Which state do you think has the best reputation abroad and which has the the worse (crimes, neighborhood)
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Good point, when a British person refers to a "yank" they are making a general remark for the whole US. A person from Texas traveling to Great Britain would still be referred to as a "yank". However, that is not to say regional stereotypes that exist here don't also, to a certain extent, exist around the world. The difference is a person in England or France might believe that Mississippi and Alabama are completely backwards and oppressive to other cultures and ethnicities, but there would not be the same hostility across the pond that people have here in America towards the South. Across the pond they might watch a film like Forrest Gump and just find it funny or bizarre, whereas here in the US some people outside of the South would watch a film like that and then use it to believe that they are superior to those people in those states.
I have traveled in 30 of the 50 states and am puzzled as to why any of the 30 states I have traveled to would think themselves superior to the South. Some of the states I have traveled in look depressed. My brother years ago let us in on the fact that all Americans are called Yankee overseas. We were not very happy about that because we consider ourselves to be more civilized and more polite than most people from the north or anywhere else we have met. American by birth; Southern by the grace of God.
Not saying these are true. But, by shortcomings, he probably mean: poor, backwards, racist, dumb, overly religious, gun toting, trailer parks everywhere and rednecks etc.
As you rightly pointed out people view of the US regions follows closely what is extremely simplistically portrayed in the US media: California: Babes, surfers, beaches, great weather, celebs, shallowness, valley girls. NYC: rude, cold, skyscrapers, urban elites, Mafia gangsters. South: above. And then the rest is mostly blank, except for some cowboys and barns somewhere.
Two of the rudest states we have visited were Southern California and Newport, Rhode Island. You have to wonder about the mentality of a human who blows a horn at another human telling that human he is in the space you don't have the patience to wait your turn to get to. That is not the mark of a superior anything. That is rude trash.
I have traveled in 30 of the 50 states and am puzzled as to why any of the 30 states I have traveled to would think themselves superior to the South. Some of the states I have traveled in look depressed. My brother years ago let us in on the fact that all Americans are called Yankee overseas. We were not very happy about that because we consider ourselves to be more civilized and more polite than most people from the north or anywhere else we have met. American by birth; Southern by the grace of God.
I drove a truck for almost 15 years and criss crossed many towns in the South and Midwest, and many parts of the US. When you try and tell people here on City-Data that rural America is rural America and the same backwards things people associate with the rural South are the same in the rural North, Midwest and everywhere else, they get all angry and defensive and start crazy threads, kinda like this one, to make themselves feel better. I have been to rural New York, towns in Western New York, and you get the same kind of people you will find in the rural south. The accent is different and yes culturally things differ, but the same general type of person - closed minded, isolated, bigoted, and culturally awkward, exists. I was on a message board the other day and somebody brought up domestic right wing terrorism and how the US South has been a breeding ground for these kinds of groups, and somebody agreed and brought up Timothy McVeigh, only to be told that he was from rural western New York and not the South. But on this site it's mostly a lost cause.
Two of the rudest states we have visited were Southern California and Newport, Rhode Island. You have to wonder about the mentality of a human who blows a horn at another human telling that human he is in the space you don't have the patience to wait your turn to get to. That is not the mark of a superior anything. That is rude trash.
I agree. I have been shocked by the some of the rudeness and arrogance I have experienced in the Northeast and even the Midwest. I guess I just fit in with the South's social norms.
Last edited by KY_Transplant; 06-12-2017 at 05:57 PM..
I drove a truck for almost 15 years and criss crossed many towns in the South and Midwest, and many parts of the US. When you try and tell people here on City-Data that rural America is rural America and the same backwards things people associate with the rural South are the same in the rural North, Midwest and everywhere else, they get all angry and defensive and start crazy threads, kinda like this one, to make themselves feel better. I have been to rural New York, towns in Western New York, and you get the same kind of people you will find in the rural south. The accent is different and yes culturally things differ, but the same general type of person - closed minded, isolated, bigoted, and culturally awkward, exists. I was on a message board the other day and somebody brought up domestic right wing terrorism and how the US South has been a breeding ground for these kinds of groups, and somebody agreed and brought up Timothy McVeigh, only to be told that he was from rural western New York and not the South. But on this site it's mostly a lost cause.
You speak the truth. I, too, have traveled the back roads extensively (in sales), and completely agree with what you're saying. People are people, and every town, city, and state has it all.
I drove a truck for almost 15 years and criss crossed many towns in the South and Midwest, and many parts of the US. When you try and tell people here on City-Data that rural America is rural America and the same backwards things people associate with the rural South are the same in the rural North, Midwest and everywhere else, they get all angry and defensive and start crazy threads, kinda like this one, to make themselves feel better. I have been to rural New York, towns in Western New York, and you get the same kind of people you will find in the rural south. The accent is different and yes culturally things differ, but the same general type of person - closed minded, isolated, bigoted, and culturally awkward, exists. I was on a message board the other day and somebody brought up domestic right wing terrorism and how the US South has been a breeding ground for these kinds of groups, and somebody agreed and brought up Timothy McVeigh, only to be told that he was from rural western New York and not the South. But on this site it's mostly a lost cause.
We differ in that I don't see rural as backward at all. I go to church with a teacher who grew up in rural New York State. She is polite and shows little difference from the rest of the well-mannered people in our neighborhood. Poverty is not something a person usually chooses for themselves and the South is very sensitive to those who have less than we do. I think that comes from the fact that during the Civil War many well-to-do families lost most of what they owned including their homes when Sherman came through burning his way South. Flaunting riches is frowned upon in the South. Many people have a lot more than one might think they have.
You may be right about one thing. When I see the tattooed, multiple piercings, drug heads, crazy acting people from other parts of the country and some have even moved into our area, nothing makes me want to be anywhere near them. I think isolation can be a good thing. And as one professor at NC State said, "If you are too open-minded you may let too much trash into your brain."
I saw nothing in the list of your other post to be ashamed of by anyone. I still find it puzzling that the South is so battered and no one realizes how rude they are in doing so. Could they maybe think that people in the South don't have feelings.
I would say probably California and New York are the most known states and have the most + reputation because that what most people overseas associate the USA with. We went on a Geology themed trip to the Ozarks with some students from different countries and one student from the Netherlands was shocked at some of the poverty that he observed. A lot of people think that the USA = Hollywood or Times Square so they get surprised when they see some the struggle that we have here in the USA. Kentucky is actually pretty well known as well due to KFC. A common response when you tell someone in Europe and even the Middle East that you are from Kentucky is "Oh! Chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken".
Please.....I doubt most foreigners know there is an Indiana.
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