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Whats more pathetic is that ceeglass was pulling the whole accent thing right out of her arse. Sorry, noone talks like that in the Midwest, and everyone knows that. I dont know whats more pathetic, the fact that ceeglass made that crap up, or the fact that people actually believed her.
+1 for you. I mean, seriously. "Furt Ween"? Come on. Everybody I know speaks coherent, understandable English. Can't say the same about our friends in the Volunteer State, though. I just got back from a hotel in a Nashville suburb and I got on the elevator with this dude from Chattanooga. He started talking and I was like damn, I just had to nod my head every so often and say uh-huh--I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
Although not in the south, I had relatives who moved from southwestern Pennsylvania to Akron, OH who faced alot a crap because of their Appalachian accents. They were from Wind Ridge, PA, in the far southwestern corner of PA.
Some of my West Virginia relatives and friends get crap when they go north or south. It seems to be a no win situation for West Virginians.
I was born and raised in FL, I lived in Knoxville for a couple years and found the folks to be quite friendly despite the fact I was a diehard Gator fan.
Now I live in the armpit of America, the rustbelt, the not so great midwest, and yeah I've heard comments about southerners but it's nothing a stern f off yankee remark won't take care of.
Hmmm, well, this thread WAS going very well, friendly, some good-natured needling. Even a couple of posts that related negative experiences upon crossing the M-D Line were met with the respectful attitude that, okay, if that happened to you that was not good, too bad, but it's not always like that here. Now all of a sudden . . . and unfortunately one of the users starting the downward trend was someone I would not have expected it from. Hmmm, and now I go back through the thread, and discover that the downward trend started soon after the thread was moved to General U.S. There's some good info on this forum, but why does all the bashing seem to be par for the course here as well?
Someone said something about Niagara Falls and trying to order biscuits and gravy. That seems like par for the course here. People have nothing but derision for the South, and Southern culture. I is truly sad. Even at my church people think that Southerners are a bunch or ignorant know nothings. I think that they are wrong, if that were true, would the fastest states be in the South, obviously Southerners know how to do something right.
I am from Canada originally, and am moving to the South the first chance I get (I can't now because I am in college). Some people say that the South in general is not welcoming of Northerners, and I can totally understand why, there are so many places where Northerners have have moved in and all but wrecked (Cary anyone?)
I like the South how it is, and won't try to change anything (not the culture, the language) because I agree with most Southerners on most issues (I am an evangelical Christian, who thinks the South was right, and IS right). So if I move down, just disregard my Northern accent please!
Having lived roughly half my life in the South and the other half out west and up north, I've found that no one region has cornered the market on ignorance.
I have run across the occasional person whom I can tell starts deducting IQ points as soon as they hear my southern accent. I've been asked "Oh, you're from the south, you must have known a lot of prejudiced people." Or substitute the word "ignorant" for prejudiced--been asked that, too. (Yeah, you run into prejudiced/ignorant people everywhere--said while staring intently at the speaker.) Been asked by a person who was very sincere how long most folks down south had been wearing shoes ("Oh, purt nigh goin' on 5 years now!")
"You've lived in Tennessee? Don't they have a lot of stills?" (Yes, ma'am. Everyone is issued one at birth.)
"You worked in Alabama? There's a lot of stupid people there." (Yup. We don't know how that danged Apollo rocket and the space shuttle got there. We just woke up one mornin' and dang!, there it wuz.)
I was asked up north "Oh, you're from Washington state? I thought that was still a territory." (OK, that one pretty well left me speechless.)
"Oh, you must be glad to be out from the rain." (Actually, I lived in a desert.) "There's desert in Washington?" (Oh, sorry. I meant Utah.)
"Washington? Oh, I love the monuments, the capitol, the Smithsonian..." (No, the STATE.) "Yes, I know. I really liked the Library of Congress..."
"Washington? Isn't that by Alaska?" (Sure. We, too, can see Russia from our houses.)
"Washington? Isn't that by California?" (Sure. Oregon was just in the way so we moved it.)
"Oh, you lived in New York? Aren't people in a big city really rude?" (Well, I lived in a small town upstate.) "There are small towns in New York?" (Nope. State law mandates everyone lives in NYC.)
"When you lived in New Mexico, did people there speak English?" (Yes. Do you?)
One of the more amazing things--asked by a person from Portland, OR area, about a small eastern Oregon town only 3-4 hours away--"So, it being so small, aren't they all related? Who do the kids date?" (Heck, we just like to keep it in the family, ma'am.) The sad thing, it was a teacher asking it.
Unfortunately, ignorance/arrogance/regionalism/provincialism, call it what you will, knows no bounds.
Some of my West Virginia relatives and friends get crap when they go north or south. It seems to be a no win situation for West Virginians.
