Not a bad thing, just different.

It's a whole community. People spend ALL DAY there, hell all WEEKEND!

Church for me is an hour on Saturday at 5pm, that's it!


I think it's just another cultural difference...

I was just in the south this past week for a wedding. We drove through Lousiana, Mississipi, Alabama, and the pan handle of Florida. Yes there were beautiful churches, but what got me is that you'd see a row of about 5 churches, all next to each other, then you'd see a row of about 5 dive bars, again all next to each other. So I say the south has their priorities in order, God first, then a good, stiff drink :p :D

So can someone tell me why Florida isn't considered part of the south? Is it all the old people? :p

No, it's all the transplants -- the people who moved there from "elsewhere."

As far as Florida goes, though, there are some parts that are far more Southern than others. I'd say the central and northern areas tend to be very much so southern, wheras South Florida is full of Yankees.

I personally think that Floridians as Southerners is highly debatable and filled with a lot of grey areas.

i don't know about anyone else, but i am from AL and i totally consider VA to be Southern....i mean, i've never heard of someone saying, "oh that virginie, it ain't Southern"....now, KY on the other hand. i've heard it been called country a few times, but ppl waiver on it's true Southern-ness. depends where you go, i guess.....central KY (such as lexington or louisville) are really more Northern by nature, the closer you get to the TN line, the more Southern it becomes, and eastern KY....well, we'll just leave it at that. ;)

true classic Southern states in my mind are: Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, parts of Louisiana, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and parts of Kentucky (hopefully i didn't leave anyone out i meant to put in there....). While good ol' Texas does have a lot of Southern history and is in the Southern region of the US, to me....it is more South-Western. however, i've only been there once....ppl are just as friendly and all that, but it's just different.

Where is the Mason-Dixon Line? I think its in Delaware Pennsylvania or maryland but im not sure.

You can never leave arkansas out of being a southern state.
Don't get me fired up woman. j/k

I would like to think of myself as a southern lady in training.

for some reason ive ALWAYS been obsessed with southern culture....

I love all things southern including my very southern gentleman boyfriend,
sweet tea,
ladylike manners,
always looking pulled together even in 90 degree weather...

and many more things

i went to georgia on a road trip and ABSOLUTELY fell in love. I plan on moving there after graduation to start my life, im tired of this big city life...
i have a really old aunt that grew up there but i dont know her well... but she is always sending me little notes asking me to visit. I cant wait to finish school :)

Tennessee...we have to teeth, we are "inbred", we are hicks, we are rednecks, we wear no shoes, we marry our cousins, we drink Sweet tea by the gallons, talk like iditots...blah blah blah

Whatever, I am proud to be from TN....

ARKANSAS?!?!? don't get me fired up, boy! ;)

sooo j/k.....all in fun, but i never really thought of Arkansas as Southern.....maybe a lil po-dunk, but that's about it. ;) :) :D

**edited to add
the mason-dixon line is the boundary line btwn maryland and pennsylvania...it divided the "free states" from the "slave states" during debates over the missouri compromise, or simply used today as the line btwn the North and the South.

I wasn't talking about the eastern side of the state(anything within an hour from the TN & MS border). We don't claim that as Arkansas.[img]www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/otn/realhappy/mdrbig.gif[/img]
Now, that's a po-dunk area!

LMAO.....well, yeah, i guess i wouldn't, either. ;)

i drove through arkansas on my way to Texas to see that stupid ex of mine, and i tell you what....it was the most ridiculous thing of my life! NO radio stations would play anything but easy listening/grocey store music, and when i found something else, it was j.lo and ja rule....then the station would go out like 5 seconds later, and when i picked up another one, "r-u-l-e..." everytime!!!! i thought i was going to die! then on top of that, there was constant construction.....big billboards saying, "please pardon out progress....road contstruction, next 5 million miles"....you'd get through that 5 million miles with a sign saying, "thank you for your patience, enjoy driving the safe roads of arkansas" or something like that....then 5 MILES LATER, another, "please pardon our progress....road construction next 13 million miles".....lol.....it was a mess!

and i didn't really think those simpson's-esque looking power plants existed, but i was wrong.... ;)

not knockin your whole state, dude....just that near TN part. :D

We like to refer to it as "The land of orange barrels and road cones". I can understand, that area sucks hard!

by the way, those were probably stations out of Pine Bluff.

i like to refer to it as "the land of near-death experiences and traumatization".....i had to squeal my lil neon's tires and go into the median b/c that damn construction kinda snuck up on me...lol....i stopped reading the signs, i guess. :p

ok, /hijack of my own dang thread.... :D

more good reasons to be yay about the South....you can have a tan year round and no one thinks anything of it. (not that i ever have a tan these days, but ya know :rolleyes: ;) )

What makes the guys and girls in the south different from the North?

