! They are expected to run pretty near everything, as well as being the strength and backbone of society, the family, and the world. Read Faulkner, for instance see Granny in "The Unvanquished", if you think Southern women are for decorative purposes only. That is far far from the truth.
One of the big differences I noticed is that in other parts of the country, people will just let a door slam in your face, if you are following them in or out of a store, say. I kept forgetting this and being taken by surprise by doors nearly bumping my nose. <laughs> Here one always always holds the door for those coming behind you, until they can grab it and hold it themselves. Men also will usually hold a door and let a lady go first, even a stranger.
[ October 02, 2003, 06:09 AM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
quote: 20.) A true Southerner knows that if you are with a couple of friends you, you could be with 2 or 10. The number doesn't matter.
Yes! I do this! And my parents always correct me. I have no idea where I got it from, but at least I know now that it's a Southern thing. And sweet tea....mmmmmm. Back in Tennessee i could buy Extra Sweet Lipton Iced Tea, but in New York they only have Sweetened, and it's so not sweetened. It's more like they put "sweetened" on the bottle as a cruel, cruel joke.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Let me point out one other sweet tea thing. Sweet tea means tea that is hot and had lots of sugar added. Meaning that if you work in a restaurant, you add an entire five-pound bag into the freshly brewed tea deally (the large ones). But there is another way to drink tea, which I have termed "unsweet with sugar". It's when you order unsweet tea, and then when it comes, you add your own sugar. I do this because sugar added after tea has cooled down has an entirely different quality than when it's added to hot tea. In hot tea it becomes syrup and that's disgusting.
Southern restaurants are nearly impossible to keep free of roaches. It's the sweet tea that does it. I worked at one place that premixed the sugar into some water so it could be easily added to the tea without all the stirring, and it was a roach magnet.
And sweet milk....my gramma ordered that once over here in the west. They brought her milk with sugar in it.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
And remember the first rule of visiting the South:
"We're glad to have you, but we don't care how they did it back home."
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
Mrs. M- Your list just described my entire childhood education! I'm coastal NC. My only additions would be- When someone asks you about the ballgame, Southerners know you mean college basketball(at least here, anyway). There's no such thing as lunch. You eat breakfast, dinner and supper. You haven't had REAL BBQ (pork, not chicken) until you've gone east of Charlotte.
Ooh, the list is too long- I thought of some more. True Southerners know the only place to get Vanilla or Cherry Coke is from the fountain of the local drugstore. When it snows, we make snowcream, true Southern ice cream. When someone says "I gave Thomas cold coffee". they mean they blew him off. My grandmother says this. True Southerners know you can never have enough porch. True Southerners all know the day hunting season starts (Thanksgiving Day).
Jaxonn
[ October 02, 2003, 01:46 PM: Message edited by: Jaxonn ]
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I use the words fixin' and y'all such as, I am fixin' to take a shower and go to work, see y'all later. I'm not even supposed to have any kind of accent, just strange regional words that creep in from books, a brief stint in the south and having relatives from there. My grandmother used to loooooooove grits. She'd eat them with fish. I hate those nasty things. They are so white and disgusting tasting. Ugh. And okra. I can't stand okra. But she'd always say "gimme some sugar" too.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
quote: When it snows, we make snowcream, true Southern ice cream.
I don't know...I think many people with snow do this. The first place I had it was in Missouri, that's not really southern.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
I didn't realize until Deany and Mikey came to stay that nobody else eats hushpuppies besides us. I could hardly credit such a thing! Surely everyone must realize that fish (particularly fried fish --- hmmm, maybe that should have clued me in) must be accompanied by deep fried balls of cornmeal batter with chopped onions mixed in???? Oh, you've never had anything so good as hushpuppies! Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Pfft. Southerners and their cornmeal.
Bleah.
With tornado-proof curtains. o_O
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
<laughs> I'll never forget those curtains, mac! The first thing I thought when I saw the pictures of Anna and Jane at Cracker Barrel on the great Human Hadj was, "I wonder if they have tornado proof curtains in that one too?"
The other thing I'll never forget is both you and Pod choking on cornbread like I'd tried to poison you! <laughs hysterically> How can anyone not like cornbread???? I still don't understand that! You guys are nuts!
[ October 02, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Things that are basically unique to Southern kitchens:
*cornmeal
*a big Folger's can of chicken grease
*a smaller glass jar of bacon grease (in the refrigerator)
*molasses
*two-week-old biscuits (we're still workin' on 'em)
*sweet tea (made fresh everyday)
*a refrigerator magnet shaped like a pig that says "Thin Is In"
*placemats that look like the Confederate flag
*random pickled items
*food we canned ourselves
I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting.
