Is Louisville "southern" (Lexington, Dayton: house, purchases, college)

[Orgetorix]

Wherever you're from, Louisville is not that. If you're from the Midwest, Louisville is not the Midwest. If you're from the South, Louisville is not the South. If you're from Kentucky, you tie yourself in knots to avoid acknowledging Louisville is in Kentucky.

It's sort of the black sheep of the region.

[orogenicman]

Two of my closest friends are from Florida and Georgia. When you here them talk, converse with them, you recognize immediately the Louisville is decidedly not southern. That said, my friends from Chicago and Milwaukee defintely think of me as being southern. So really, if you are from the north, Louisville is viewed as being a southern town. If you are from the south, Louisville is seen as a northern town. I think we are more midwestern than anything else, but that's probably just me.

[N. Olikee]

I agree with above two posts...........depends on what your definition of "southern" is.

However......to me.....Louisville "feels" like Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, etc..........NOT Birmingham, Savannah, New Orleans.

[Dayton Sux]

.....Louisville "feels" like Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh

No. Nothing at all like Pittsburgh. Absolutly not.

[CraigCreek]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Depends...How do you pronounce Louisville?
Lexington is more southern...but Louisville is more than a little southern.

Lou-a-vul. I'm a native of Louisville (though a long-time resident of Lexington, my home town). Believe me, it's Lou-a-vul. Not Lewis-ville, not Louie-ville, not Lewis-vul, not even Lou-a-ville.

Lou-a-vul.

I'd agree that Lexington is more Southern, but Louisville certainly is of the South as well. Can anyone seriously imagine the Kentucky Derby being anything but Southern, or the Delta Queen or the Hot Brown being Midwestern or Northern? Louisville icons, all three...

[orogenicman]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

Lou-a-vul. I'm a native of Louisville (though a long-time resident of Lexington, my home town). Believe me, it's Lou-a-vul. Not Lewis-ville, not Louie-ville, not Lewis-vul, not even Lou-a-ville.

Lou-a-vul.

I'd agree that Lexington is more Southern, but Louisville certainly is of the South as well. Can anyone seriously imagine the Kentucky Derby being anything but Southern, or the Delta Queen or the Hot Brown being Midwestern or Northern? Louisville icons, all three...

Erm, the Delta Queen? Surely you mean the Belle of Louisville.

[mattejb]

Yes. Its it Kentucky. What was the first state to be confirmed for Romney? It was Kentucky. Louisville is in Kentucky. Louisville is southern.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

Lou-a-vul. I'm a native of Louisville (though a long-time resident of Lexington, my home town). Believe me, it's Lou-a-vul. Not Lewis-ville, not Louie-ville, not Lewis-vul, not even Lou-a-ville.

Lou-a-vul.

I'd agree that Lexington is more Southern, but Louisville certainly is of the South as well. Can anyone seriously imagine the Kentucky Derby being anything but Southern, or the Delta Queen or the Hot Brown being Midwestern or Northern? Louisville icons, all three...

Now we get closer to truth. When I grew up there you could be catholic, baptist or black...and the catholics and baptist came in flavors of landed gentry, foreigners or hill billies.

All pronounced Louisville differently. The Blacks and some of the hillbillies and landed gentry were southern - the rest resisted.

[Bluegrass_Belle]

I was born and raised in Louisville, and I've lived in Virginia, Guam and Hawaii and everyone has commented on my "southern" accent. Didn't even realize I had one. Is it as southern a twang as the deep south? no, but it still is type of southern twang. My dad has lived in Georgia ever since I was 5 years old and I'm in my 30's now and I've never known of anyone to argue that Louisville, or even Kentucky was not southern. I don't think that Louisville is as southernish as a deep south southern city, or even Lexington, but I feel that Owensboro is not as southernish as Louisville either. I also think there are different types of southern too. I mean, Louisianna has a lot of cajun southern charm. I've never heard of half of the cajun dishes my friends from Louisianna speak of and to them, that's all a part of their southern heritage too. It just depends on your definition of southern I reckon. My in-laws love visiting Louisville because of its southern charm. In my opinion it's very southern, and I think it has a more southern feel than the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, where I lived for two years. I just think it's a matter of opinion. I've heard a lot of my Georgia friends from Georgia say that they felt that Atlanta was not southern, although I've been to Atlanta many times and felt it does have a southern feel. I mean, it's in the south.

[CraigCreek]

Yikes, of course I meant the Belle of Louisville, not the DQ! Thanks for the correction - I'd change my original post if I could.