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I voted Birmingham. It's a sizeable city, over 1 million in it's metro, is still mostly black and white, and isn't a tourist centre with a lot of transplants attracted by the nice architecture like Charleston.
I agree. I worked in Florida for over 14 years - most of it in the FL Panhandle adjacent to Alabama and Georgia. I also worked in South FL for one year (Fort Lauderdale/Miami).
Orlando and Tampa should not even be on the list at all. They are "Northern" cities that just happen to be in Florida.
Miami should not be on the list either. The city is Latin American/Caribbean in culture - not even remotely southern.
By contrast, Birmingham is truly southern. Tallahassee resembles Birmingham demographically and culturally. Birmingham and Tallahassee are part of the "Bible Belt" of southern culture, Evangelical Protestantism, football, and climate. The FSU/Alabama game is huge this fall - the best programs of the "Deep South ACC and SEC" in full conflict. The ticket prices are outrageous at this point.
The annual FSU-Miami game is like a clash of cultures between the fans: the "Bible Belt Southerners" of FSU and the FL Panhandle versus the Metro Miami fans of Latin American and Caribbean ethnicity.
The only counter-statement I want to add is that many people not from the "South" often view the "South" as racist. In my experience, the harsh racism of the 1960s has faded. Modern southerners are actually progressive and tolerant of diversity in many ways (relative to the 1960s). Realistically, racism can still be a problem but not with the frequency that had been prevalent decades ago. I actually had a southern blonde girlfriend even though I am a brown Native American. Southern belles are awesome (LOL). It doesn't surprise me "Chick-fil-a" is a sponsoring advertiser of that FSU-Alabama game. My southern Protestant girlfriend taught me to appreciate "Chick-fil-a". I had never gone there before meeting her. I still go there here in Phoenix.
What makes Orlando and Tampa northern cities in the South?
Not getting this, either...
I love how people choose to separate areas of the South based on certain biases they have. Being culturally unique or diverse doesn't make a city un-Southern. And I can tell you, living for several years in Upstate New York, Florida (and the Carolinas; they are 1-2) is probably the most popular Southern state for New Yorkers, judging by the amount of family ties or people who are former residents there, that I saw. I even dated two girls born and raised in Elmira, who were former Florida residents--the first one I only dated two months or so bit she used to live near Tampa somewhere; the second girl I dated for a year and she previously lived in Ocala for two years....and I met people in New York who lived in or had been to every region of Florida;
I have an aunt and cousin who live in Jacksonville, and a cousin and her kids who live in Orlando, all born and raised Upstaters;
Not to mention the countless amount of people I've met who are from Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Daytona, Ocala, Cocoa Beach (work with a white guy from there right now, he's definitely a southerner), Melbourne, St. Petersburg, I'm sure I'm forgetting some places------those people are and were southerners. And I never met a New Yorker who called Florida a northern state in the South, the way its spoken of on here. Jacksonville and Pensacola areas also unfairly get panned as the only southern areas of Florida...
The regional manager I work for now, who oversees our district in Hampton Roads/DC/Annapolis and Vermont/New Hampshire, is from the Space Coast. His first name is "Jefferson"...
Excuse my rant, but it really irks me with this whole Florida not the South thing. This is along the lines if people who call certain parts of NC un-southern based on transplants. If that's how we do this, I guess 75% of the South is no longer southern--not just Florida...
I love how people choose to separate areas of the South based on certain biases they have. Being culturally unique or diverse doesn't make a city un-Southern. And I can tell you, living for several years in Upstate New York, Florida (and the Carolinas; they are 1-2) is probably the most popular Southern state for New Yorkers, judging by the amount of family ties or people who are former residents there, that I saw. I even dated two girls born and raised in Elmira, who were former Florida residents--the first one I only dated two months or so bit she used to live near Tampa somewhere; the second girl I dated for a year and she previously lived in Ocala for two years....and I met people in New York who lived in or had been to every region of Florida;
I have an aunt and cousin who live in Jacksonville, and a cousin and her kids who live in Orlando, all born and raised Upstaters;
Not to mention the countless amount of people I've met who are from Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Daytona, Ocala, Cocoa Beach (work with a white guy from there right now, he's definitely a southerner), Melbourne, St. Petersburg, I'm sure I'm forgetting some places------those people are and were southerners. And I never met a New Yorker who called Florida a northern state in the South, the way its spoken of on here. Jacksonville and Pensacola areas also unfairly get panned as the only southern areas of Florida...