Posted by Taberah (Member # 4014) on :
One of the big things that I noticed in spending the past four years up North (fairly close to Ronnie, actually) was that there are waaay more churches in the South. You can't drive through any place in the South that can even vaguely be described as a town without running into a handful of churches.
Curiously, I've been told that I don't sound Southern, despite the fact that I'm a North Carolina boy born and bred. (In fact, I've had people tell me that I sound English, of all things.) Go figure.
For the record, I love my state, culture and all.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I've spent most of my life living in Southern CA, a whole other South.
But I too love cornbread and hushpuppies. Yum! And we've started eating grits in the last couple months. I make it pretty much how I make cream of wheat, and the kids think it's great.
But while I have a major sweet tooth, sweet tea is WAY too sweet for me. A little honey in my tea is what I like.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Grits are cream of wheat with sand thrown in them.
And cornbread...*shudder*
Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
I'd like to point out that molasses is actually a new england thing that southerners found intriguing, and corn meal is a midwestern thing.
sorry, had to be done Posted by qkslvrwolf (Member # 5768) on :
Speaking as a Kansan who went to school in Balitmore and is now being force to rot in Alabama, living with my parents because I can't find a job:
Please realize that when I say everything that follows, its generalizations. These things are not universal, and I've met some good people down here. But.
I cannot bloody stand the south.
The weather sucks. Its always hot, its always humid, and it always smells bad. In kansas or in baltimore, when it rained, you had a nice, clean, refreshed cool feeling to the air. In Mobile, the air just gets hotter and stickier and everything that is rotting on the ground starts to stink again.
There are three major types of people in Mobile. (As well as dozens of minor ones, most of them much nicer than then three major types). The poor trash, who can't be understood when they speak, are either too skinny or too fat, and seem to rarely bathe. The want to be rich, who drive SUVs too expensive for what they make, and go around talking about how much they love jesus in one breath and how much they drank last night in the next. And the old money. These are the bastards who drive Hummers with bumper stickers about being pious and giving to the church, talk down their noses at you, and still treat blacks as if they were slaves. Actually, there are a few new-money blacks who act pretty much the same way.
The women all wear to much makeup, and if you ask them why, they look at you as if you're diseased.
If you actually talk to the professor in class, they call you a freak, although that may be a public school symptom, I'm not sure.
If you're not an extrovert, you're not worth anything to them.
True story: A rugby team from england goes on a tour of america. They stop at a bar in Mobile, Alabama. Upon hearing their accents, a patron of the bar stands up and asks the rugby players if they "love jesus". When one responds, "well, no, I don't actually believe in christianity" a fight erupts. The three rugby players in teh bar are severely beaten (I saw the scars, and although the guy had a penchant for exaggeration, this one was at least mostly true.)
The list goes on and on. I can't wait to get out of the south.
All that said, please remember, I do know some southerners that I really really like. Accent and all. Posted by Risuena (Member # 2924) on :
Seeing as I was born and raised in Maryland, I don't identify as either a southerner or a northerner normally. But I think I'm starting to accept the southerner in me - I went to college in southwest Virginia, where I picked up a bit of an accent that comes and goes and somehow overcame my objection to saying "y'all"
But the real reason why I'm posting in this thread is because it made me crave cornbread, so since y'all inspired me to make something I haven't had in years, feel free to have some.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I lived half my life in the South.
While I may not have taken to their religion, I still respect the Southern faithful.
While I may not like their cornbread, hushpuppies, grits, or boiled peanuts (REALLY don't like the boiled peanuts), I still respect the Southern cooks who make them.
Besides, who can NOT love sweet tea? *drool*
While I don't sound typically Southern to Southerners, or Northern enough to Northerners, I can freely interpret both languages. I find the Southern accent more calming, though more frustrating due to its slowness.
Southern hospitality just that.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Ooh, I forgot grits and green boiled peanuts! Heck yeah!
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Let me emphasize that real Midwesterners ALSO like hushpuppies and cornbread, and some of us even like sweet tea. And we don't have ANY of the weird emotional hang-ups. Or okra. Posted by qkslvrwolf (Member # 5768) on :
Midwesterners rock. Its true. We're more or less the coolest, toughest, best people. Its simple. :-)
Sorry to those of you whose delusions were just shattered. Especially you New Yorkers. But reality had to strike sometime. ;-)
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Ooh, do I count? If I was born in Missouri, even though I grew up in Georgia?
