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 think there’s a bigger cultural divide between urban and rural areas than there is between regions. I could go to just about any medium to large city in the US and feel way more comfortable than I would in a very rural area, even near where I grew up.
I believe our culture is somewhat defined by national trends, found in movies, tv, social media, etc. more than at any point in our history. The differences, while still there, are decreasing. Plus, we are a more mobile society today than in the past. So regional and/or State differences become less and less. While they do still exist in certain areas, there is a general culture that can be found in about 95% of the U.S., with differences being small and petty. I am not talking politics and/or religion here, but even that is becoming more standardized. Slowly.
That said, regional accents still exist, (Southern, New England, Urban Northeast stand out). I have always noticed a midwestern accent as well, but more subtle. I hope we never lose those and I don't think we will as many who move into or out of regional accent areas tend to eventually lose or gain that accent.
I like the differences, but I think they are lessening.
I'm from New York and I don't find that young Southerners have strong accents. Nor do I think NY and New England are much different.
My husband and I live in Texas. He's a native and I moved here twenty five years ago.
I recently went back to Georgia for my 30th high school reunion - or maybe it was my 35th - LOL I can't keep track anymore! Anyway, it was a big one.
We live in NE Texas and my husband has always considered this region to be "the south," and yes, it is, but I tried to tell him, "Honey, this may be the tail end of the south, but it's not the deep south." He didn't really "get" what I was saying till he truly experienced the deep south!
Also, my high school friends all remarked about my Texas accent, which I really didn't even realize I had.
There are many, many differences between regions but I'll just bring up a few - ever stopped on the side of the road and bought a paper lunch bag full of boiled peanuts in a big styrofoam cup? If so, where were you when you did that?
Ever had a lobster roll while sitting outside watching the surf crash into the rocky coast? If so, where were you?
Ever had butter beans served as a local delicacy? What about ramps? Ever been to a ramps festival? Ever had migas for breakfast? Ever smoked Hatch chilis? Ever had mayo and parmesan cheese and Tony Chacheries on an ear of roasted corn? Ever had chickory coffee and beignets to the tune of a trumpet in an outdoor cafe? Ever had white clam pizza?
What do you call a carbonated beverage?
Do you regularly intermingle with people who make more than many doctors, but who wear steel toed boots and hardhats to work every day?
Ever wake up to the livestock report? Ever drive through a region and realize that there simply aren't any cows in any fields anywhere? Speaking of driving, have you ever tried to drive a pick up truck through NYC or even Washington DC? Or heck, even Austin?
Of course I'm not saying that you can't find these things all over the US, in varying forms, but what I AM saying is that they are ways of life, common elements in various regions.
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 10-12-2019 at 06:12 AM..
How long ago was this story? I rarely hear different slang when I meet people from out of state
A couple of years ago. I still hear it all of the time. What region do you travel out of, and to what regions to do you travels? Are you going from urban to urban? You are less likely to notice the difference that way, than from say rural Texas to rural Upstate NY like my comparison.
I briefly went to Gray, Louisiana and other than the landscape, it didn't feel "different" to me.
And very few young people in Louisana still speak French
Visiting a place is hardly the same as living there. How much local culture do you really get to experience in a few weeks or a month? That's not nearly long enough to understand the nuances of 'bless your heart', or to get used to repeatedly hearing the f-bomb casually used in every conversation, to understand how your manner of speaking is going to be received by your audience.
Haven't you seen the countless threads about about how southern hospitality is 'fake', based on nothing more than the fact that people move to the south without understanding the different culture. It doesn't make sense to them, therefore it's fake or stupid.
This past summer, I spent a significant amount of time in Michigan for business and pleasure. During my time in Michigan, I was astonished by the similarities I observed between that state and the New England region at large. For example, many place names and street names in Michigan clearly have Yankee origins, whether they were named for the original Yankee settler or a city or town in one of the New England states. Similarly, it seemed as if English surnames were more common in Michigan relative to other Upper Midwestern states, wherein German, Polish or Scandinavian surnames prevail. Needless to say, the general appearance of the average person in Michigan was more Anglo-Saxon than German, Polish or Scandinavian. It appears this information is validated by demographic research:
As you may observe from the first map, the percentage of Michigan residents claiming English ancestry in 2000 is markedly higher than that of other Upper Midwestern states (i.e., Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin) as well as northern Illinois and northern Indiana.
The second map illustrates that German ancestry, while much more common in Michigan than New England, still pales in comparison to other Upper Midwestern states.