I hold doors for girls, say sir and ma'am often, don't sit unless the other person says to or sits first, etc. You get the picture. I don't often say hello to everyone walking down the street because I don't see that as something genuine.

Now girls in NY dress well. Walk in Manhattan and every girl blows so much money on their wardrobe. Of course in other Northern cities this may not be true. In Chicago some girls can get away with not dressing well because of their youth and looks. Girls in NY can wear skirts. In fact, even better than that they were really sexy pants. The jeans on some girls make your mouth water.

And we have tea in the North. I don't know about other states but in NY, you can schedule tea into your schedule and it's a whole frigging affair with all sorts of food and dressing up. I assume by ice tea you just mean hot tea that's chilled with sugar?? How can it be different?

-Rudey
--As for BBQ's I'll stick to burgers and hot dogs :)

Oh good Lord, Rudey! You misunderstand, and you illustrate my point beautifully in the process. Of course you have teas (aka tea time and hot teas) in the North, but you don't have tea, aka iced tea. The reason that tea is unavailable in the North? Because people there assume that it is just "hot tea that's chilled with sugar." No, no. Hot tea that's chilled with sugar is just crappy colored water. And that is what one is likely to get up North if one orders iced tea.

First off, sugar must, I repeat must be added to the tea while it is brewing or it simply will not taste good at all. Little packets of sugar on the table will not help in the least. And the tea must be brewed properly. In my family we follow the 2-5-2-5 rule: two cups of boiling water with five tea bags and two cups of sugar brewing for five minutes. After it has cooled some, the tea is diluted with cold water to the appropriate strength (yielding about two quarts). It is served over ice, often with lemon or mint.

In a restaurant in the South, tea like this would be prepared in copious amounts every day.

Quote:

As for BBQ's I'll stick to burgers and hot dogs :)

Again, you misunderstand. I said barbecue, not BBQs. (Grilling outdoors in the South is called "cooking out" or "grilling out." It is never called "barbecuing/BBQing.") Barbecue is meat that is slow cooked and smoked with an appropriate sauce or rub. In some parts of the South, the meat will be pork, while in others it will be beef. The sauce may be tomato based, vinegar based or even mustard based -- it will not likely be like what the grocery stores have that is called "BBQ sauce." Rubs have a variety of spices. Every region of the South has its own style of barbecue, meaning that when one says "barbecue" in any given area, everyone presumes a particular meat, method of cooking, and style of sauce or rub. A particular set of side dishes -- whether slaw, baked beans, hush puppies, corn bread sticks or whatever -- will also be presumed.

As much as I love hotdogs and hamburgers, they can't hold a candle to good barbecue.

It is not one guy or one girl. It is the majority of guys and the majority of girls.

The majority of girls in the south don't leave the house to get the paper without full make-up. The majority of the girls in the north will head out in the summer without thinking twice about it.

And iced tea has not always been available, at least is Newport where I spent my summers. Some places would offer it just in the summer, others not at all. And forget about getting it pre-sweetened. And yes there is a big difference. (I am particular when it comes to my sweet tea). :p

I spent my summers as a teen without Dr. Pepper as well.

The north and south are different. And the difference make life interesting. I like it! :D

MysticCat,
While I love reading your contributions on this board, I must say.....TWO cups of sugar?? :eek: I hope this is followed up by a good teeth-brushing and TWO visits to the dentist per year! EEEK! :eek: :p
--------------------------
A few minutes later...
Okay, I just re-read and saw that there is some additional water added later! You scared me!

Mystic you are giving away ancient southern secrets!!!

