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Old 01-11-2007, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
702 posts, read 2,519,975 times
Reputation: 291

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I have an idea...why don't you try treating everyone as an individual and see how that works out? I bet you'll get lots of different attitudes and passions and interests, whether you're in the south or the midwest or California or Boston. Believe it or not, everyone that lives in a particular region doesn't think or act alike. You'll get a wide variety of attitudes, some friendly and some not so friendly. It's just about like anywhere else.
As for y'all...I've heard people from New York to London using that word, so I think it's become a somewhat accepted part of the language. It's not just a southern word anymore...
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Old 02-04-2007, 05:42 PM
 
101 posts, read 314,295 times
Reputation: 49
I have met Southerners obsessed with the civil war. Get over it! There isn't anything that has happend since then to talk about?

Southeners seem to like to say that the only reason they are ****ty with Northerners is because the Northerners must have done something wrong. Like Southerners are perfect? Actually there farthest from anyone. The South is at the top of every negative list: obesity, poverty, education.
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Old 02-04-2007, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
1,153 posts, read 4,540,515 times
Reputation: 741
My main problem with the South is the region is so incredibly backwards with regards to civil rights. Even today, look at the treatment of homosexuals down there. Many Southern states have hateful Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. I doubt a single one will willingly legalize gay marriage. Like all other civil rights issues in the history of this nation, gay marriage will be forced upon them - as it should be.

Like gay rights, most Southerners were once upon a time opposed to abolitionism. The North had to force the issue. Same thing with integration. Same thing with sodomy laws. They've been playing catch up for decades now and the routine is getting old.
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Old 02-04-2007, 08:44 PM
 
Location: Old Town Alexandria
14,496 posts, read 26,512,794 times
Reputation: 8966
Question Erm....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Electron View Post
Primarily, it is generations of withheld guilt that cause northerners their greatest discomfort when travelling to the Southland. Personally, I have forgiven you of your forefathers' sins, but I will not forget.
WHAT??? I do not understand what you are referencing here.
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Old 02-04-2007, 09:55 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
702 posts, read 2,519,975 times
Reputation: 291
I can't believe anyone with the intelligence to use a computer would make these sweeping generalizations about southerners or any other group of people. It just adds fuel to the fire for the exact small percentage of southerners you're referencing. I love history and get into discussing it at times, and that includes the Civil War. It's interesting to me, but I don't have a passionate point of view about it nor does anyone else I know.
Sometimes when people move to a new area and encounter someone with some type of radical behavior, they seem to go ahead and judge everyone based on that bad experience. I guarantee you've come in contact with more people who DON'T act the way you've described, but the few that do stand out in your memory.

Stereotyping anyone just doesn't make any sense to me. Why do people do it?
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Old 02-04-2007, 10:05 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
702 posts, read 2,519,975 times
Reputation: 291
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYMTman View Post
My main problem with the South is the region is so incredibly backwards with regards to civil rights. Even today, look at the treatment of homosexuals down there. Many Southern states have hateful Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. I doubt a single one will willingly legalize gay marriage. Like all other civil rights issues in the history of this nation, gay marriage will be forced upon them - as it should be.

Like gay rights, most Southerners were once upon a time opposed to abolitionism. The North had to force the issue. Same thing with integration. Same thing with sodomy laws. They've been playing catch up for decades now and the routine is getting old.
Not to disagree with you, but you know in the Northern states abolition wasn't nearly as much of an issue because of simple demographics. Most of the black population back then lived in the South.

People there were just as racist, as evidenced by the Draft Riots in NYC in the 1860's...gangs of New Yorkers roaming the streets lynching and killing any person of color they could find.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to deny the fact that some people are hateful and backwards, but I don't think it's rampant. I think that most southerners have become at least somewhat enlightened...As far as anti-gay amendments, the South isn't exactly by itself in that area. The region will probably be the last to finally accept gay issues and rights, but right now there aren't many states very far ahead of Georgia. (just a couple - MA and VT and a 1 or 2 others)
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Old 02-05-2007, 12:02 AM
 
Location: Cincinnati (well Dayton for now)
62 posts, read 200,354 times
Reputation: 160
Well it seems the post drifted from the original question somewhat, into a discussion about the South in general( and as happens so often on this forum a debate on its crappiness). As someone who has been raised in Alabama( The Heart of Dixie, referencing to the fact Alabama is about as southern as it gets) I feel I can answer the two questions, with a degree of authority.