Finally, the third map illustrates that Lutheranism, the most common religious affiliation of people with German and Scandinavian ancestry, is significantly less common in Michigan's Lower Peninsula relative to the other states of the Upper Midwest, another cultural marker that people in Michigan may have more in common with those in states to the east versus states to the west.
Although the commercial and residential architectural styles in Michigan are generally different from New England, there seems to be a similarly strong sense of civic pride in Michigan - many of the small towns I toured were very clean and well-kept. Also, many of the small towns in Michigan, like those in New England, seem to be centered around a traditional main street or town center and, for the most part, have their own unique identity.
In conclusion, there is greater cultural crossover among people in different regions of the United States that were initially settled and developed by the same group of settlers. The three primary groups of early American settlers were Yankees, Midlanders and Southerners, and those three groups left major cultural imprints in the respective places they eventually settled and developed during the early American period. That is why cultural markers and attitudes thereto such as educational funding and spending, marriage and divorce rates, high school graduation rates, teenage pregnancy rates, etc. sharply vary across American regions, in addition to the more superficial stuff such as accent, dialect, ethnicity, religion, etc.
Last edited by Bert_from_back_East; 10-12-2019 at 11:02 AM..
My husband and I live in Texas. He's a native and I moved here twenty five years ago.
I recently went back to Georgia for my 30th high school reunion - or maybe it was my 35th - LOL I can't keep track anymore! Anyway, it was a big one.
We live in NE Texas and my husband has always considered this region to be "the south," and yes, it is, but I tried to tell him, "Honey, this may be the tail end of the south, but it's not the deep south." He didn't really "get" what I was saying till he truly experienced the deep south!
Also, my high school friends all remarked about my Texas accent, which I really didn't even realize I had.
There are many, many differences between regions but I'll just bring up a few - ever stopped on the side of the road and bought a paper lunch bag full of boiled peanuts in a big styrofoam cup? If so, where were you when you did that?
Ever had a lobster roll while sitting outside watching the surf crash into the rocky coast? If so, where were you?
Ever had butter beans served as a local delicacy? What about ramps? Ever been to a ramps festival? Ever had migas for breakfast? Ever smoked Hatch chilis? Ever had mayo and parmesan cheese and Tony Chacheries on an ear of roasted corn? Ever had chickory coffee and beignets to the tune of a trumpet in an outdoor cafe? Ever had white clam pizza?
What do you call a carbonated beverage?
Do you regularly intermingle with people who make more than many doctors, but who wear steel toed boots and hardhats to work every day?
Ever wake up to the livestock report? Ever drive through a region and realize that there simply aren't any cows in any fields anywhere? Speaking of driving, have you ever tried to drive a pick up truck through NYC or even Washington DC? Or heck, even Austin?
Of course I'm not saying that you can't find these things all over the US, in varying forms, but what I AM saying is that they are ways of life, common elements in various regions.
Yes there is still regional food. However a lot of what Americans eat is the same. Fast food, pizza, Mexican food, Chinese food, Vietnamese food, pub food, etc.
Here in New York, there are tons of "Union Guys" who work very blue collar jobs but make a lot of money from it.
The Thrillist thing was silly. They had Long Island, New Jersey, and New York separate even though they have multiple overlapping accents between them.
Most of the people I've met from Texas don't even have discernible Southern accents. Their accents range from generic American to Southern lite.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muinteoir
A couple of years ago. I still hear it all of the time. What region do you travel out of, and to what regions to do you travels? Are you going from urban to urban? You are less likely to notice the difference that way, than from say rural Texas to rural Upstate NY like my comparison.
Urban to urban usually. But most of the country's population lives in urban or suburban areas.
Yes there is still regional food. However a lot of what Americans eat is the same. Fast food, pizza, Mexican food, Chinese food, Vietnamese food, pub food, etc.
Here in New York, there are tons of "Union Guys" who work very blue collar jobs but make a lot of money from it.
The Thrillist thing was silly. They had Long Island, New Jersey, and New York separate even though they have multiple overlapping accents between them.
Most of the people I've met from Texas don't even have discernible Southern accents. Their accents range from generic American to Southern lite.
So your takeaway from Kathryn's very accurate and spot on post is to basically discredit it?
She seems to be much more plugged in to the great regional differences that are celebrated by well traveled, open minded people than your very basic drive-by observations. No offense of course.
So your takeaway from Kathryn's very accurate and spot on post is to basically discredit it?
