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I third the notion of Nashville and Memphis. They are polar opposites and neither one even wants to be like the other. Nashville looks down on Memphis (wrongfully so) and Memphis looks at Nashville's traffic and cost of living pains with horror.
I third the notion of Nashville and Memphis. They are polar opposites and neither one even wants to be like the other. Nashville looks down on Memphis (wrongfully so) and Memphis looks at Nashville's traffic and cost of living pains with horror.
I would say Chattanooga is even more different from Memphis than Nashville is.
Richmond and Norfolk are much more different from each other than Raleigh and Charlotte are from each other. Richmond and Norfolk don't physically resemble each other, the people don't have the same accents, the weather is different enough to note, the education levels of the populace are different, the workforce is different, socially they are different on almost any level....
Before I moved to Norfolk I had the impression of them being more alike than not, but now having lived in both, it is clear that one would get a different Virginia in each...
Raleigh and Charlotte at least physically resemble each other. Same style of historic neighborhoods, sane style of new urbanism, virtually the same weather patterns. Those two are just easily more alike than Norfolk and Richmond...
I see what you mean. However, Raleigh and Norfolk are both multinodal metros while Charlotte and Richmond are the dominant cities. I can agree with you about the accents because I think Richmonders tend to have stronger southern accents on average than you would hear in Hampton Roads/Norfolk. Weather would be kind of a toss up also since Charlotte is closer to the mountains. I think Norfolk and Richmond probably resembled each other much more prior to Norfolk destroying the majority of It's downtown and inner city neighborhoods. I don't think the education levels would be that different neither if many of the more affluent people didn't leave to create Va Beach during integration. Both areas have major HBCU's and other universities within the city and metro (VCU/ODU, VUU/NSU, UR/CNU, etc).
I can agree with you about the accents because I think Richmonders tend to have stronger southern accents on average than you would hear in Hampton Roads/Norfolk.
This is a myth that has circled this board for years for no other reason than Richmond's long ago status as a Confederate capital...
There are some pronounced southern accents here. I was of the belief before moving here, now that I live here there is absolutely no way anybody should feel Richmond is more culturally southern or have stronger southern accents. To be fair, you can find a noticeable amount of people with southern accents in both cities, but there is far more in this area...
Physically, the only city out here that one could say isn't a "Southern looking" city would only be parts of Norfolk. Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are, in a sense, displaced Sunbelt cities. The urban areas of Chesapeake (such as South Norfolk) are more traditional urban Virginia, while most of the urban pockets of VB outside the Oceanfront is kind of "New urbanist". Norfolk itself has a bit of that style of urbanity...
Suffolk is old Virginia South and the News/Hampton can't be classified as anything other than southern, with the accents to match. This are still doesn't overall have the drawls one would find just a few hours away in NC, but this region is full of southern accents and characteristics. Which is interesting, because when we debate Virginia's southern qualifications online, this is the second largest region of the state, with more of a southern personality than NoVa and Central VA, and yet the dismissal of this area's southern-ness is chalked up to transplants. But, transplants assimilate into the culture here, not the other way around (I've so far met transplanted New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians in decent number. There is also a TON of transplanted Floridians here, as well as Carolinians of both Carolinas)...
I work with a couple women from Ingleside, with the thickest southern drawls, born and raised in Norfolk. They basically sound like Young Money Yawn, who is the most southern sounding Virginia rapper I've ever heard and a Norfolk native. Norfolk is very hit or miss; over half the residents sound southern to some degree, whereas in Richmond I'd say it's less than half. It definitely has a slower old South energy, whereas Richmond has the hustle and bustle and light brusqueness normally associated with the Northeast. Richmond definitely does not look physically like anything around here, save a small percentage of pockets in Norfolk, and maybe some similarities in the rural landscapes of both areas...
Flagstaff and Phoenix. Just 2 hours apart, but they couldn't be more different if they tried. One is the hottest major city in the US, the other is the snowiest in the lower 48. One is in the Sonoran Desert, the other in the pines. One is modern, the other lost in time.
This is a myth that has circled this board for years for no other reason than Richmond's long ago status as a Confederate capital...
There are some pronounced southern accents here. I was of the belief before moving here, now that I live here there is absolutely no way anybody should feel Richmond is more culturally southern or have stronger southern accents. To be fair, you can find a noticeable amount of people with southern accents in both cities, but there is far more in this area...
Physically, the only city out here that one could say isn't a "Southern looking" city would only be parts of Norfolk. Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are, in a sense, displaced Sunbelt cities. The urban areas of Chesapeake (such as South Norfolk) are more traditional urban Virginia, while most of the urban pockets of VB outside the Oceanfront is kind of "New urbanist". Norfolk itself has a bit of that style of urbanity...
Suffolk is old Virginia South and the News/Hampton can't be classified as anything other than southern, with the accents to match. This are still doesn't overall have the drawls one would find just a few hours away in NC, but this region is full of southern accents and characteristics. Which is interesting, because when we debate Virginia's southern qualifications online, this is the second largest region of the state, with more of a southern personality than NoVa and Central VA, and yet the dismissal of this area's southern-ness is chalked up to transplants. But, transplants assimilate into the culture here, not the other way around (I've so far met transplanted New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians in decent number. There is also a TON of transplanted Floridians here, as well as Carolinians of both Carolinas)...
I work with a couple women from Ingleside, with the thickest southern drawls, born and raised in Norfolk. They basically sound like Young Money Yawn, who is the most southern sounding Virginia rapper I've ever heard and a Norfolk native. Norfolk is very hit or miss; over half the residents sound southern to some degree, whereas in Richmond I'd say it's less than half. It definitely has a slower old South energy, whereas Richmond has the hustle and bustle and light brusqueness normally associated with the Northeast. Richmond definitely does not look physically like anything around here, save a small percentage of pockets in Norfolk, and maybe some similarities in the rural landscapes of both areas...
I agree with you about tidewater being physically more sunbelt/southern looking, but we will have to agree to disagree about the southern accent thing for AA's. Lol I would say Redrum/Rum or J Roddy Rod have the strongest southern accents out of any VA rappers I have heard and they are from Richmond. Young Money Yawn sounds southern also, but I don't think many people here sound like him; atleast not in Newport News/Hampton/Va Beach and I hear a lot of people who sound like Iverson,Missy Elliot, Alonzo Morning or Pharrell also. I'm not saying that tidewater doesn't have southern sounding accents, but when I'm in Richmond it's much more pronounced and prevalent. Even the slang is more southern such as mayne, shaw (ty), which are phrases you wouldn't hear in tidewater. Lol. I With that said, Richmond does have a faster pace in the core than Norfolk/Tidewater and I was impressed by the amount of foot traffic I saw out there during the previous weekend. Richmond does resemble a mini Philadelphia or DC/Baltimore within the downtown and inner neighborhoods,
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