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You would notice the same thing in Atlanta. But the working-class whites I tend to encounter from Northern Virginia or Calvert County (think secretary or maintenance worker) have a distinctly southern accent. The older whites I've encountered from the inner burbs (Arlington, Alexandria) do not sound nearly as southern, but the same could be said for the older whites living in DeKalb County, Georgia.
One probably silly indicator is how much working-class whites listen to country music. In Long Island and Western Massachusetts, rarely, some form of rock music was the preferred choice. But in Upstate NY (Central NY / Finger Lakes) country music is more common. That doesn't mean they're southern, of course.
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For some reason, educated people in both the North and South often tend to not have southern accents. Stephen Colbert, who was born and raised in Charleston, SC (the home of Rhett Butler), said he actively worked to not talk with a southern accent.
People in media are more likely to avoid having an accent than others. For Colbert, it might interfere with his persona.
I am NOT talking about political liberalism. At all. I am talking about dialect, church affiliation, cuisine, attitudes to extended family, and lots of CULTURAL markers of nothernness vs southernness.
Please take a trip to Atlanta. When you get back, let me know how many white people you find in the confines of I-285 that drink sweet tea, eat grits and have "lots of CULTURAL markers of northerness vs southerness." I don't think it's accurate to say that either region is becoming more "northern." I think it's more fair to say that they've become more generic. You could just as easily say that Atlanta is becoming more "Midwestern" or "Western" as you could "Northeastern."
Doesn't every region get their culture from the central city? Well since D.C. just 10 years ago was over 60% African American, wouldn't the D.C. region have mainly African American local culture. Also, isn't it true that most other races choose not to associate themselves with African American culture in every city in America? So, obviously the other culture's wouldn't have a stamp on the region. I think people need to think of D.C. as a Sweden, Norway, Russia etc. where mainly only one race lives and that is the culture present until recently. Now as for D.C. culture:
"Shooters Store, located in Southeast D.C., was founded in Washington D.C. by "Shooter-Rob" and expanded to Baltimore in 2001. Shooters' success is apparent in its celebrity clientele. Entertainers such as Allen Iverson, Jadakiss, Big Tigger and Irv Gotti, among others, have all been spotted wearing Shooters apparel."
People in media are more likely to avoid having an accent than others. For Colbert, it might interfere with his persona.
I heard him talk about it in an interview. Here's what Wiki says about it.
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The emphasis his family placed on intelligence and his observation of negative stereotypes of Southerners led Colbert to train himself to suppress his Southern accent while he was still quite young.
I guess nobody wants to be Southern. Including people in the DC Metro Area.
Doesn't every region get their culture from the central city? Well since D.C. just 10 years ago was over 60% African American, wouldn't the D.C. region have mainly African American local culture. And, don't most races not associate themselves with African American culture in every city in America? So, obviously the other culture's wouldn't have a stamp on the region. I think people need to think of D.C. as a Sweden, Norway, Russia etc. where mainly only one race lives and that is the culture present until recently. Now as for D.C. culture:
Sorry, what does this sentence mean? The double negative is throwing me off.
Doesn't every region get their culture from the central city? Well since D.C. just 10 years ago was over 60% African American, wouldn't the D.C. region have mainly African American local culture. And, don't most races not associate themselves with African American culture in every city in America? So, obviously the other culture's wouldn't have a stamp on the region. Now as for D.C. culture:
"Shooters Store, located in Southeast D.C., was founded in Washington D.C. by "Shooter-Rob" and expanded to Baltimore in 2001. Shooters' success is apparent in its celebrity clientele. Entertainers such as Allen Iverson, Jadakiss, Big Tigger and Irv Gotti, among others, have all been spotted wearing Shooters apparel."
You know the biggest difference between DC and cities like Chicago, Philly or Boston?
Most non-black people in the DC area know little about anything you just posted. In fact, I might even say that some black people in the DC area will know little about anything you just posted. There are no unifying cultural things in the area beyond the Redskins (who are frowned upon by the PC brigade), and perhaps, crab.
In Philadelphia, if you say "Da Bully" to a Korean woman, a black man, an Italian, a Puerto Rican, etc., they're going to instantly know what you're talking about. If you say "Southie" to most people of any ethnic background in Boston, they're going to know what you're talking about. If you say "Uptown" or the "Wharf" to a non-black person in the DC area, there's a good chance they'll just have a blank stare on their face. That's the difference.
