Missouri...Southern or Midwestern? (Sedalia, Sikeston: wealthy, catholic church, alligator)

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

I'd argue that CoMO is only non-Southern because of the huge influx of people from all over the US (esp. mostly-non-Southern StL and KC).. world, even.. to that particular little part of the state. Rural Boone Countians (as well as natives of the nearby 'Kingdom of Calloway' [County] ).. not so much. (Again, though, depends on how you define 'Midwest.' Why can't it have Southern parts?)

Look at the other areas around CoMO, such as Sedalia, no one in their right mind would dream of calling Sedalia southern, or Fulton either, for that matter.
I have an expert on the matter of all things Southern that says Sedalia is about as Midwestern as it gets, he should know.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Look at the other areas around CoMO, such as Sedalia, no one in their right mind would dream of calling Sedalia southern, or Fulton either, for that matter.
I have an expert on the matter of all things Southern that says Sedalia is about as Midwestern as it gets, he should know.

I rarely use the term I'm about to use, but I'm just about to make an exception - OMG!!!!!! Sedalia (or "Se-dell-ia," in the local parlance) is incredibly Upland Southern, culturally, as is Fulton (I think the "Little Dixie" term is somewhat antiquated, given that it applied largely to the presence of sizeable slave-worked plantations [no longer with us, obviously], rather than to Southern culture, generally, which is found in lots of other parts of the state [where smaller-scale, subsistence farming mostly reigned back then] - but Fulton is practically the heart of "Little Dixie.") These days it would obviously have quite a few non-natives about (due to Westminster's presence), but.. ahem.. as for Sedalia - have you even been there? The typical Sedalia native's accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife. (Living in Clinton, Sedalia and Warrensburg were the two closest semi-big towns to us, where we'd go to the movies or whatever when they didn't have anything of interest at the tiny Clinton theater [they've since gotten a larger six-screen one, but that's not exactly germane to my argument.. heh], and we didn't feel like making the 1+ (depending on where in KCMO/KS we wanted to go)-hour trek up to KC. Oh, and there was the Daum (art museum associated with State Fair CC), and Stonecrest Books.. and GOOBER BURGERS at the Wheel Inn. I remember competing against Smith-Cotton (Sedalia's HS) back when I was in HS band in the '90s.. believe me, the Southern vowels, syntactic constructions, etc. I heard out of the mouths of the S-C kids were just as strong as the CHS (Clinton High School) students'.

Finally - 'Southern' (and even more so 'Midwestern,' which is about as close to it gets to being meaningless, as a geographic term) is not one monolithic entity. There are lots of different *kinds* of Southern (including, speaking very generally here, of course, the 'Upland'/'mountain'/predominantly subsistence-agricultural-Scots-Irish-American-flavored kind that GraniteStater and I have referred to several times); I'd argue that there are sub-types of that category, even, but C-D rarely gets that technical).

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

I rarely use the term I'm about to use, but I'm just about to make an exception - OMG!!!!!! Sedalia (or "Se-dell-ia," in the local parlance) is incredibly Upland Southern, culturally, as is Fulton (I think the "Little Dixie" term is somewhat antiquated, given that it applied largely to the presence of sizeable slave-worked plantations [no longer with us, obviously], rather than to Southern culture, generally, which is found in lots of other parts of the state [where smaller-scale, subsistence farming mostly reigned back then] - but Fulton is practically the heart of "Little Dixie.") These days it would obviously have quite a few non-natives about (due to Westminster's presence), but.. ahem.. as for Sedalia - have you even been there? The typical Sedalia native's accent is so thick you could cut it with a knife. (Living in Clinton, Sedalia and Warrensburg were the two closest semi-big towns to us, where we'd go to the movies or whatever when they didn't have anything of interest at the tiny Clinton theater [they've since gotten a larger six-screen one, but that's not exactly germane to my argument.. heh], and we didn't feel like making the 1+ (depending on where in KCMO/KS we wanted to go)-hour trek up to KC. Oh, and there was the Daum (art museum associated with State Fair CC), and Stonecrest Books.. and GOOBER BURGERS at the Wheel Inn. I remember competing against Smith-Cotton (Sedalia's HS) back when I was in HS band in the '90s.. believe me, the Southern vowels, syntactic constructions, etc. I heard out of the mouths of the S-C kids were just as strong as the CHS (Clinton High School) students'.