She seems to be much more plugged in to the great regional differences that are celebrated by well traveled, open minded people than your very basic drive-by observations. No offense of course.
Ehh, don't worry about it. I don't feel like my post was discredited at all.
I relish the differences I find in regions, in people, in states, subcultures, countries, you name it. They are definitely there. I guess it's just whether you notice them or live them or not.
Ramps. Boiled peanuts. White clam pizza. Lobster rolls. Honestly, who cares if people ALSO eat common fast food or whatever?
I used to pick up a baker's dozen of boiled crabs on my way home when I lived in Maryland. I mean, it was as common as picking up a dozen donuts somewhere else - it was literally a drive through for boiled crabs. Can't do that in Texas.
Until I moved to Texas, I really hadn't experienced (or fallen in love with) soft corn taco shells or street tacos. We just didn't have those in abundance in the southeast, and certainly not in Germany where I had lived immediately before moving to Texas.
But forget about food - what about Texas dance halls? How bout an SEC football game, live - in a football town - on a Saturday afternoon? How 'bout scoping out all the lighthouses along a coast line? What about touring Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where so many poets and writers are buried? Or the bridge where the Revolutionary War started? How 'bout soaking up the ambiance of Jamestown and Yorktown and Williamsburg, VA. - oh and Bruce Hornsby is from there too and his music SOUNDS like that region, just like Gordon Lightfoot's music SOUNDS like Canada, and James Taylor's music SOUNDS like North Carolina? How bout walking in Memphis with your feet ten feet offa Beale? How bout drinking crazy Cajun drinks all afternoon long in a dark dive of a bar in New Orleans, listening to someone next door playing the saxophone? How bout watching whales spout among the huge boulders along the coastline of Oregon or Washington state, and thinking "Meriwether Lewis stood RIGHT HERE and looked out at this same scene!" Or standing beneath a redwood tree in absolute awe? Or clambering around Indian ruins outside of Sedona and thinking "These are just as old as some of the castle ruins in Europe!" Or walking along the street in Springfield Illinois during an art festival and thinking "Wow, is there anyplace anywhere in the US that's quite as quintessentially American as this place is?"
And the answer is yes. Yes, there is. Because it's all America - and it's deliciously varied.
Ehh, don't worry about it. I don't feel like my post was discredited at all.
I relish the differences I find in regions, in people, in states, subcultures, countries, you name it. They are definitely there. I guess it's just whether you notice them or live them or not.
Ramps. Boiled peanuts. White clam pizza. Lobster rolls. Honestly, who cares if people ALSO eat common fast food or whatever?
I used to pick up a baker's dozen of boiled crabs on my way home when I lived in Maryland. I mean, it was as common as picking up a dozen donuts somewhere else - it was literally a drive through for boiled crabs. Can't do that in Texas.
Until I moved to Texas, I really hadn't experienced (or fallen in love with) soft corn taco shells or street tacos. We just didn't have those in abundance in the southeast, and certainly not in Germany where I had lived immediately before moving to Texas.
But forget about food - what about Texas dance halls? How bout an SEC football game, live - in a football town - on a Saturday afternoon? How 'bout scoping out all the lighthouses along a coast line? What about touring Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where so many poets and writers are buried? Or the bridge where the Revolutionary War started? How 'bout soaking up the ambiance of Jamestown and Yorktown and Williamsburg, VA. - oh and Bruce Hornsby is from there too and his music SOUNDS like that region, just like Gordon Lightfoot's music SOUNDS like Canada, and James Taylor's music SOUNDS like North Carolina? How bout walking in Memphis with your feet ten feet offa Beale? How bout drinking crazy Cajun drinks all afternoon long in a dark dive of a bar in New Orleans, listening to someone next door playing the saxophone? How bout watching whales spout among the huge boulders along the coastline of Oregon or Washington state, and thinking "Meriwether Lewis stood RIGHT HERE and looked out at this same scene!" Or standing beneath a redwood tree in absolute awe? Or clambering around Indian ruins outside of Sedona and thinking "These are just as old as some of the castle ruins in Europe!" Or walking along the street in Springfield Illinois during an art festival and thinking "Wow, is there anyplace anywhere in the US that's quite as quintessentially American as this place is?"
And the answer is yes. Yes, there is. Because it's all America - and it's deliciously varied.
Fantastic post, thank you!
And I've actually been to a Ramp Festival outside of Asheville, hosted by the local volunteer Fire Department.
A lot of chefs around the country are incorporating them into recipes now.
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.