Tallydude, I know of what you speak. West Virginians are constantly caught in the Civil War because of the way the state was created. A lot of changes have happened in Civil War history in the last 40 years, and people no longer believe the old lies about West Virginia. Here is a paragraph by the late Russel F. Weigley from his book "A Great Civil War". He was a widely respected military historian.- here is his obit Russell F. Weigley, Historian Who Studied Wars, Dies at 73 - The New York Times
"There was good reason for the President and Congress to feel concern about the methods that led West Virginia to statehood, apart from the constitutional niceties. Even less effort toward rational, moderating direction from Washington had gone into West Virginia than into Missouri. Here was yet another instance of the war's running out of control, creating its own momentum, with the predictable unhappy consequences. In much of the new state, the Confederacy in fact dominated throughout the war, all the more firmly supported by a local population resentful of attempts to alter its state allegiance against its will. Except in the Ohio River counties, the new state could enforce its writ only under the bayonets of the Union Army. Not only could there have been no West Virginia without military victories such as McClellan won in the late spring and early summer of 1861; it remained true that except along the Ohio River the Unionist state government and Unionist citizens had no safety but in the immediate vicinity of the Army. Confederate sympathies that were intensified by the highhanded dismemberment of Virginia threw up yet another guerrilla conflict, wracking West Virginia much as the similar guerrilla conflict, similarly precipitated, devastated Missouri. Most of West Virginia went through the Civil War not as an asset to the Union but as a troublesome battleground, while the Unionist Ohio River counties struggled to cope with the tide of refugees fleeing to their sanctuary from the interior."
If anyone doubts Mr. Weigley's interpretation, I will review a few quotes of Arthur Boreman, the first Governor of WV. In 1862 he said "Everything south of here [Parkersburg] is practically the Confederacy". In 1863 he said "It is not safe for a loyal man to go into the interior out of sight of the Ohio River.". In 1865 as Governor he complained of large scale guerrilla operations as far north as Marion and Harrison Counties. Anyone who wants to learn the other history of West Virginia should take a look at my Geocities site here > index
Whats more pathetic is that ceeglass was pulling the whole accent thing right out of her arse. Sorry, noone talks like that in the Midwest, and everyone knows that. I dont know whats more pathetic, the fact that ceeglass made that crap up, or the fact that people actually believed her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colts
+1 for you. I mean, seriously. "Furt Ween"? Come on. Everybody I know speaks coherent, understandable English. Can't say the same about our friends in the Volunteer State, though. I just got back from a hotel in a Nashville suburb and I got on the elevator with this dude from Chattanooga. He started talking and I was like damn, I just had to nod my head every so often and say uh-huh--I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
You have to realize that it's all relative. Someone from the deepest pocket of the South would think that everyone they know speaks perfectly coherent English as well. Because you live in the Midwest, you don't hear your own accent.
People from Chicago, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northern Ohio, etc, definitely don't speak perfectly understandable English to me, because there is the Northern Cities Vowel Shift in that area. So, to me, it sounds really funny. But to you, it sounds perfectly normal.
Ceeglass wasn't making it up. And I believe ceeglass wasn't trying to purport that the North is like what she described in her post today, but was merely inquiring if anyone had experienced anything like that anymore, while stating that these events she described happened DECADES ago and that things have probably changed since...
Last edited by backdrifter; 05-24-2009 at 01:59 AM..
I was a "South to North" transplant in the early 80's (Atlanta, GA to DC for school then on to NYC). I did receive some ribbing, but with a couple of exceptions it was good-natured. A couple of times people would catch themselves before making a comment about the South when they realized I was in their company. That was about it...really no big deal, but I did get the impression that people there thought that Southerners were somehow less than what they were.
Regardless, I never hid my pride for my heritage whan living there.
You sound just as snotty as that principal did! Im glad your arrogance now resides back in the South. Youll fit right in!
I don’t reside in the South anymore, unless you consider Southern California the South. I have lived here longer than I did the South, but I was born and raised in Tennessee and in my heart that will always be my home. I originally posted this on the Knoxville forum and it was to that southern audience that my story was told and my question asked, because I know they would understand where I was coming from. I did not choose to have it placed on the general forum. That was a City-Data moderator’s decision and you can see the entire tone has changed. I would not have chosen to post my experience and question on this particular forum as I KNOW it would not be taken well by some northerners and Indiana’s. I was speaking to southerner’s knowing that we understand each other. Others may as well, but many will take offense.
I don’t know how one could find a true story accurately told as it happened “arrogant.” I had never been on the receiving end of prejudice in my very young life until that principal insulted my state, my region and my people and therefore me. It was an eye-opener. I simply related what happened and asked an innocent question. Sorry if you didn't like it. It wasn't meant for you to begin with as I stated and I apologize that they decided to move it to the general forum.
Last edited by ceeglass; 05-24-2009 at 09:48 PM..
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