Posted by qkslvrwolf (Member # 5768) on :
Well it all depends.
When someone asks you where you're from, do you answer Georgia, or Missouri?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Missouri is still south. Any place that still has cotillions is south. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Midwest . . . hmm. Those are the flat ones in the middle, right?
Posted by qkslvrwolf (Member # 5768) on :
quote:Missouri is still south. Any place that still has cotillions is south.
Ok, I'm sorry, I'm stupid. What the hell is a cotillion?
Flat is a relative term. The Flint Hills are much larger than most maryland hills, theres just no trees, so you can see everything.
So poor benighted people that have never seen a truly wideopen sky think its flat, but its not.
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
See, even after reading this I don't have any desire to visit the Southern US. I hate hot weather. Humidity and I don't see eye to eye. I'm not religious. I think the only sports worth playing are soccer and hockey. I don't eat meat, dairy or eggs.
What does the South have to offer me? (Or, for that matter, what do I have to offer the South? Other than my superior way of life that is Posted by qkslvrwolf (Member # 5768) on :
Well, I was going to say you could offer the south some sanity, but you don't like football and you don't eat meat, so there that idea goes.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
According to Fox's show The O.C., Newport Beach still has cotillions, but I'd hardly consider that part of the South. I'd also hardly consider a Fox "drama" to be a reliable source of info, though.
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
The south is too humid for me. I took a road trip to New Hampshire and could barely breathe as I passed through Memphis.
Prescott, Arizona is perfect though. It's not too warm in the summer, and not too cold in the winter, and it's only rarely humid.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
I'm glad I finally started a thread that lasted to two pages.
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
rivka - Yeah. The stuff you fly over to get back and forth between the cool places.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
quote: When someone asks you where you're from, do you answer Georgia, or Missouri?
I say born in Missouri, grew up in Georgia.
I identify more with the people in MO, because neither of my parents is from Georgia, so we never really got too involved in that culture.
And by the way, the bottom half of MO is South, the top half is Midwest, IMO.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Yeah, that's true. St. Louis is still pretty Midwestern. An hour south, though, and you may as well be in Arkansas. j/k
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
i suddenly feel homeless. i have no region i call my own.
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
Didn't you grow up in a lab celia?
Posted by ladyday (Member # 1069) on :
What do southerners consider cornbread? I've had cornbread that was almost like cake, sweet and fluffy and smooth, and on the other hand I've had cornbread that was like multigrain bread, heavy with lots of texture and big pieces of corn.
Darn it, I am -hungry-. I love grits, though I don't like them with cheese. Mmm, biscuts with sausage gravy, grits, eggs, fruit...
Of course, I like lox and bagels too. Should have eaten breakfast :\.
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
Back from lunch- had shrimp and hushpuppies! On the cornbread question- technically we have two types. There's lace cornbread, which is spooned batter in a frying pan (my fave kind) or pan cornbread, which is fluffier and baked in the oven. Its usually up to the cook which one you'll get. Now the kind with bits of corn is either corn pudding or corn fritters. Also, pudding in the oven or fritters in the frying pan. I'm sorry for those of you with bad experiences with the rude type Southerners. People here usually have a lot of heart, but many still harbor distrust of "Yankees" and there's still prejudice to contend with. We're not all like that, I promise!
Jaxonn Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
And it's white cornmeal, not yellow, and no sugar in real cornbread. The rest is just a carpet-baggin' abomination!
And it's best with slow-cooked pinto beans. Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
Hushpuppies must be eaten with honey. Why some restaurants that serve them don't understand this, I don't know.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Does anyone else long for the corn pone baked in a corncob-shaped cast iron muffin pan?
[ October 03, 2003, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
Another thing- the weather. At least we have SEASONS. It doesn't get that cold here, but when it does actually snow-woo hoo, its a major event. The humidity is a pain, but living near the coast makes it a great excuse for going to the beach.
Jaxonn Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
quote:Yeah, that's true. St. Louis is still pretty Midwestern. An hour south, though, and you may as well be in Arkansas. j/k
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
CT: No. Weirdo.
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
Southern "delicacies" I won't eat- pig's feet pig's brains (my great granmother ate them mixed with eggs) yok (I really don't even know what this is, nor do I want to) rice pudding (we here in the South will make pudding out of anything) deer stew (self explanatory, I hope) squirrel (don't ask!)
