[Timtheman]

I'm sure you are right that some haven't adjusted, and they should. I still experience much more in common than different between rural South and rural North. I would also say as a rule that Northeners give Southerners less of a hard time when they come North than the other way around. All I'm saying is that it's good not to prejudge as you may well find you've got a whole lot more in common than you think. Again, I think folks should adjust. Some don't, but many do and make great neighbors. Case by case is the only way to go.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Timtheman

I'm sure you are right that some haven't adjusted, and they should. I still experience much more in common than different between rural South and rural North. I would also say as a rule that Northeners give Southerners less of a hard time when they come North than the other way around. All I'm saying is that it's good not to prejudge as you may well find you've got a whole lot more in common than you think. Again, I think folks should adjust. Some don't, but many do and make great neighbors. Case by case is the only way to go.

[i] think adjusting and accepting a new area for what it is may be the secret to a happy, satified move. We came here, knowing it would be different than other areas, we have accepted the differences and find it a wonderful place to live. Do we miss certain things about our old home? Of course, but we knew this would be the case and we do not try and make thing the way they used to be. We love our trees and the quiet neighborhood, we miss the wonderful neighbors we left behind. People in our area have chosen to live here because it is peaceful and quiet. They are very friendly but not terribly social in some ways, there is a difference..

Nita

[RogMar]

There is a road, which has been around forever, called "Highway 51".

U.S. Route 51 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the south, it was known as the "Hillbilly Highway", much as the route from Appalachia to the car factories in Michigan, it brought southerners to the north looking for a better life.

In the early 1900's, it brought my father from Kentucky, and my Mother from Missouri, and rendered RogMar.

Before that, it brought one of my ancestors, a preacher from Kentucky, to open a church, then close it during the war, to lead raids on farms that would do commerce with the union.

He got real famous, but he had to move to Kansas after the war, ya understand.

The history books just say he shut down the church because he was "ill" from 1861-1865.

Yeah, he had a heck of a cold.

Anyway, my point is (well...he's *finally* getting to it) that the amusing thing is, to this day, you can travel 51, all the way into Wisconsin, stop at small towns on the way, and swear you never left the south.

Yes, there are towns in Wisconsin where people say, "y'all".

So, I don't think it's so much geography that dictates the chances of adaptability in our great state, but environment, and the amount of contact one has had with people of different culture, and their acceptance and adaptability to that environment.

If you sat and talked about the "Hillbillies down the street", chances are Arkansas isn't going to be your Shangri-la.

If ya don't like the water....don't buy a boat.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Timtheman

I'm sure you are right that some haven't adjusted, and they should. I still experience much more in common than different between rural South and rural North. I would also say as a rule that Northeners give Southerners less of a hard time when they come North than the other way around. All I'm saying is that it's good not to prejudge as you may well find you've got a whole lot more in common than you think. Again, I think folks should adjust. Some don't, but many do and make great neighbors. Case by case is the only way to go.

The post previous to the one quoted, referred to people from the north as yankees. We all know, or should know, that when a person from the south says "yankee", it's a derogatory term 90% of the time. Don't expect the newcomers from the north to warm up to that. Of course, some try to do it in good fun, but the joke isn't always 'got'. Not to mention it's lame and hideously outdated.
It is just a very small sampling of what northerners can expect when they go south, though, especially if they don't give in to the local culture. In a place like Arkansas, it's best to conform or leave. Being born and raised there, conforming should be easy, but alas, not always. So I left.
I consider myself to be a rural person, a country boy, if you will, but there's something about rural Arkansas that I just don't get, and it certainly doesn't get me. I like bitterly cold, snowy weather better anyway. Can't wait to do some ice-fishing.. maybe get a snowmobile if the wife lets me....
If a person just wants warmer weather, but doesn't want to change who they are, maybe they should try another state full of outsiders, like Arizona or something.

I have to agree that there's much more animosity towards northerners going south, than southerners going north. I think that goes all the way back to pre-Civil War days. Southerners view northerners as agents of change, which isn't always, if ever really, the case.

In the past couple of years, I've traveled to several places solidly in the North. Yes, there were oddball places like Connecticut, in which the people seemed to be from another planet, or at least the set of a TV show. And of course, I found glaring differences between Minnesota and Alabama, but for the most part, rural people are rural, and city people are... city people... wherever you go.

[grmasterb]

My observation as a "Yankee" who spent 8 years in Arkansas is that the cultural difference between the rural south and rural north, aside from the overall level of affluence, is religious in nature. The rural south is dominated by evangelical Christians whereas the rural north tends to be more Catholic and mainline Protestant in nature.

[crayfish]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Any Chance that can happen before the next election???

