[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by CurlyFries

You should've had a sixth pool option that's "it's a combination of all of the above".

This. The state is completely different culturally, depending on where you are.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close

Alabama or Georiga can have the panhandle. Florida doesn't want it.

Alabama would be GLAD to take it!

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close

Florida isn't Southern in the least, yet here comes everyone not from Florida wanting to tell you what Florida is.

Peninsular Florida has been dominated by Northern transplants and international immigrants ever since the end of the 19th century to such a degree that the "Southerness" of the region is gone. And Hail Mary for it.

I wouldn't lump Florida with the west either. When I was in Colorado I found the people there to be similar politically, but they were not as spastic, party-going, or dramatic as Floridians tend to be (in my opinion, they were on the boring side. Denver's bars shut down before 1:30 AM!!).

We are more hospitable than northeasterners, but that is due to most of us having worked in the hospitality industry as some point in our lives. We aren't fake friendly like Southerners are though. While being hospitable, we have a bluntness to us that northerners tend to have.

Parts of FLORIDA are very southern. Some are more like NY and Cuba. But keep telling yourself whatever you'd like. Some of the biggest rednecks I've ever met are here in FLORIDA. And thank God. I wouldn't live here if FL was like Long Island everywhere throughout the state.

FL is what it is. A mixed bag. Some good and some bad. It's no NC but it's not all international immigrants and northeastern ears either, thank God.

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close

Alabama or Georiga can have the panhandle. Florida doesn't want it. Of our states 20 million people only about a million live in the panhandle anyhow. The panhandle doesn't represent our state or what our state continues to change into.

Can Cuba and the Bronx have southeast FL?

[Happiness-is-close]

Originally Posted by StreetSmarts

Can Cuba and the Bronx have southeast FL?

Florida's largest and culturally significant metro? No way!

[Happiness-is-close]

Originally Posted by StreetSmarts

Parts of FLORIDA are very southern. Some are more like NY and Cuba. But keep telling yourself whatever you'd like. Some of the biggest rednecks I've ever met are here in FLORIDA. And thank God. I wouldn't live here if FL was like Long Island everywhere throughout the state.

FL is what it is. A mixed bag. Some good and some bad. It's no NC but it's not all international immigrants and northeastern ears either, thank God.

Redneck doesn't equal southern. You can be southern and not a redneck.

[miami_winter_breeze]

Don't see many areas of Florida that remind me of out west ... Maybe Key West and that's a maybe. The only city I ran into, that wasn't in California or the immediate west (Oregon, Washington) that reminded me so much of back home was Austin, TX.

Florida to me is an interesting blend of Southern + beach culture + Latin Culture + snow birds from the Midwest/East Coast.

Not much room for a 'Western' feel in that mix. Though you can say adding a hefty dose of 'beach culture' and 'midwestern transplants' to the table might remind someone of California.

[Cryptic]

Originally Posted by Happiness-is-close

The panhandle doesn't represent our state or what our state continues to change into.

I"ll take the Panhandle with it's vast expanses of Pines, red clay dirt roads, "closed on Sunday- see you at church announcements" on menus etc. over Miami any day. Heck, one time I saw a stranded female motorist with out of state plates. She was alone, in an isolated area, and seemed to fill out her motorcycle get up rather nicely.

Anyways, three young local men came who, judging from the immediate area, did not have alot of money, immediatelly pulled over to her motorcycle. They then proceeded to, well you know.... see what was wrong. Some strange things happened- they went to buy her gas, brought it to her, and directed her to a local gas station where I saw them again.

Of course, they wanted something from her for this help. Nothing is free- right? So, they got to uhmm, "got to know her better" by.... asking her permission to have their picture taken with her. Three minutes later, she was on her way.

In Miami, things might have gone a little bit different..... .

[OptimusPrime69]

FL is in no way culturally western like California, Washington and Oregon. lol.
Ppl here are not laid-back/live and let live types. There's no environmental movement or hippies here. There's no strong push for green spaces and recycling. There's no legal marijuana here. People here are not "one with nature" that like to go hiking... LOL. pfft.
Ppl here are generally to themselves and would sooner shoot you for standing on their lawn that wanna talk to you. ... FL IMO is pretty violent and poor... It's culturally a bit backward and many parts seem like backwaters!. Still, it's a fun place to live.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

FL is in no way culturally western like California, Washington and Oregon. lol.
Ppl here are not laid-back/live and let live types. There's no environmental movement or hippies here. There's no strong push for green spaces and recycling. There's no legal marijuana here. People here are not "one with nature" that like to go hiking... LOL. pfft.
Ppl here are generally to themselves and would sooner shoot you for standing on their lawn that wanna talk to you. ... FL IMO is pretty violent and poor... It's culturally a bit backward and many parts seem like backwaters!. Still, it's a fun place to live.

Yes. Finally an honest assessment of how FL is. FL almost reminds me, if anything, of a Caribbean nation: poor, violent, culturally-backwards, yet still fun to be in. Replace Caribbeans with transients and you have FL.