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The North cannot get less Northern. The lousy weather they have to endure causes them to be that way. I would probably act just like them if I had to live in such miserable weather. We spent one week in RI and I could not wait to leave. The weather was so awful we mostly stayed in our condo.
The last few weeks I keep watching the weather channel and am so thankful for our wonderful winters. We may have had two weeks of winter this year but I don't think we have had even that much.
I would contend that the urban South is becoming more Northern while the rural North is becoming more Southern. I recall a surreal moment driving between Detroit and Chicago wherein I stopped at a gas station in a small town... it was clearly the go-to place for food in the vicinity because it was packed with people wearing cowboy hats, speaking with pseudo Southern accents and listening to a song called Leroy the Redneck Reindeer. It reminded me quite a lot of the small towns my relatives in Mississippi live in, but it was not the kind of place you expected to see 90 minutes outside of downtown Chicago.
Quite a few Southern whites that moved to the North moved to small, rural towns as well. In MI, quite a few came from KY and TN.
Quite a few Southern whites that moved to the North moved to small, rural towns as well. In MI, quite a few came from KY and TN.
People forget about this as well.
Many Southern whites moved to the Midwest for jobs, particularly in the auto sector, a couple of generations ago. That generation is mostly dead or older retiree, but there are still many people, especially in small towns, that are just one, maybe two, generations removed from the South, in communities that have a large percentage of people like them, and few new transplants.
That's part of the reason why small towns and rural areas, especially those with auto industry connections, in states like IN/MI, seem country with Southern influence.
Immigrants and their descendants are nearly half of NYC's black population. Substantial portion of Boston's as well.
The Black population in NYC and Boston is hardly representative of Afro-American culture as a whole for this very reason. Outside of maybe NYC, Boston, DC, Miami (a few other metros to a lesser extent) the Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, and African population is negligible and has no influence on Black America.
Maryland is about 30% black. Are you saying that the amount of black people makes it less southern?
Historically, a large Afro-American population generally correlated with the "Southerness" of an area. The whole DMV area is about is black as Atlanta and has always been that way. Great Migration really made little difference on that area, which I think is why DC is still considered a Southern city, despite being very urban, cosmopolitan and international, which people generally don't associate with stereotypical Southern.
I don't even get the premise of this thread. The North hasn't been 'Northern' since before the Civil War. The North used to be primarily English, Dutch, and German.
Although the descendants of that tri-culture still echo, especially in rural areas, it has since then been almost entirely reformed into an ethnic stew of Italian, Irish, African-American (Southern), and Carribean Latino cultures. Furthermore, in the last couple of decades, the major cities, especially NYC have absorbed a ton of 'General American/Midwestern' transplants.
Southerners should take comfort in the fact that outside the US, it is their Southern culture that is seen as representing the whole of America. You may see the subtle changes coming from Northerners moving down as sea-changes, but Southern culture isn't going anywhere soon.
[quote=ABQConvict;47306973] Furthermore, in the last couple of decades, the major cities, especially NYC have absorbed a ton of 'General American/Midwestern' transplants.
The Midwest is part of the North. Or is the thread only referring to the Northeast?
I might just be echoing other people on this thread by saying this, but...
In my experience, it's a lot easier to find young people in the South who have Southern accents than it is to find young people in the North who have Northern accents.
How many 20-somethings these days do you hear with thick regional accents? None I've ever heard, honestly.
It seems like regional accents started dying out with the Baby Boomers, and have faded ever since. Even here in Minnesota, the only people who have the stereotypical accent (especially in the Twin Cities metro) are people over age 55 or so.
I work with a bunch of younger Millennials (kids born in the 90s) who are all Minnesota natives who can't even pronounce words the normal Minnesotan way. They all say "bahg" instead of "bayg" (bag), "ex-PAIR-ih-mint" instead of "ix-SPEAR-mint" (experiment), and "Cul-low-RAH-doe" instead of "Cahl-low-RAD-doe" (Colorado). The accent is slowly being eroded away due to influences from mass media and entertainment, as is the case all over the country.
There is a subtle accent here in Washington State. It has both Canadian and California influences. Many people don't notice it but I am sensitive to accents and find them fascinating. Anyway, there are 20 something's who have this accent as strong as anyone.
I don't even get the premise of this thread. The North hasn't been 'Northern' since before the Civil War. The North used to be primarily English, Dutch, and German.
Although the descendants of that tri-culture still echo, especially in rural areas, it has since then been almost entirely reformed into an ethnic stew of Italian, Irish, African-American (Southern), and Carribean Latino cultures. Furthermore, in the last couple of decades, the major cities, especially NYC have absorbed a ton of 'General American/Midwestern' transplants.
Southerners should take comfort in the fact that outside the US, it is their Southern culture that is seen as representing the whole of America. You may see the subtle changes coming from Northerners moving down as sea-changes, but Southern culture isn't going anywhere soon.
Not sure what ethnic groups have to do with anything. Ethnically half of me is Dutch and Italian, both common ethnicities associated with the North, but I'm not from the North. All the immigrants that settled in the North assimilated and their descendants are Americans. How is the North "not Northern" because of its diversity? Diversity has nothing to do with region. The South is diverse too. You think New Orleans is homogenous?
Also I think Midwestern culture is more "representative of America." Southern culture is too distinct, Midwestern is more "general." Illinois represents America more accurately than Alabama.
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