Oh yeah, the republic of Arkansas will take over the whole U.S.!!!

[solibs]

I only "know" arkansas in passing. I'm originally from NJ but spent 5 years in the Carolinas (yes, both of them) with some quality time in Virginia and Georgia as well. 3 years of that time was in the Army so I got to observe people from all over.

Southerners don't, and can't for that matter, understand where northerners are coming from. I use those terms in the very general sense because the northeast and midwest are at least as different culturally as Arkansas is from South Carolina.

There is no tradition of people from the south heading north and staking a claim, then coming home often and telling stories. Our universities aren't filled with students from the states of the old confederacy. Everyone I know has either lived down south themselves or has family who lives there now or used to live there.

Sure, a lot of 'yankees' have ignorant ideas about what life in the south is really like. Most southerners have no idea at all about what life in the north is really like.

You have to understand that about half of the people from up here who head south aren't necessarily going by choice. Work and family obligations are but a couple of the reasons. When folks from up north miss home it's usually because they miss their family but what's most alien is the culture. People coming from big cities like Chicago or Milwaukee or Cleveland or Pittsburgh come from varied religious and ethnic traditions (food and language being the most obvious) that have been woven together over the years but still retain a degree of distinction. For instance, you can come from an italian family and enjoy going out for some pho but you'd never serve kielbasa with pesto. You might be a real gearhead but you can still be found on the basketball court occasionally because that's what your friends do.

To many of us, the south is very homogenous and you either fit in or you don't. There's not much room (in a cultural sense) for people or things that are different. That same dynamic makes some southerners feel out of sorts up here. I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, good or bad, it's just been my observation.

As was said before, it's not much of an issue if you're coming from central Pennsylvania or some other rural area. You'll probably fit right in. Especially if you're just moving from northern appalachia to southern appalachia. Interestingly enough, I found my friends in the Army to be from big cities regardless of geography. There was far more commonality in that than in the region of the country. I had as many friends from metro Atlanta or Dallas as I did from Seattle or Cincinnati.

[vec101]

Wow, this sounds just like questions/threads we get in West Virginia. WV may have seceded from the South during the Civil War but most people here consider themselves Southerners and live the Southern way.

A post in our forum by a Northerner made me curious to see if you were getting as much grief from people in "blue" states as we are (in WV) about voting for McCain. Poster mentioned Arkansas in his post (see below). Also, Poster indicated how wealthier, more intellectual states voted for Obama and there is a message to be found in this.

Poster stated: " There is a wide swath of states that went for McCain, starting with WV, and curving southward through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. With the exception of the latter, all these states are on a downward slide into the 21st century..."
Later asked " Was it because of race, an uninformed electorate, or some other reason"

Curiosity got the best of me. From what I found, your unemployment rate is 4.9%. The national average has been running about 6.0 and is now at 6.5. I know nothing more about your economy except you are doing better than the national average.

So, are you "downsliding into the 21st century" as the elitist poster has indicated or do you get unjustly slammed as we do?

It's at the point where we just laugh - people, many who have never stepped foot in our state, have this preconceived image that they know is the truth, they are experts on our state, and they get on our forum to let us know they are experts. They don't bother to discover that West Virginia's unemployment in Sept was 3.7, in October was 4.0. Of the 30 best markets to Find a Job, 2 of our cities are in the top 13, while the housing market has imploded ours has increased 7% and from May-Aug we were the fastest growing (economic increase) state in the nation. (We're like the Little Engine That Could - we chug along while the fast new ones pass us by.. but when they break they break hard and we just keep chugging along.) But you don't read that kind of thing in the papers, you only read that we have the fattest metro city (which isn't fair to WV because that metro city includes part of Ohio and Kentucky).

As to the elections, McCain's prose better met our needs than Obama's. I get so tired of "outsiders" pointing the finger and accusing us of anything else - they need to do their research rather than making any assumptions.

So has Arkansas also been told how wrong you are? It doesn't look like there have been many/any posts like we are getting.

PS. I was born and raised a Yankee but have converted - love the Southern ways and WV.

[GetmeoutofAR]

WOW...i love this thread.....and Im gonna jump right in...Could someone on here explain to me what southern hospitality is because in my many years in Arkansas ive never experienced it. I'd really like to experience it..could someone on here please tell me where I could find me some real southern hospitality? I've experienced yankee hospitality but never southern hospitality..

[bluenoter]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofAR

WOW...i love this thread.....and Im gonna jump right in...Could someone on here explain to me what southern hospitality is because in my many years in Arkansas ive never experienced it. I'd really like to experience it..could someone on here please tell me where I could find me some real southern hospitality?

Tijuana, Mexico? What exactly do you mean by hospitality.