Do people in Maryland consider themselves North, Southern, or in Between? (Baltimore: military, club)

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by vivo

isn't this whole mcmansion thing just a countrywide thing? I guess more so with the upper-middle class. is the rich stuck up thing more pronounced with rich northeasterners than rich southerners? apparently ny transplants here in orange co complain about the materialistic snobby attitudes here. so i'd say never come to live here.
well maybe come here but read up on it first.

Believe me those super rich Yankees are much worse than rich Southerners or rich Southwesterners and Californians. Yes, California has an image of materialism, but whatever stereotypes about vanity and materialism people have about the O.C., in addition to all that Yankees, especially people from Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, also have a condescending and patronizing attutide toward everyone else in the country that is less prevalent in California. And yes, New Yorkers, New Jerseyians, and DC transplants with northern roots look down on both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They actuallly say that LA is very "uncultured" and "bland" and "unsophisticated". Now can you imagine how those people would view the South or the Midwest? People from the north come to Maryland and they honestly think they're better than us. They complain about how we don't drive as good as they do (meaning we aren't as dangerous, rude, or aggressive on the highway) or how they're "deprived" of all the good pizza and bagels they have back home. Thank you very much but I'm pretty satisfied with Pizza Hut, and Sbarro's to me is extraordinary. I don't need to pay $50 for a friggin pizza just so show how "cultured" I am. I can get my bagel at Giant or Safeway....something that those people probably think is beneath them.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by Jay F

Maryland is a Northern state all the way. Politically it's very Democrat. Every Northeastern state with no exceptions is a blue state while every Southern state is a Red state. Maryland (and Delaware) can not vote Dem and be considered part of the South. Politically, Maryland has more in common with Massachusetts than Virginia.

Didn't Maryland recently ban smoking in bars? Every Northeastern state (except Pennsylvania) bans smoking in bars while no Southern state has a statewide ban (except for Delaware, like Maryland is considered the South by the U.S census but in reality is culturally totally Northeastern). Southerners value freedom,while Northeasterners cherish the nanny state..Maryland loves that nanny state.

How about capital punishment? Southeners believe in justice. Virginia is a true Southern state because they rank #2 in executions behind Texas. Maryland on the other hand has only executed 5 killers since 1976. Southerners feel compassion for crime victims while people in Northern states such as Maryland feel love and compassion towards the violent criminals. Southerners think the violent criminal is barbaric while Northerners think that punishing the violent criminal is uncivilized. Why do you think everyone wanted the 2002 sniper shooters tried in Virginia and not Maryland? It's because Virginia is anti-criminal and willing to give the death penalty while Maryland, like all Northern states, is soft on crime.

Definitely true. I live in Maryland and wanted the snipers tried in Virginia, and not in Northern Virginia which feels very northern now.

Plus, much of Maryland feels like the Rust Belt while the South is associated with the Sun Belt (along with the Southwest). Rust Belt doesn't necessarily have to mean very cold like Vasigner says (though Baltimore and anywhere in Maryland is way too cold for my liking). Southern cities are booming while Baltimore, Maryland's biggest city, is suffering year after year of decay, population loss, crime, etc. I don't even know what exactly it is but going into the city just puts you in a very depressing mood. Maybe its the grayness and drabness of the landscape (similar to Northern cities like Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and New Jersey cities), or the boarded up windows and iron bars everywhere, I don't reallly know.

Yes, politically MD is VERY northern, especially the areas around DC. Now Montgomery County schools want to each about birth control AND homosexuality. In addition, church attendance is very low here and there is also a large Catholic population which runs counter to trends in most of the South. Evangelical Christianity is not very big here. Another way Maryland is northern is that IHOP heavily outnumbers Waffle House, Bob Evans is rare and I'm never seen a Krispy Kreme store in Maryland (they do sell Krispy Kreme at Giant though) while there are countless Dunkin Donuts. The fast pace of life around DC and Baltimore is also a northern thing.

[kjg1963]

"Bob Evans is rare and I'm never seen a Krispy Kreme store in Maryland"

Krispy Creme is in all but 9 of the U.S. states. Here in Maryland they are in Columbia, Glen Burnie, Rockville, and Owings Mills and also DC. I remember there used to be a shop in Wheaton when I was growing up. They've been around a long time.

Bob Evans are popping up everywhere there is new development. There are 25 in Maryland alone. If you look at their locations map, they have restuarants in more mid-atlantic, northern, and mid-west states than southern.

[newhart]

Krispy Creme is in all but 9 of the U.S. states. Here in Maryland they are in Columbia, Glen Burnie, Rockville, and Owings Mills and also DC. I remember there used to be a shop in Wheaton when I was growing up. They've been around a long time.