Jaxonn Suddenly, not hungry anymore...
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
Rice pudding is good! And I've actually had deer jerky before...it wasn't that bad.
[ October 03, 2003, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: Rappin' Ronnie Reagan ]
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Deer biscuits! Mmmmmmm! Now those are good! Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
With all due respect Ronnie, what planet are you from? Rice pudding is nasty- but to each his own. What about tomato pudding? Bread pudding? Hey, like I said they'll make anything into a pudding around here.
Jaxonn Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
Jaxonn, NC beaches don't really count as beaches.
And even though the lack of seasons sometimes sucks, the fact that I can sit by my pool in my shorts and sip a cold beer for at least 10 months out of the year is a definite bonus.
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
Zan- I completely understand your point on the seasons thing. But why don't NC beaches count as beaches?
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Rice pudding IS good. So hush up.
Posted by Jaxonn (Member # 5163) on :
*dutifully scolded on the rice pudding mishap* Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
Because their not Florida beaches.
NC is the place that Floridians go to vacation in the summer. My parents spend a month there every year.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
The best beach in the world: Two Pics It made the pictures small, sorry. One meellion points to whoever can name where it is.
[ October 03, 2003, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Rappin' Ronnie Reagan ]
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
quote: Yeah, that's true. St. Louis is still pretty Midwestern. An hour south, though, and you may as well be in Arkansas. j/k
What do you mean j/k? This is true.
quote: There's lace cornbread, which is spooned batter in a frying pan
Does this sound like latkas to anyone else?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: rivka - Yeah. The stuff you fly over to get back and forth between the cool places.
Exactly, Ralphie!
quote: And it's white cornmeal, not yellow, and no sugar in real cornbread. The rest is just a carpet-baggin' abomination!
And it's best with slow-cooked pinto beans.
Hmm, how about half white cornmeal and half yellow? And just a little sugar? Hey, I don't use as much as the recipe on the cornmeal bag says!
I agree with you on the pinto beans, although I usually add some other stuff too, and make a soy-meat based chili.
quote: Hushpuppies must be eaten with honey.
But . . . aren't they slightly spicy? And served with savory foods?
quote: At least we have SEASONS.
Eh, seasons are way overrated.
Chalk me up as another person who likes rice pudding. Yum!
quote:
quote: There's lace cornbread, which is spooned batter in a frying pan
Does this sound like latkas to anyone else?
*blinks* You make some really funny latkes! Mine are made from potatoes.
Posted by Taberah (Member # 4014) on :
I love NC beaches. This summer I went to Cape Lookout, which was really neat. You have to take a boat to the island with the lighthouse, and on the way you see wild horses grazing on the saltwater grasses that grow in small islands in the area. Like I said, it's really cool.
RRR- I don't specifically recognize the beach, so I'll make a random guess. Oak Island? (Long Beach, NC is my favorite beach.)
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
I may be biased but I think our Gulf coast beaches are the most gorgeous in the world. Expand any of the pictures on this page, for instance, to see what my favorite beach town, Pensacola, has to offer. Sugar white fluffy sand, pure clear water, and fewer people density than most anywhere else, Pensacola still retains the old-Florida charm. Destin and Ft. Walton and Gulf Shores have become wall to wall condos with way too many people on the beaches, but Pensacola is still completely lovely. I miss it so much. I hope I can go next summer if I'm home from Iraq.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
quote: *blinks* You make some really funny latkes! Mine are made from potatoes.
Aren't they cooked by the same process though? I knew they were potatoes. We made them in Elementary school. I can't remember why, but I think we had a Jewish lady come teach us to make some stuff like that. It was nifty.
Oops, misspelled latke in the post before. Got it confused with the guy on taxi. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Nah, you didn't misspell it. The trouble with transliterating words is that there are too many ways to do it. I've seen latka, latke, latkah, latkeh, and others. Pick your favorite.
Aren't all pancakes made that way, though?
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
I don't know. We did it with like half an inch of oil. I don't use oil with pancakes. Just a non-stick pan.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Or a griddle.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Or that.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Okay, confession time for all Southerners or those who can relate. I have done something equivalent to a "choosing a different religion from my momma" kinda no-no. I have...(gasp) . . . . . . given up cast iron. . . . . I HATE it. I thought I loved it. I stood behind it and told everyone how great it is. . . . . My mom doesn't know I threw out all my cast iron.