But you are also cracking me up. :D

Glad to see someone else is as particular when it comes to iced tea.

I consider it "sharing enlightenment." ;)

MysticCat, LOL ok cutiepie said it best. I have no idea how that much sugar in water could taste good but I will give it a try if I'm ever in the South. The sweetest ice(d?) tea I've ever had has been Thai ice tea which is good but very sweet.

Kristin you must live somewhere strange :) Ice tea has always been here. Liptons, snapple, et. al are widely available in grocery stores and restaurants I would think. And are you telling me that all girls dress up this much? Even the hick rednecks which sooo populate your states? :)

And MysticCat you're right about the barbecue.

-Rudey
--But to cook meat for a whole frigging day must mean Southerners have a lot of time on their hands.

I have had barbeque Southern style, and it is really good. I had chicken and ribs. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Someone from Texas showed me how to marinate the meat in vinegar and some other ingredients. We had cold slaw, baked beans, salad, and corn bread. We also had hamburgers and hot dogs. I am getting really hungry thinking about it.

Some might find Dallas strange. But yes, a majority of women take extreme pride in their daily rituals. My sister is a great example. She is infuriating. I can't even get to starbucks in the morning without her primping first.

And as far as snapple goes, they weren't around when I was a teenager. (dating myself, yuk) And it was in Newport. I could get it someplaces. But not most. And the places I could get iced tea only served it in the summer in regular glasses. We have special glasses for our tea. BIG! And MysticCat is right about the sweetening process. Try it sometime. You will be hooked.

I might be a little sensitive about the iced tea because I am on the low carb plan and can't have sweetened iced tea. :( I am going through withdrawal. LOL.

By God, this is the funniest thing I have read all week!!!!! TERNADER!!! OMG!!! :D

I was raised in a trailor park deep down in the south, complete with trash of all shades. Loved it! Wouldn't trade my SINGLE-wide (double wides are for the posh trailor parks) upbringing for anything!

Enough with all this debate about where the south is. It's extremely simple to define 'southern' borders:

Anywhere that serves "Sweet tea" and "Unsweet tea" is the south.

Anywhere with a Chic-Fil-A is the south (Atleast inside the resteraunt :) )

Yep, We drink while we cook here. Time goes faster. [img]www.kurts-smilies.de/trink4.gif[/img]

Kristin,
Can you use Nutrasweet / Equal or would that be Southern "blasphemy"? Just checking.....

I sweeten my tea with Splenda or Equal (preferabley Splenda) and I am from the South

One thing I miss...
Collards! Out here a little bunch of greens cost you 99 cents. Hell it cost about $7 to make a decent size pot of collard greens :mad:

I do use Equal. And I like it. But it is just an entirely different beverage.

My southern family members all use Sweet & Low if sweet tea is unavailable. In fact they will always use Sweet & Low rather than just putting regular sugar in their tea. I used to do that too, but I like Equal better now.

Yes, it is, but being from North Florida (where we don't have voting problems), I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is the South. I am closer to New Orleans and Atlanta than I am to Orlando and Tampa, sweet tea is in abundant supply, and it is very Southern culturally. That is because North FL is full of old farming communities and aristocratic families that have been here for generations--and does not have the transience that South FL has.

I experience a huge culture shock every time I go home--just in between airports. I'm used to carrying my bags myself when I get here, and fending for myself. Most people are dressed down, and in a hurry. By the time I get to the Memphis airport, every man has asked me if I needed help carrying my bags, and the women are dressed so well! :D

ETA: For me, the South was a nice place to grow up, and it's a great place to visit, but for the life I want to live, the coasts were a better choice for me.

It's interesting to read this and see the debate over whether or not Virginia is considered "Southern." Well, i was born in bred here in Richmond, VA and so were my parents. I consider myself to be Southern, not only because Richmond is, in my opinion, a truly Southern city, but also because my extended family is as Southern as they come (they all live in NC). Yes, many Richmonders are from the NOrth but there are still families here that have basically "ruled" the city since before the War. And Monument Avenue here in Richmond - can't get much more southern than that. Statues of Jefferson Davis, R.E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, etc. line this street. Also in favor of VA's Southern-ness: Kappa Alpha was formed HERE, in Lexington VA. And correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that pretty southern, as far as frats go? As well, i say y'all, and while i don't consider myself as having a thick accent, my Yankee friends at college all make fun of me saying "y'all", "reckon," etc.