Where I grew up in the south, Krispy Kreme was the only kind of donuts we could get, and only the glazed. When I moved to Maryland, I was thrilled to find there were donuts available that weren't so sickeningly sweet. I"ll take Dunkin over KK any day. I love my southern hometown but the idea that people still smoke in restaurants there makes me cringe.

[kjg1963]

LOL, I never understood the fascination with Krispy Kreme either. I prefer a cake donut myself!

[vivo]

Originally Posted by Terrapin2212

Definitely true. I live in Maryland and wanted the snipers tried in Virginia, and not in Northern Virginia which feels very northern now.

Plus, much of Maryland feels like the Rust Belt while the South is associated with the Sun Belt (along with the Southwest). Rust Belt doesn't necessarily have to mean very cold like Vasigner says (though Baltimore and anywhere in Maryland is way too cold for my liking). Southern cities are booming while Baltimore, Maryland's biggest city, is suffering year after year of decay, population loss, crime, etc. I don't even know what exactly it is but going into the city just puts you in a very depressing mood. Maybe its the grayness and drabness of the landscape (similar to Northern cities like Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and New Jersey cities), or the boarded up windows and iron bars everywhere, I don't reallly know.

Yes, politically MD is VERY northern, especially the areas around DC. Now Montgomery County schools want to each about birth control AND homosexuality. In addition, church attendance is very low here and there is also a large Catholic population which runs counter to trends in most of the South. Evangelical Christianity is not very big here. Another way Maryland is northern is that IHOP heavily outnumbers Waffle House, Bob Evans is rare and I'm never seen a Krispy Kreme store in Maryland (they do sell Krispy Kreme at Giant though) while there are countless Dunkin Donuts. The fast pace of life around DC and Baltimore is also a northern thing.

lotsa catholics in new orleans though.

[vivo]

Originally Posted by Terrapin2212

Believe me those super rich Yankees are much worse than rich Southerners or rich Southwesterners and Californians. Yes, California has an image of materialism, but whatever stereotypes about vanity and materialism people have about the O.C., in addition to all that Yankees, especially people from Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, also have a condescending and patronizing attutide toward everyone else in the country that is less prevalent in California. And yes, New Yorkers, New Jerseyians, and DC transplants with northern roots look down on both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They actuallly say that LA is very "uncultured" and "bland" and "unsophisticated". Now can you imagine how those people would view the South or the Midwest? People from the north come to Maryland and they honestly think they're better than us. They complain about how we don't drive as good as they do (meaning we aren't as dangerous, rude, or aggressive on the highway) or how they're "deprived" of all the good pizza and bagels they have back home. Thank you very much but I'm pretty satisfied with Pizza Hut, and Sbarro's to me is extraordinary. I don't need to pay $50 for a friggin pizza just so show how "cultured" I am. I can get my bagel at Giant or Safeway....something that those people probably think is beneath them.

these bagels in Pikesville (a majority Jewish Balt suburb) mayb e nyc quality

Goldberg's Kosher New York Bagels in Pikesville on Citypaper.com
tell the mocoers to go up there
moco has a lot of jews but perhaps not great bagels because dc wasn't an immigrant city

as far as pizza not sure if any is nyc quality

[portraityourpet]

we on the eastern shore consider ourselves southern....

[Way_Up_South]

Maryland is in the South. It may have a few Northern characteristics but it's a Southern state. The simple fact that we are even having this conversation makes it southern. You can't debate the fact that New York is in the North, you can't debate whether or not Georgia is in the South. The true Mid-Atlantic state would have to be Delaware. That's a hybrid!

[Tesaje]

I've lived in MD for over 25 years, but grew up in the west. To my eyes, the native Marylanders are more Southern than Northern in attitude and history but in many ways are fairly unique. It really is a different feel north of the Mason-Dixon line. But the huge influx of people from all over the country and even the world in both MD and VA counties surrounding DC makes it a lot less southern feeling than the rural areas. Congressional district 6 is firmly Republican with reactionary representatives as red as in the deep south. So far, the ever expanding DC sprawl hasn't made a dent in those politics. The heavily Democratic areas are in the Baltimore-DC cities and burbs - the vast majority of the population. MD has few cities despite looking very urban because most city things are handled by the county govts. Few urban areas incorporate. Montgomery and PG counties look like one huge city and have a larger population than Baltimore, but there are few incorporated cities.

The rural accents are distinct but not like a regular southern accent. The Tidewater regions have been described as having the same accent preserved from the southwest England areas of the 17th century. I think the different feel to MD as opposed to VA comes from it starting off as a Catholic enclave, big German populations from very early on (pre-revolutionary war) and the border state things if you discount the huge numbers of transplants (like me).