The regional manager I work for now, who oversees our district in Hampton Roads/DC/Annapolis and Vermont/New Hampshire, is from the Space Coast. His first name is "Jefferson"...
Excuse my rant, but it really irks me with this whole Florida not the South thing. This is along the lines if people who call certain parts of NC un-southern based on transplants. If that's how we do this, I guess 75% of the South is no longer southern--not just Florida...
Pretty much. If hundreds of thousands of Californians suddenly picked up stakes and moved to Nebraska, would Nebraska then be considered West Coast?
I love how people choose to separate areas of the South based on certain biases they have. Being culturally unique or diverse doesn't make a city un-Southern. And I can tell you, living for several years in Upstate New York, Florida (and the Carolinas; they are 1-2) is probably the most popular Southern state for New Yorkers, judging by the amount of family ties or people who are former residents there, that I saw. I even dated two girls born and raised in Elmira, who were former Florida residents--the first one I only dated two months or so bit she used to live near Tampa somewhere; the second girl I dated for a year and she previously lived in Ocala for two years....and I met people in New York who lived in or had been to every region of Florida;
I have an aunt and cousin who live in Jacksonville, and a cousin and her kids who live in Orlando, all born and raised Upstaters;
Not to mention the countless amount of people I've met who are from Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Daytona, Ocala, Cocoa Beach (work with a white guy from there right now, he's definitely a southerner), Melbourne, St. Petersburg, I'm sure I'm forgetting some places------those people are and were southerners. And I never met a New Yorker who called Florida a northern state in the South, the way its spoken of on here. Jacksonville and Pensacola areas also unfairly get panned as the only southern areas of Florida...
The regional manager I work for now, who oversees our district in Hampton Roads/DC/Annapolis and Vermont/New Hampshire, is from the Space Coast. His first name is "Jefferson"...
Excuse my rant, but it really irks me with this whole Florida not the South thing. This is along the lines if people who call certain parts of NC un-southern based on transplants. If that's how we do this, I guess 75% of the South is no longer southern--not just Florida...
What makes Orlando and Tampa northern cities in the South?
Just silly. Just because Orlando and Tampa aren't stereotypically Southern doesn't automatically make them Northern. It takes more than a bunch of WaWa's to be Northern.
Yeah because people have this one track mind of what is Southern or what is suppose to be Southern and thus they feel Florida isn't part of it. It's crazy to me. My cousin moved up here from Orlando just recently. Born in Clewiston and raised in Orlando. The moment he opens his mouth, people here in DC automatically say he's from the South. If I was to record my other cousins born and raised in Miami, nobody would think twice about them being from New York. Tampa and Orlando are nothing like Cleveland, Philadelphia, or even DC. At least to me.
I mean this:
Quote:
The annual FSU-Miami game is like a clash of cultures between the fans: the "Bible Belt Southerners" of FSU and the FL Panhandle versus the Metro Miami fans of Latin American and Caribbean ethnicity.
is excruciatingly false. Much of FSU's player came from South Florida. Much of the alums of FSU come from South Florida. Also, Clinton Portis, who went from Miami, went to HS in Gainesville.
I love how people choose to separate areas of the South based on certain biases they have. Being culturally unique or diverse doesn't make a city un-Southern. And I can tell you, living for several years in Upstate New York, Florida (and the Carolinas; they are 1-2) is probably the most popular Southern state for New Yorkers, judging by the amount of family ties or people who are former residents there, that I saw. I even dated two girls born and raised in Elmira, who were former Florida residents--the first one I only dated two months or so bit she used to live near Tampa somewhere; the second girl I dated for a year and she previously lived in Ocala for two years....and I met people in New York who lived in or had been to every region of Florida;
I have an aunt and cousin who live in Jacksonville, and a cousin and her kids who live in Orlando, all born and raised Upstaters;
Not to mention the countless amount of people I've met who are from Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Daytona, Ocala, Cocoa Beach (work with a white guy from there right now, he's definitely a southerner), Melbourne, St. Petersburg, I'm sure I'm forgetting some places------those people are and were southerners. And I never met a New Yorker who called Florida a northern state in the South, the way its spoken of on here. Jacksonville and Pensacola areas also unfairly get panned as the only southern areas of Florida...