That's not what I said. I said that a healthy mix of Asians and more educated whites is a relatively nascent phenomena. .
ah, your reference was unclear to me
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You would notice the same thing in Atlanta. But the working-class whites I tend to encounter from Northern Virginia or Calvert County (think secretary or maintenance worker) have a distinctly southern accent.
Id say thats much less true for secretaries than for maintenance workers - the maintenance workers, to the extent they not hispanics, are typically from west virginia, afaict.
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Well, I'm not sure where you're eating at, but you can get sweet tea and homemade grits at the Woodside Deli in Silver Spring (highly recommended - not owned by black people, btw) along with several other places in suburban Maryland like Rip's in Bowie.
It's a lot easier to find sweet tea and grits in the DMV than you think, man. You're not going to find it at George Latroube's Cafe of Bourgieness in the inner core, but yeah, it's not hard to find at a random roadside diner in Maryland or Virginia.
I didnt say it was unavailable. Its not. Its generally not the default option - at least in Fairfax - even in the diners. Definitely not in the diners in arlington and alexandria that im familiar with. Ive never been to a diner in Loudoun, but I doubt they would be the default options there.
In PWC and beyond, maybe.
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Subarus are SWPL. Fixed-gear bicycles are hipster. Hipster, however, can be said to be a subset of SWPL..
Hmm, well live and learn (about the subarus, not the hipsters).
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There are loads of Yankee, northern accented, totally unhip, more or less moderate Republican or Democrat folks in Atlanta and Miami, too. That doesn't make those cities "Northeastern.".
I think the only really un northeastern thing about Miami is how caribbean it is, both by demography and by economic and social connections.
I dont know atlanta, but my impression is that its much more tied to the south, and has a lot more southern white origin people living there, than DC. Ever read "A Man in Full"??
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And those people do not constitute the majority of white people in the DC area. I do not think of someone from California, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin or South Carolina as being "Yankee" no matter how eductated they are. .
sorry, when I said yankee, i meant generally northern, not northeastern. (that is a common use of the word yankee, especially in the south). By that usage folks from Illinois, ohio, wisconsin and michigan are definitely yankee. Folks from Calif and oregon arguably so. South carolina, no, of course not.
I never meant to imply that majority of middle class suburban whites in the DC suburbs are northeasterners. They are a blend of all regions (not sure the exact mix) but the result feels (not only to me, but especially to southern migrants here) northern. That I would call the region overall northeastern is because culturally its broadly middle atlantic northern (taking into account the rednecks, blacks, bland suburbanites, liberal uppies, and immigrants) and because proximity, transport connections, etc give it economic and social ties to the northeast megalopolis stronger than to any other single region.
You know the biggest difference between DC and cities like Chicago, Philly or Boston?
Most non-black people in the DC area know little about anything you just posted. In fact, I might even say that some black people in the DC area will know little about anything you just posted. There are no unifying cultural things in the area beyond the Redskins (who are frowned upon by the PC brigade), and perhaps, crab.
In Philadelphia, if you say "Da Bully" to a Korean woman, a black man, an Italian, a Puerto Rican, etc., they're going to instantly know what you're talking about. If you say "Southie" to most people of any ethnic background in Boston, they're going to know what you're talking about. If you say "Uptown" or the "Wharf" to a non-black person in the DC area, there's a good chance they'll just have a blank stare on their face. That's the difference.
Couple things especially since we have had this conversation before.
The most important....
How old are you?
That is very important because people over 40 are not going to know much about the things I am talking about. People who are older than that most likely did not grow up through the 80's and 90's and 2000's when this all became popular. Infact, GoGo wasn't started until the late 70's so it's all relative to age. Also, Washington D.C. was not a mostly black city before 1950. These cultures have evolved in the last 60 years and really the last 30 years for D.C. Cities that have ethnic white culture from 100 years ago would obviously have more culture embedded overtime. Sorry, black people were going through Jim Crow during that time.
Next question.....
Are those people from here born and raised?
It is very rare that someone under 40 who went to high school here would not know about this stuff. They saw the black people wearing it and they heard the music growing up. The local food has more to do with people in the city and if suburbanites didn't come into the city, they wouldn't know about it and that goes for every city anywhere. Also, I think the lack of other races in the central city the last 40 years is the reason for people not knowing about things. Boston, Philly, Chicago aren't black cities and have never been black cities. D.C. used to be over 80% black. 80%!!!!!
Last edited by MDAllstar; 02-14-2013 at 01:20 PM..
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Including people in the DC Metro Area.
