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A place's geographic location doesn't change because of a demographic shift. The definition of a geographic area changes with said demographic shift.
Geographically-speaking and not politically or historically-speaking or culturally-speaking:
When I look on a map, DC's location looks geagraphically aligned with the cities to the northeast. When I look at a nighttime map of lights in a satellite view, DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NYC are all joined.
Lastly, DC's position, to my eye, on a map doesn't look all that southerly. The curvature of the U.S. is such that there is a geographical northeast branch of the country that is formed with Lake Erie. When I draw a right angle from the sourthern-most tip of Lake Erie, DC's position is to the northeast of this line (Richmond is not)
Last edited by revitalizer; 09-05-2015 at 06:58 PM..
I am from DC, and I am struggling to come up with, internally within myself or a written definition, what it means to be southern. What does being southern really even mean?
We been asking that question for the last few years on here.
Pretty much every town of decent size in Virginia has row houses. Petersburg, Fredericksburg, Staunton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Winchester (probably Danville too) all have row houses (in addition to Richmond, Norfolk and Alexandria). They aren't a North or South thing. They are housing from a particular time. That's all.
A place's geographic location doesn't change because of a demographic shift. The definition of a geographic area changes with said demographic shift. Washington is a Southern city. Cosmopolitan isn't at odds with the South. Wealth and education attainment isn't either. Washington is an urban, world class city full of diversity located in the American South.
Virginia is pretty unique for the South though. Lots of people believe places as far down as Richmond have Northeastern characteristics. Aren't a lot of those part of the DMV area anyways?
As for the second part of your post, apart from trolls nobody really says that the South is void of those qualities you listed. But there is a belief that it lacks in terms of quantity compared to other places, especially from a percentage point of view.
I have a question. If no one knows what being southern is, then why does it seem as though people hurl the term around as sort of an insult..while saying "what does it mean to be southern?" It hasn't been done in this thread, but it has been done in countless others.
I have a question. If no one knows what being southern is, then why does it seem as though people hurl the term around as sort of an insult..while saying "what does it mean to be southern?" It hasn't been done in this thread, but it has been done in countless others.
You got a problem "boredom"? And don't ask me, Eye don't really identify much with the South culturally at all. So you and Kobe are gonna have to ask someone else. As long as it doesn't involve soul food and y'all because these two are practically commonplace throughout most of America at this point.
Virginia is pretty unique for the South though. Lots of people believe places as far down as Richmond have Northeastern characteristics. Aren't a lot of those part of the DMV area anyways?
As for the second part of your post, apart from trolls nobody really says that the South is void of those qualities you listed. But there is a belief that it lacks in terms of quantity compared to other places, especially from a percentage point of view.
Exactly. Virginia is about as far south as the Rowhouse Belt will go. It goes out towards the Midwest and even there, it's only a handful of cities with true rowhouse blocks and/or neighborhoods like Chicago, STL, Cinncinati, Cleveland, and Minneapolis. For the most part, the rowhouse is more characteristic of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Geographically-speaking and not politically or historically-speaking or culturally-speaking:
When I look on a map, DC's location looks geagraphically aligned with the cities to the northeast. When I look at a nighttime map of lights in a satellite view, DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NYC are all joined.
Lastly, DC's position, to my eye, on a map doesn't look all that southerly. The curvature of the U.S. is such that there is a geographical northeast branch of the country that is formed with Lake Erie. When I draw a right angle from the sourthern-most tip of Lake Erie, DC's position is to the northeast of this line (Richmond is not)
True, it's kind of a gap between the DC area and the Richmond area in the night overview of a satellite map, but the gap continuing on south of Richmond to the next major cities and states is even more significant.
We don't really disagree on much; I was just pointing out the ways in which DC differs from cities to the north as a matter of degree. In just about all of those ways, the city is like a Southern/Northern hybrid.
But nothing to the extent of what you see in Philly, NYC, and Boston and there's very little to none of that sort of influence remaining in the city comparatively speaking.
Cities with largest Irish populations in 1870
New York* - 275,984 (20.62%)
Philadelphia - 96,698 (14.34%)
Boston - 56,900 (22.71%)
Chicago - 39,988 (13.37%)
St. Louis - 32,239 (10.37%)
San Francisco - 25,864 (17.30%)
Cincinnati - 18,264 (8.61%)
Jersey City - 17,665 (21.4%) Baltimore - 15,223 (5.69%)
New Orleans - 14,693 (7.67%)
Pittsburgh - 13,119 (15.24%)
Providence - 12,085 (17.53%)
Cleveland - 9,964 (10.73%) Washington - 6,948 (6.36%)
*Includes Brooklyn
Irish/Italian/Polish/Jewish population in 2013
Boston - 36.45% of MSA (49.38% of NHW population)
New Haven - 36.07% of MSA (55.09% of NHW population)
Philadelphia - 33.03% of MSA (51.26% of NHW population)
Hartford - 32.86% of MSA (47.21% of NHW population)
New York - 32.26% of MSA (66.94% of NHW population)
Worcester - 30.13% of MSA (37.27% of NHW population)
Providence - 27.72% of MSA (34.83% of NHW population) Baltimore - 19.98% of MSA (33.78% of NHW population) Washington - 14.25% of MSA (30.42% of NHW population)
Hampton Roads - 13.25% of MSA (23.16% of non-Hispanic Whites)
Richmond - 12.07% of MSA (20.07% of non-Hispanic Whites)
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