The regional manager I work for now, who oversees our district in Hampton Roads/DC/Annapolis and Vermont/New Hampshire, is from the Space Coast. His first name is "Jefferson"...
Excuse my rant, but it really irks me with this whole Florida not the South thing. This is along the lines if people who call certain parts of NC un-southern based on transplants. If that's how we do this, I guess 75% of the South is no longer southern--not just Florida...
It's amazing to me. I still will say that the vast majority of Florida including Miami is Southern. Do not care what other people say. My family and friends (even those from the Caribbean) in Dade, Broward, Orange, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Duval, Hendry counties will all say they are Southerners.
I love how people choose to separate areas of the South based on certain biases they have. Being culturally unique or diverse doesn't make a city un-Southern. And I can tell you, living for several years in Upstate New York, Florida (and the Carolinas; they are 1-2) is probably the most popular Southern state for New Yorkers, judging by the amount of family ties or people who are former residents there, that I saw. I even dated two girls born and raised in Elmira, who were former Florida residents--the first one I only dated two months or so bit she used to live near Tampa somewhere; the second girl I dated for a year and she previously lived in Ocala for two years....and I met people in New York who lived in or had been to every region of Florida;
I have an aunt and cousin who live in Jacksonville, and a cousin and her kids who live in Orlando, all born and raised Upstaters;
Not to mention the countless amount of people I've met who are from Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Daytona, Ocala, Cocoa Beach (work with a white guy from there right now, he's definitely a southerner), Melbourne, St. Petersburg, I'm sure I'm forgetting some places------those people are and were southerners. And I never met a New Yorker who called Florida a northern state in the South, the way its spoken of on here. Jacksonville and Pensacola areas also unfairly get panned as the only southern areas of Florida...
The regional manager I work for now, who oversees our district in Hampton Roads/DC/Annapolis and Vermont/New Hampshire, is from the Space Coast. His first name is "Jefferson"...
Excuse my rant, but it really irks me with this whole Florida not the South thing. This is along the lines if people who call certain parts of NC un-southern based on transplants. If that's how we do this, I guess 75% of the South is no longer southern--not just Florida...
Agree 100%. There is nothing northern about any city in Florida. I'm sorry, but folks who did not grow up there don't get to define the city. I consider Minneapolis-Saint Paul to be the most quintisentially northern cities in the country, and no city in Florida is like the Twin Cities or any other northern cities. There's no old northern style architecture, the houses look nothing like they do up north, the trees and weather are nothing like up north, hockey is not a big sport, there's no old factories or mill or really any industrial heritage whatsoever, the accents are not similar. In Minnesota they say "bag" like "behg" and in the Northeast there's that non-rhoticism and the way words like "dog" are pronounced. You don't find that in Florida except in transplants. Floridians either sound neutral, have a twang or a Hispanic influence to their accent. But they don't sound "northern" and no "neutral" is not the same as northern.
Most of Florida is not Dixie or the Deep South, but its still the South and it sure as hell ain't the north! Not built like the north, not a climate like the north, not like the north politically.
People also forget, cities are different than rural areas. Even in Texas the culture you'll find in Dallas is very different from small towns. A native person from Dallas will likely sound about the same as a native to Tampa. The urban Hispanic areas in Texas don't sound much different from Miami. I went to a high school in Austin for a cheerleading clinic and the Hispanic girls literally sounded the same as the Hispanic girls in Miami.
Yeah because people have this one track mind of what is Southern or what is suppose to be Southern and thus they feel Florida isn't part of it. It's crazy to me. My cousin moved up here from Orlando just recently. Born in Clewiston and raised in Orlando. The moment he opens his mouth, people here in DC automatically say he's from the South. If I was to record my other cousins born and raised in Miami, nobody would think twice about them being from New York. Tampa and Orlando are nothing like Cleveland, Philadelphia, or even DC. At least to me.
I mean this:
is excruciatingly false. Much of FSU's player came from South Florida. Much of the alums of FSU come from South Florida. Also, Clinton Portis, who went from Miami, went to HS in Gainesville.
Exactly!!!
Florida sure as hell isn't northeastern.
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