So i LOVE being SOuthern, and calling myself Southern...even if some of y'all don't think VA is in the south!

I definitely consider myself a Southern Girl even though I've spent 8 years in DC. My dad's side of the family are all native Gerorgians and my mom's side are all native Kentuckians. I loved living in Georiga and miss it so much. I guess both my parents' upbringing has made me a Southern GIrl and I hope that when I have kids, I can instill in them all the good ol' Southern values that I live by. And no, there are no outhouses that I've seen in the South. ANd at the least the South has courtesy when driving!!

Oh, and what about Krystle's!! Anywhere that has these babies is most DEFINITELY the South!

Munchkin03 I must agree. After living in the midwest and now LA,
I have to say there is an "earnestness" about the midwest and a
"solidness" of character that is DIFFICULT at best to match ANYWHERE across the nation. If I had the choice, I would move back to a land where who you are doesn't matter as much as WHAT you have made of your life. This comes from a displaced Kansan into Louisiana (wich I refer to as LOUSYanna).

Wow! I can definately say that I like where I am from! I can't imagine cooking all day and getting that dressed up for events or just to get the paper! More power to those who live in the South. I don't think that I would fit in very well in your areas. Don't get me wrong, I like to get dressed up and look my best, but I am also a "fly by the seat of your pants" girl who goes with the flo! (I am not saying people don't do this in the South. I am just saying I don't think I would last there.)

Anyway, someone said earlier that they are a "Mid-Atlantician," and that's what I am! Close to the city (Baltimore and DC) and close to the mountains (western Maryland)...and a beach is 3 hours away! I like it here!

Out of all the things I LOVE about being southerners, these are some of the reasons that top my list:

1. You aren't going to find prettier land anywhere. I'm serious. We've got beautiful moutains, beautiful coastlines and beautiful lakes. There's so much hiking and boating that can be done in the south. I've practically grown up outdoors.

2. The food. Nowhere else can you find more grandmothers making peach cobbler and fried chicken.

3. The accents. Love 'em or hate 'em, they are unique.

4. Think Scarlett O'Hara. Southern women are unmatched in the charm department.

5. We've given rise to great writers like Flannery O'Connor. It's practically brimming with artistic and literary inspiration down here. :)

I hope that I will never have to live outside of the South. Other places in the US are quite lovely to visit, but there is something about the South that just feels like home... maybe it's the syrupy sweet accents. I must admit, as slow as Ace from The Real World Paris seems, everytime he opens his mouth I just bust out into a big ol' enchanted grin. Hearing a real Southern accent on TV is a pleasure that we don't often get to experience. Anyway, that's a little off-topic.

It's difficult to precisely explain the beauty of a Southern woman to a person who has never really been around it. Yes, Rudey, women in Manhattan dress quite well, but it's not about the price of the clothing or the latest trends. Actually, born-and-bred Southerners will almost always choose tradition over trend.

It's all about POLISH and SPARKLE. Southern women always like to look our best... This may well be due to the fact that, on a Saturday morning at the grocery store, you are likely to run into every single soul you know in a small Southern town. And you definitely don't want old Miss Eugenia goin' home and telling her family, "Y'all, I saw Suzy's little girl Jennifer at the Food Lion this mornin' and... well... bless her heart... " Because anything that begins with "Bless her heart" is bound to be slightly offensive!

Anyway... I can't imagine a life without Chick-fil-a, a world where you order tea and it is hot and in a teacup, a world where shagging is something straight from Austin Powers... How very sad I would be!

OMG....sooo true. i don't ever leave my house without at least somemake-up b/c ya never know who you may run into....and if by chance i do get a lil risky and go out bare faced, i have a hat on to cover any un-lovely parts. ;)

and as far as "bless her heart"....LMAO....very, very true......my great-grandmother would say that a lot right b/4 goin off about someone.....either "bless her heart" or "God love her...." always followed by a "but"....lol

I've been known to get free stuff up north because my accent is just so doggone cute... ;)