South vs. North?

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I concur.


Mac, what town is your family in, in Southeast Missouri? I have a lot of family in that area, my family just inherited a small ranch near the Mississipi

What part of southeast Missouri? I am from southeast Missouri, too.

[ladygreek]

Yay at all of the Show Me Staters on here!

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

What part of southeast Missouri? I am from southeast Missouri, too.

Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

My family inherited a ranch with mostly Mississippi flood land on it... I think it has corn? on it. Only 100 acres or so, the rest of the family got the rest of it.

[SWTXBelle]

pinstrypes, I assure you as a southerner who lived for years in New Jersey- northerners think about it a LOT - and delight in being rude and obnoxious about their self-perceived superiority. "At least we won the War!" is their idea of a witty retort.
Even when they (Yankees) come south, they are so bad about it that a very popular bumper sticker is "I don't care how you did it up north!". Houston saw a lot of "Well, this is how we do it up north" during the last oil boom in the 80s (dating myself here).
I managed the crystal department at a Macy's store in Texas- couldn't get them to stock iced tea glasses for love or money. I was not surprised when they had to pull out of most of their Texas stores in the 80s. Their thinking was, we don't drink iced tea, so why carry the glasses? We are from NEW YORK, the only place in the world that matters.
I am glad you do not indulge in this type of rude and stupid thinking, but please believe me, it does exist.

[Ch2tf]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

pinstrypes, I assure you as a southerner who lived for years in New Jersey- northerners think about it a LOT - and delight in being rude and obnoxious about their self-perceived superiority. "At least we won the War!" is their idea of a witty retort.
Even when they (Yankees) come south, they are so bad about it that a very popular bumper sticker is "I don't care how you did it up north!". Houston saw a lot of "Well, this is how we do it up north" during the last oil boom in the 80s (dating myself here).
I managed the crystal department at a Macy's store in Texas- couldn't get them to stock iced tea glasses for love or money. I was not surprised when they had to pull out of most of their Texas stores in the 80s. Their thinking was, we don't drink iced tea, so why carry the glasses? We are from NEW YORK, the only place in the world that matters.
I am glad you do not indulge in this type of rude and stupid thinking, but please believe me, it does exist.

I've lived in the north all my life, did my ug in Jersey, and lived in the South for grad school for a short stint, and coming from my experience it isn't something northerners think about all that much. I've personally had maybe one conversation with a southerner about the whole north vs. south thing, and I wasn't even too much a participant in that conversation because it was assinine. I've heard the "At least we won the war" comment like once or twice, at best. It's just "regionalcentrism" at it's best. Northerners do it when the go south just as much as Southerners do it when they go north.

[SWTXBelle]

CH2tf - so you had maybe one conversation about this with a southerner, but you heard the "At least we won the war" comment once or twice? Doesn't that kind of prove my point? The fact that you had only the one conversation despite going to grad school in the south seems to also support another observation of mine - that most southerners are too polite to bring up the subject.
In all my years in NJ I never brought up the subject - but upon hearing my accent northerners felt obliged to comment on the north vs. south thing. If southerners were exactly the same, you should have been the reciepient of many of the same kind of comments I was subjected to, and yet by your own admission you were not.
Sociologists have noted that southerners tend to identify with their region to an extent that northerners do not; linguists have found to their surprise that instead of dying out, regional accents are in fact continuing to be an important identifying charcteristic of regional groups. I would hope that everyone could appreciate regional differences without resorting to insults.
I don't want grits in Maine, scrapple in Georgia, Tex-Mex in Tennessee or Philly Cheese steaks in Florida. I'm using food as my metaphor, but I'm personally glad that different areas of the country continue to be unique, and only wish everyone could appreciate the diversity of this country. Years as an Air Force brat taught me that there is something to enjoy no matter where you live. I enjoy visiting other areas of the country, and have often decried in my newspaper column the spread of strip centers and chain restaurants - too many areas of the country look exactly alike!
I'm also very glad I live in the south - told my husband the Yalie that I'd follow him anywhere, as long as it was below the Mason-Dixon.

