Yankees: How accepted are they? (Birmingham, Grant: sale, tax, living)

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

in my opinion, the South is much more prejudiced towards Northerners than the Northerners are towards the Southerners. Just my experience.

I find that hard to believe. If I were to move to New Jersey or Massachusetts with my thick southern accent I would probably receive ridicule to no end.

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

I find that hard to believe. If I were to move to New Jersey or Massachusetts with my thick southern accent I would probably receive ridicule to no end.

Mine is a long way from thick but you are not alone:>)

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Threestep

To stay with the thread - isn't Yankee used for residents of Union States north of the Mason-Dixon-Line? Where does that leave CA?

Whenever I ask that I get blank stares like "Does not compute. Syntax error. Please re-input valid question."

[CFOTOCEO]

BlueBeard, that is a good one.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by Threestep

I would never associate CA with "West". Our friends are too set on the distinction Valley or Bay.

But that's not all of CA by a long-shot. Also, that's like saying NYC isn't the north cuz people say they're from, NYC.

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by bluebeard

Whenever I ask that I get blank stares like "Does not compute. Syntax error. Please re-input valid question."

Oh no!!! Beam me up!

[TootsieWootsie]

On the Chicago side of my family, we have a male jerk who most definitely would make fun of your Southern accents...but he is 1 out of 30 relatives/friends. Everyone else wouldn't care at all what your accent was so long as you were a nice person with something to say.
My mother has a decidedly Southern accent and has lived up North for 60 years now. She has had to fight the stigma of being called a "hick" and thought of as stupid because of her accent, and it was rough on her at times I think as she got her feelings hurt once in awhile. She hasn't had any incidents in years and years, but I do remember when we first came up here and the hard times here. I had to relearn pronunciation, so I'd sound more like a Chicagoan when I went to school.

I brought this subject up because I heard it SO much from ALL class levels in Houston that I wondered if it was the same in Birmingham. Granted, each area in the country is different, so I asked. It would be wonderful to think that all parts of the country think the same, but they don't. And to pretend prejudice against different regions doesn't exist is just unrealistic.

[pennquaker09]

One of the first things people here in New Jersey and NYC say when I tell them I'm from Alabama is, "You don't talk like you're from Alabama." My standard reply is, "You didn't know we had English teachers in Alabama?"

[TootsieWootsie]

I had a girlfriend from Iowa and, when she moved to D.C., people looked in total astonishment that she was from Iowa because she was pretty and looked sophisticated. Her response to their voiced shock was, "What did you expect? Cornseed in my teeth?" I always thought that was a pretty good one.

[emkay80]

I've lived in Alabama for nearly 3 years now, I lived in Huntsville until April when I moved here for a new job. I was nervous about moving simply because I didn't want to be that far away from my family, but I am very happy here.

I am originally from Kansas City so I had the "yankee" accent (yes, I have had that term used on me before). I work in the male dominated field of geotechnical engineering, and I've had to step onto active construction jobsites as a young woman and tell southern good ol' boy construction workers when they were doing something wrong.

Not once was I ever made to feel inferior because of my gender, age, or accent.

Sure, I was told I "talked like Sarah Palin," or I was "pretty smart for a girl," but I never took offense to comments like that because they were coming from people who were just trying to be friendly. I don't know, I guess that might bother some people, I always thought it was hilarious when people said stuff like that.

When you meet new people, the conversation will inevitably turn to some vanilla topic...such as where you're originally from. I think folks might joke around about the "yankee" thing just for fun. I've never seen any real maliciousness toward northerners. It's kind of ironic that people will talk about their hometowns to avoid the more emotionally charged topics of religion and politics...yet now we have to watch our words because someone might get offended if the mason-dixon line is mentioned. It's sad.

On the flip side, I have been made fun of by some of my friends back home for the slight southern accent I've picked up from my boyfriend .

I've also noticed that the well-educated, middle-upper class can be very judgmental and pretentious. My ex-mother-in-law, for example, was heavily criticizing a "friend" of hers in Mississippi for her pronunciation of the word "pin," and describing how uneducated it sounded. Apparently, a high-school education and one year of working as a receptionist before becoming a stay at home mom made her the all-knowing dialect judge. This is an otherwise sweet, Christian woman living the upper class life in St. Louis, but I guess she takes some comfort in believing that she's a better person than someone with an accent.

And really at the end of the day, if someone's going to judge you, they'll find something to judge you about, be it your accent, your hair, your house, etc. It's how insecure people hide. So don't sweat it. Besides, they have sweet tea here, and that's the ONLY reason you need to live in the south!

P.S. Roll Tide!