Finally - 'Southern' (and even more so 'Midwestern,' which is about as close to it gets to being meaningless, as a geographic term) is not one monolithic entity. There are lots of different *kinds* of Southern (including, speaking very generally here, of course, the 'Upland'/'mountain'/predominantly subsistence-agricultural-Scots-Irish-American-flavored kind that GraniteStater and I have referred to several times); I'd argue that there are sub-types of that category, even, but C-D rarely gets that technical).

Ahhhh, but its all about perception, isnt it?
My husband, who was born and raised in the South, has spent a great deal of time there, and declares its a very Midwestern place.
Nothing southern about it at all, according to him.
And yes, I have been to Sedalia tons of times, didnt think there was anything particularly Southern about it all.
I have no opinion on KC, I have never spent enough time there....
And yes, I do think I know just a tiny bit about Southern-ness, having been raised by a very Southern mother with a very Southern family, and having spent the past 21 years in the rural South.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Ahhhh, but its all about perception, isnt it?
My husband, who was born and raise in the South, has spent a great deal of time there, and declares its a very Midwestern place.
Nothing southern about it at all, according to him.
And yes, I have been to Sedalia tons of times, didnt think there was anything particularly Southern about it all.
I have no opinion on KC, I have never spent enough time there....
And yes, I do think I know just a tiny bit about Southern-ness, having been raised by a very Southern mother with a very Southern family, and having spent the past 21 years in the rural South.

Heh... maybe the problem is that you haven't experienced enough of the (non-Southern parts of the) Midwest to know that, comparatively, (most of rural) Missouri meets (and sometimes exceeds! heh) the qualifications required for a culturally Southern (as a general category, containing all sub-types thereof) identity.

And I've just promised my SO that I will not continue to post in this particular incarnation of the 'Missouri - Southern or Midwestern?' thread, so if I don't reply to something, don't take it to mean that I necessarily agree.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Actually, Missouri does not become decidedly Southern until you pass south of US60.
I grew up south of I-44, trust me, its not all Southern.

OK! I'll trust you. What's 50 miles between friends?

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

Heh... maybe the problem is that you haven't experienced enough of the (non-Southern parts of the) Midwest to know that, comparatively, (most of rural) Missouri meets (and sometimes exceeds! heh) the qualifications required for a culturally Southern (as a general category, containing all sub-types thereof) identity.

And I've just promised my SO that I will not continue to post in this particular incarnation of the 'Missouri - Southern or Midwestern?' thread, so if I don't reply to something, don't take it to mean that I necessarily agree.

Well, if 30 years in various parts of the midwest doe not qualify, then I'm not sure what does.
I never said I was a Southerner, I certainly do not self-identify as such.
Sorry your SO has forbidden you to post in this thread. -shrugs-

[onegoalstl]

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

One has to live in various areas, not just visit, and not just look at statistical data to truly understand that places are not so neatly pigeonholed.
I would never dream to classify an area where I had not lived.
Based on that, here is where I have lived in Missouri.
St Louis: Midwestern
Ste Genevieve: Midwestern
Poplar Bluff: Southern
Columbia: Midwestern
Cape: Midwestern with southern influences
Greenville: a place all its own.
Kaskaskia Island: (yes, I know its technically Illinois, but....) Midwestern

hahahahah about Greenville

Cape Girardeau South of Broadway has a much more southern feel than North of Broadway. North of Broadway feels more like a quiet suburb of St. Louis more than in a southern town, but south of Broadway feels a whole lot more like Sikeston & towns further south. I would call Cape a 50/50 mix of Southern & Midwestern influences. It sure as hell doesn't truly fit in either one completely.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

OK! I'll trust you. What's 50 miles between friends?

Lol, thats the thing, as Gunner has said on here, you can go between southern to midwest in the space of 20 miles, and its true!

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Lol, thats the thing, as Gunner has said on here, you can go between southern to midwest in the space of 20 miles, and its true!

Or go up a hill near a small town in Scott County....