[Ch2tf]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

CH2tf - so you had maybe one conversation about this with a southerner, but you heard the "At least we won the war" comment once or twice? Doesn't that kind of prove my point? The fact that you had only the one conversation despite going to grad school in the south seems to also support another observation of mine - that most southerners are too polite to bring up the subject.

If that is what you choose to believe that is fine. I've had the conversation with a southerner (more than one if you include my cousins, but since the back in forth between them and my dad was more of light banter I didn't count it). I didn't/don't have the conversation because I choose not to indulge in it. People are going to have strong feelings about where they come from and it's pointless to go back and forth and it's one of those arguments where the two sides are never going to come into agreement with each other.

[SWTXBelle]

Then I'm curious as to why you posted to this thread???

FSUZeta - I know, I know. I lived in Melbourne, FLA for years and was amazed at those snowbirds who were sooooo unhappy. For the love of God, move back north! Life is too short to be miserable where you are living.
Lest you think we stayed in the north when we were unhappy - when my family was in NJ, my father was a vice-president at a Fortune 500 company. He told the president to move us south - or he would quit. They didn't believe it - look at your title! look at your salary! No one would leave here!
He did. Packed up his wife and 4 kids, and moved home to Texas. We spent a summer haying and ranching while he looked for a new executive position. I didn't appreciate at the time the bravery that took. He got a great job with a company he has been with since 1978 - and I learned to do something rather than sit around and complain.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

CH2tf - so you had maybe one conversation about this with a southerner, but you heard the "At least we won the war" comment once or twice? Doesn't that kind of prove my point? The fact that you had only the one conversation despite going to grad school in the south seems to also support another observation of mine - that most southerners are too polite to bring up the subject.
In all my years in NJ I never brought up the subject - but upon hearing my accent northerners felt obliged to comment on the north vs. south thing. If southerners were exactly the same, you should have been the reciepient of many of the same kind of comments I was subjected to, and yet by your own admission you were not.
Sociologists have noted that southerners tend to identify with their region to an extent that northerners do not; linguists have found to their surprise that instead of dying out, regional accents are in fact continuing to be an important identifying charcteristic of regional groups. I would hope that everyone could appreciate regional differences without resorting to insults.
I don't want grits in Maine, scrapple in Georgia, Tex-Mex in Tennessee or Philly Cheese steaks in Florida. I'm using food as my metaphor, but I'm personally glad that different areas of the country continue to be unique, and only wish everyone could appreciate the diversity of this country. Years as an Air Force brat taught me that there is something to enjoy no matter where you live. I enjoy visiting other areas of the country, and have often decried in my newspaper column the spread of strip centers and chain restaurants - too many areas of the country look exactly alike!
I'm also very glad I live in the south - told my husband the Yalie that I'd follow him anywhere, as long as it was below the Mason-Dixon.

Great post, especially, "I would hope that everyone could appreciate regional differences without resorting to insults." Having been raised by a Southern mother (who loved my daddy enough to move North), I've come up against my share of hostile remarks. Unfortunately, Northerners feel free to knock the main principles of my being raised Southern, and Southerners can't forgive me for living where I can best use my education. And I'm not about to compromise my values either way!

ETA: I'm DAR & UDC, too.

[FSUZeta]

well. come to naples my friends, if you want to see northerners who left a better place, know more than us, blah, blah, blah.

from november to easter we are inundated with "snowbirds" for whom the phrase "ugly american" must have been coined. they are the rudest, most arrogant, unhappy bunch of people i have ever had to deal with. they feel that they are entitled and that everyone should kow tow to them. i have had them actually cut in front of me in line-just bypass the line of people waiting to pay , walk up to the clerk and demand to be waited on. when one woman started creating a scene after charging past those of us waiting to pay,and then creating a scene when the clerk told her that we had been waiting, we locals told the clerk to wait on her-we would wait.

a month ago i was waiting in line at the grocery store and two women who were behind me, complaining about how the store did not stock a few items that they got "back home." then they proceeded to bash the beach parking, property taxes, restaurants, high cost of living in naples,etc. and how we locals need them in order to maintain the lifestyles we have . if you are so miserable, why don't you stay up north? believe me, we won't miss you!!

i am counting the days until easter when the great migration will begin again.
it can't come soon enough for me!!