1.First of all many people in the South know little to nothing about the geography of the United States despite the efforts of the educational system and call anyone from the general north a yankee whether it is Illinois or Maine. Someone might tell you it is a term of endearment, and sometimes it might be, but it is by and large an offensive term. Why Southerners dislike Northerners I dont know, but is especially true of New England accents.

2.The Civil War? In my experience the Civil War is remembered alot. Yet most people do not know anything about the facts they just romantize the South as evidenced by the fact Robert E. Lee day is a State holiday. But aside from confederate flags and those dixie shirts every white person has there is no obsession really.

I hope this post answers the original question.
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Old 02-05-2007, 12:18 AM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
18,700 posts, read 41,889,472 times
Reputation: 2147483647
I've done several projects in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Only one time I was called a damn yankee and it didn't set well.

I was in South Carolina and I had stopped to get a beer. There was a neighbor (female) setting down one stool from me and a guy down at the end. When she spoke to me, he asked her, where ya from? She said, originally New York. And he started in with Yankees do this and Yankees do that and I don't know why we let you into this area and on and on. Obviously had a little too much to drink.

After 10 minutes I said, "Hey, guy. You've had your fun, how about backing off so she can enjoy her beer." He said, "Where you from?" I said, Wyoming. He said, "Another damn yankee." I said, "Have you thought about getting your GED?" He said, I graduated, what are you talking about. I said, even a 6th grader knows that a Wyomingite is no more Yankee then a Californian is a Southerner. Should not have said that. haha
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Old 02-05-2007, 02:32 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
702 posts, read 2,519,975 times
Reputation: 291
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgussler View Post
I've done several projects in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Only one time I was called a damn yankee and it didn't set well.

I was in South Carolina and I had stopped to get a beer. There was a neighbor (female) setting down one stool from me and a guy down at the end. When she spoke to me, he asked her, where ya from? She said, originally New York. And he started in with Yankees do this and Yankees do that and I don't know why we let you into this area and on and on. Obviously had a little too much to drink.

After 10 minutes I said, "Hey, guy. You've had your fun, how about backing off so she can enjoy her beer." He said, "Where you from?" I said, Wyoming. He said, "Another damn yankee." I said, "Have you thought about getting your GED?" He said, I graduated, what are you talking about. I said, even a 6th grader knows that a Wyomingite is no more Yankee then a Californian is a Southerner. Should not have said that. haha
Okay, that's one experience you've had...and it sounds like you've been all over the south for extended periods of time. How many total interactions do you think you've had with people? I would guess thousands of them...and one time you ran into ignorance. That was a good example...

The vast majority of people aren't backwards...well, maybe in Alabama according to one post above. We should all know better than to generalize about everyone because of one incident.
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Old 02-05-2007, 10:28 AM
 
3,049 posts, read 8,880,841 times
Reputation: 1174
A southerner here who would like to add

A.

1)Yankee is used as a term for where the person is from--the Northeast and specifically New England where they call themselves Yankee(there is even a great Magazine called Yankee). My wife is a yankee and proud of it and they are very industrious people, pious, hardworking, salt of the earth

2) it can be used as an insult mainly for the people who come from the cities of NYC, Boston, and surrounding suburbs who think that the Northeast is the center of the world and they look down on rural people both in the south but in the North and mid west(they call them rednecks, fly overstate, hicks). These people, Yankees from the city, are often rude, condescending, not very knowledgeable about History and culture of the world outside their cities but think they are, pushy, materialistic and not very community oriented.

B.

We are not all obsessed with the civil war. i am a southerner born and bred, and have a BA and Master degree in History and yes of the Antebellum South, but I never had conversations about it with others outside of History. I do love going to battle fields and historic sites in the North and South, but just as interested in the Revolutionary War as I am about the Civil War. The rebel flag doesnt occupy my thoughts when I see it, it doesnt offend or endear me. I am a black Southerner so I guess it doesnt hold the same value as it might for my white southern bretheren. I am proud of my state and the region I come from and the war is just one part of our history.
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