I hate it. It weighs six times more than a normal pan with no known benefit. Plus the handle gets hot. It's almost impossible for a pregnant woman to use it, which I usually am. What's the point? When it came time to move, I realized that stupid cast iron would probably take us over our weight limit in the moving van, that's how heavy it was. So I chucked it. I haven't missed it since.
*breathes sigh of relief*
My name is Maureen, and I'm a non-stick-aholic.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Non-stick spray is your friend. Or maybe a little olive oil in a pan, but "half an inch"? Yikes! *dies*
Cast iron actually does have a health benefit -- trace amounts of iron end up in the food. And since most people are iron-deficient . . . OTOH, I'm with you on what a pain in the neck it is. I have a friend who loves it, but I can't stand it.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
YOU THREW OUT YOUR CAST-IRON!?
*wants cast iron*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*pat pat*
Posted by rayne (Member # 5722) on :
Yes- someone clear up the hushpuppies thing. They tasted oniony to me, I can't imagine them with honey. I guess it might be like chicken fingers in honey. Hm.
Edited to ask, Why is Ana Kata in Iraq? Is she in the military?
[ October 05, 2003, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: rayne ]
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
the list forgot
Only a true Southerner knows that Coke doesn't mean a specific drink-it's just a general term for any type of soda
and no one has mentioned Boudin sausage, which is one of my favorite.
As for the politeness, raised by two yankees in the South, it was VERY hard for me, but I can see reasons behind it now, it just gives people a basis for speaking, and the talking about you behind your back stuff seems overrated (but I'm generally pretty oblivious, so I may have just missed it)
But my third family is very country southern, Dad just started visiting them a lot in college and got adopted. And it's a good family, they're very hosiptable, good cooks, and they treat my sisters and I as if we are actual members of the family, not the children of a son they adopted in later on in life. And also-that politness thing can go away pretty quickly, once southerners get into politics.....
Posted by rayne (Member # 5722) on :
I was in Mississippi for an internship this spring, and just before I left the big city of Corinth west of where I was held its annual Slugburger Festival, where everyone meets together to socialize and eat a burger made of a mixture of hamburger, grease and bread crumbs. I didn't expect the experience to be so anecdotal, but the south is like a charicature of itself, I couldn't believe it. It's awesome
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
oh yeah, and anne kate? the Great Human Hadj????? We went to visit him, it wasn't a religious pilgrimage. And visiting jon is hardly a sensible thing to do on a religous pilgrimage, as much fun it was.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Well, though, I understand that there are commemorative christmas ornaments or some such religious iconography so naturally I started thinking of it in those terms. Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
Oh and to answer your question, rayne, I'm not in Iraq YET. I'm looking for a job as an engineer doing reconstruction work over there. And studying Arabic in the meantime. And I'm not in the military, I'm just a civilian who wants to help.
Posted by MaureenJanay (Member # 2935) on :
Toretha- They DEFINITELY talk about you behind your back. It's like they're scared that if they don't immediately list your short-comings (or would that be shorts-coming? ) upon your exit from the room, then the other people will assume you don't know about them, and nothing's worse than being out of the loop. Or something.
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
*shrugs* Ah well. Must be boring....
Posted by KEGE (Member # 424) on :
"The South" is really too broad a term. For instance right now I feel like I live in the North - but I doubt anyone else thinks of North Alabama that way! And it's further south than many of you.
There are "different" Souths! There are overlapping characteristics in many places, but c'mon does anyone really think that anywhere or anyone in Maryland is that similar to say Biloxi!
New Orleans is really a place unto itself, but I have to agree that hearing "pray-leens" and "pee-cans" really drives me NUTS!
and Toretha (being a BR native you've mostly got my list taken care of) but everyone is always moving OUT of Baton Rouge b/c of economy - so how did your northern parents end up moving TO BR??
[ October 07, 2003, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: KEGE ]
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
Dad went to college at LSU, and mom came down here because her b/f was and she didn't get the note that said he wanted to break up. Mom said that once she got here, and tried the food, she decided she wasn't leaving until she'd eaten all of it
And when we moved back down here from Norway ME, it was cause mom missed the heat, sun and friends-and Dad, being a social worker could get a job pretty easily with the state.
[ October 07, 2003, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: Toretha ]
Posted by KEGE (Member # 424) on :
Your parents moving TWICE to Baton Rouge and becoming addicted to the food and heat makes them Honorary Southerners. No doubt about it!
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But if people believe that, why should I be the one to change their minds? ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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But . . . aren't they slightly spicy? And served with savory foods?![[Taunt]](graemlins/taunt.gif)
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