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Everyone talks about the areas in the South that have become more "Northern" over time, such as South Florida, Northern Virginia, etc...but are there any comparable areas in the North that are becoming more Southern, or at least attracting more native Southerners? For the purposes of this discussion, the "North" means any area of the United States that's not in the South, or considered a border state.
I know that there are pockets of Southern culture in states outside of the South, and some cities in the North attract Southern transplants, particularly faster-growing Northern areas.
I don't think the phenomenon exists as "Southern behavior" has been seen as not progressive and certainly not appealing for most anyone in the "North", unless one is talking culinary traditions such as Fried Chicken and Sweet Tea...
Seems to me over the past 10 years the Midwest-South line in Southeastern Missouri has moved northward, not southward. Mainly due to the fact that many people have moved to the Cape Girardeau area from the bootheel, although Cape was always a mix.
You mean northern cities that have a foreign automobile assembly plant? In my view, southern cities are having a very hard time staying southern. The country is a lot more homogenized in the past couple of generations. There isn't really any such thing as a southern city anymore. Southern congressmen don't even have an accent anymore, except Lindsay Graham.
In the 50s, people spoke with a very strong southern accent even in northern Missouri and southern Ohio.
In my view, southern cities are having a very hard time staying southern. The country is a lot more homogenized in the past couple of generations. There isn't really any such thing as a southern city anymore.
Excellent post. I think, though, that of the cities in the South I've visited or passed through, Montgomery AL still feels pretty southern.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Originally Posted by jtur88
You mean northern cities that have a foreign automobile assembly plant? In my view, southern cities are having a very hard time staying southern. The country is a lot more homogenized in the past couple of generations. There isn't really any such thing as a southern city anymore. Southern congressmen don't even have an accent anymore, except Lindsay Graham.
In the 50s, people spoke with a very strong southern accent even in northern Missouri and southern Ohio.
I'm not sure I agree with that...my grandmother was from northern Missouri and her sisters were too...that was not a southern accent, much less a strong one. "South Midland" dialect is very different from "North Midland". In fact, Jack Riley, the voice of NASA for the Apollo 11 mission (can be heard by watching the CBS video of the launch), was from Northern Missouri...didn't have an accent at all. Neither did a prominent WWII general whose name escapes me that was from Moberly. The South Midland dialect has some common features with Southern speech patterns, but is distinctly different. THat accent extended into Northeast Indiana as well...at least as far north as Pendleton, Indiana.
In any event, I believe the reverse is happening...I believe that the North became more Southern during the first half of the twentieth century...when the Rust Belt effect set in during the second half, I believe that the reverse happened. Southern cities are still southern, but parts of Texas, Virginia, and Florida, for example, have all had their southern culture diluted somewhat by migrants from the North and from other countries. Given that D.C. is what is, it's no surprise Virginia would've had its southern culture in some places severely diluted. But I agree with what many have said..."Southern" places are becoming more "Northern."
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Originally Posted by KodeBlue
Southern PA along the I-83 corridor is becoming for southern since people from the Baltimore area are moving to escape the high taxes.
??? How is that making it more southern?
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