[thepastorsson]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

She has a pretty neutral accent. I talked to another woman who grew up west of Laverne and she said she felt somewhat southern because the major media center for them was Amarillo.

I don't think of Amarillo as being strictly southern other than the fact that most of the rest of Texas is southern. I think of Amarillo as an amalgamation of southern, southwestern and great plains.

And as far as northwestern Oklahoma, I think it has some southern influence but I don't think it is the dominant culture there. To me, wheat and cattle are not "southern". Wheat is grown almost exclusively on the great plains. Most of the big cattle states are in this area with the exception of California and Texas and the part of Texas that has the cows is not in what I would consider the "southern" part of Texas

I totally agree with you here. Amarillo feels Texas/Great Plains. Cattle and wheat all the way. Nothing like, say, Antlers or thereabouts. I look forward to exploring the rest of the state.

[bchris02]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

She has a pretty neutral accent. I talked to another woman who grew up west of Laverne and she said she felt somewhat southern because the major media center for them was Amarillo.

I don't think of Amarillo as being strictly southern other than the fact that most of the rest of Texas is southern. I think of Amarillo as an amalgamation of southern, southwestern and great plains.

And as far as northwestern Oklahoma, I think it has some southern influence but I don't think it is the dominant culture there. To me, wheat and cattle are not "southern". Wheat is grown almost exclusively on the great plains. Most of the big cattle states are in this area with the exception of California and Texas and the part of Texas that has the cows is not in what I would consider the "southern" part of Texas

Amarillo isn't Southern at all in my opinion. The only remotely Southern aspect of it is its part of Texas which was a Confederate state. Its culture plains/Western/West Texan. I would say Amarillo has more in common with Albuquerque than it does Birmingham, though Albuquerque is definitely different than Amarillo so don't think I am saying they are alike. Southern culture really transitions into western/Great Plains culture in central Oklahoma. When I was living in OKC growing up, I don't remember very thick Southern accents like farther east. One thing that's intriguing to me about Oklahoma is how different the different parts of the state are. You can't say that about Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc. There are subtle differences but not complete cultural transitions like there is in Oklahoma and Texas.

[linicx]

Let me add a biscuit to the pan. The NE is Indian, and Midwest in topography with its high cliffs, rolling hills, heavily forested areas, natural beauty, and thirty-six tribes. It is about boating and fishing, hunting, ritual, culture, and history. It is as easy to find a luxury car and a senior center as it is to find a pickup and gun rack. And it is still a bit old-fashioned.

Tulsa is very urban, green, and upscale. It is a broad mix of old wealth and new welfare. It has Midwestern look with a understated Southern charm. From about 50-miles past Tulsa to the Texas border it is red clay, sand and a lot of poverty. OKC is the steel and glass empire with cowboy museums and college sports that rose to dominate the western half of the state and become its capitol.

The southern border is western with cowboy hats and boots, horses, cattle, oil wells, and probably a strong southern influence from Texas with the rodeos, and dude ranches more so than the dog and fowl fights found in Arkansas. I think in-between is pure Okie -- the people who make the state what it is today.

Politically OK it is a Southern state. Factually it is a state with deep Northern roots history. Oklahoma had not yet attained statehood when the Civil War began. The Five Civilized Tribes sent 3500 groups in support of the Confederacy. Gen. Stand Wattie was the last standing General to surrender his troops after the war officially ended in Aprin of 1865. He was thought to be full blood Cherokee; he was buried in then Cherokee Territory in Delaware County.

[thepastorsson]

Oklahoma ( i /oklhom/) [4] (Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa [5] , Cayuga: Gahnawiyogeh [6] ) is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America.

From Wikipedia.

And awesome post linicx.