Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with you but your earlier quote was this:
Maybe you meant to say heterogeneous or different?
Actually no I meant homogenous as in people think Virginia is the same as Alabama and Pennsylvania is the same as New Hampshire. Although I do get what you mean and do agree with you that the upper southern and lower Northern states aren't that different.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
2,709 posts, read 5,094,873 times
Reputation: 1028
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwa1984
I actually agree with you about Maryland and Delaware being part of the Mid Atlantic and not the south. West Virginia I'm inclined to say the North part of the state is more inline with the North the Southern part though you can make an argument either way. I also said most peoples definition of the Northeast. Since a lot of people argue over whether Maryland is or isn't part of the Northeast. Also I do live relatively close to the Mason Dixon line and have argued repeatedly on here that it is irrelevant.
Ok...in that case, we agree here. As far as the upper south and lower north states not being that different, I can agree to that to an extent, but there are still noticeable differences.
There is no such thing as a Northerner, because the North and the West have always been about immigration. Our identity is more tied to our race/ethnicity than it is to the part of the country we live in.
The South is more of a cohesive region than the North because it's more homogeneous in it's population, where you have people who have been living in the same state for 300, 400 years in some cases, whereas the Midwest is full of people who only came north in the last century, like Blacks trying to escape Southern racism, and German and Swedish immigrants.
New York and the Northeast is full of Italians, Jews, and the Irish who came over here in the last 200 years mostly.
California and the West is full of immigrants from Mexico.
South Florida is full of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Colombians, and Brazlians.
The South from its boundaries in Texas, Kentucky, Virgina, and North Florida has a distinct accent and culture, that's why all over the world people have a distinct idea about Southerners, that's why people always stereotype and single out the South.
Also, it singled itself out after the humiliation of the Civil War.
Overall I'd say the whole north south thing is mostly BS. What it really comes down to is actual geography being how close people live next to each other that determine how many similarities and differences there are. For example I'd say that Pennsylvania and Virginia have more in common with each other then they do with Vermont or Louisiana. I'd also say that West Virginia and Ohio have more in common with each other than they do with Texas or Rhode Island. Overall people tend to exaggerate how homogenous regions of the United States actually are.
Virginia is separated from Pennsylvania by Maryland, West Virginia's longest border is with Virginia, 140 miles longer than Ohio and 270 miles longer than Pennsylvania. Borders bleed, but not to that extent.
Virginia is separated from Pennsylvania by Maryland, West Virginia's longest border is with Virginia, 140 miles longer than Ohio and 270 miles longer than Pennsylvania. Borders bleed, but not to that extent.
Pennsylvania is seperated from Virginia by 22 miles on US-522 and 38 miles on I-81. Hardly a huge distance and much much closer then New York is from where I live even Philadelphia.
There is no such thing as a Northerner, because the North and the West have always been about immigration. Our identity is more tied to our race/ethnicity than it is to the part of the country we live in.
The South is more of a cohesive region than the North because it's more homogeneous in it's population, where you have people who have been living in the same state for 300, 400 years in some cases, whereas the Midwest is full of people who only came north in the last century, like Blacks trying to escape Southern racism, and German and Swedish immigrants.
New York and the Northeast is full of Italians, Jews, and the Irish who came over here in the last 200 years mostly.
California and the West is full of immigrants from Mexico.
South Florida is full of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Colombians, and Brazlians.
The South from its boundaries in Texas, Kentucky, Virgina, and North Florida has a distinct accent and culture, that's why all over the world people have a distinct idea about Southerners, that's why people always stereotype and single out the South.
Also, it singled itself out after the humiliation of the Civil War.
But that's a error though, the south is actually more Diverse than the midwest and Northeast this isn't the pre 1950s. To some degree I believe the south historically presented itself as monolithic when it was never was. The south is just more cultural pan. I post this in another thread not to long ago.
From Houston being a capital of a country, DFW's cattle drive, Atlanta's rail and industrial history, Charleston's charm, to New Orleans's creole culture. And I haven't even brought up demographics yet. You think the Gulf coast is like southern appalachia?
Parts of the south there's a clear influence of: Spanish, french, Irish, Scottish, English and even African cultures influences. And than after the civil war people from rural areas different parts of the south, and business leaders from up north started coming down south to the cities. And now that the great migration is reversing blacks are moving to different states from where are ancestors were.
The south has the 2nd largest Latino population a lot of that has to do with Texas and Florida. But heck Atlanta's Latino population is higher than most of the northern cities. And GA, SC, AL and MS all at least have colonial Spanish influences.
I think the south has more of a pan culture identity despite the diversity. southern culture, southern food, southern music are all very broad subjects. Just as broad as NY is to MN but up north never really pan together. Southern culture just tend to be more culturally pan.
But that's a error though, the south is actually more Diverse than the midwest and Northeast this isn't the pre 1950s. To some degree I believe the south historically presented itself as monolithic when it was never was. The south is just more cultural pan. I post this in another thread not to long ago.
The big difference is that the diversity of immigrants in the South is much more recent in that the influx of immigrants really started taking off in the South about 20-30 years ago. In the Northeast this has been going on for about 150-200 years. The constant flow of diverse immigrant groups is nothing new in the Northeast. The South for a large part of its history has been mostly homogenous in its population with not a lot of new immigrants coming in. That in turn has given the South a more distinct culture than the rest of the regions in the country.
The big difference is that the diversity of immigrants in the South is much more recent in that the influx of immigrants really started taking off in the South about 20-30 years ago. In the Northeast this has been going on for about 150-200 years. The constant flow of diverse immigrant groups is nothing new in the Northeast. The South for a large part of its history has been mostly homogenous in its population with not a lot of new immigrants coming in. That in turn has given the South a more distinct culture than the rest of the regions in the country.
Exactly!
The North of this country itself has NEVER had an identity because of it's constant influx of immigrants, whereas the South, while it may be becoming more and more diverse now, was for a LONG time homogeneous. That's why it has a distinct culture and the North doesn't.
And also, most of Florida's diversity is in South Florida, which can't really be called the South. I know it's technically the lowest part of this country, but really "The South" ends with the Florida Panhandle.
I can counter that with my wife who just took a job Monday in southern Delaware and brought in a bunch of food today to break the ice because since she got there, all she has been called is a Yank and northerner. So today she left her lights on and her car battery was dead and since she has jumper cables she asked 5 of the women that she works with for help and they told her "tough **** yank" and "too bad".
So don't freakin tell me how nice all southerners are, cause they're NOT.
The best part is these nitwits don't even know that southerners, real southerners consider them to Yanks as well.
I had two friends that tried to jump one of their cars with the other car battery. It exploded because they didn't get the cables on right, so I could not have helped your wife either. I call AAA with problems like that.
What you just described is one bunch of yankees being rude to another yankee. And yes, I have seen that happen too. Why do ya'll act like that?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
