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1)KY is full of people from farther North. Maybe it could have been considered South at one time but not anymore. IMHO it's an "in between" state. A liminal place between the North and the South. It has characteristics of both but it's neither one.
I thought the title of the thread was "Upper South Opinions of Deep South" rather than "Upper South Opinions of Upper South". Tennessee?
1) Yes, cities are less Southern than other parts of the state. It's like this everywhere because cities attract people from other states and the native culture gets changed.
2) So Louisville had a good run. That doesn't prove anything. They aren't a perennial powerhouse like some SEC teams in the South. More to the point Kentucky isn't full of college football fans who all love Louisville football. Southern states are full of college football fans who care passionately about football.
KY is full of people from farther North. Maybe it could have been considered South at one time but not anymore. IMHO it's an "in between" state. A liminal place between the North and the South. It has characteristics of both but it's neither one.
And yeah I consider NC the least Southern, Southern State.
3) Haven't you ever heard of Florida that the farther north you go, the farther South you get? Miami (along with much of Florida) is full of Hispanics and people from the North. There are a lot of native New Yorkers in Miami. Florida in general seems to attract a lot of Californians. I was in Miami a few years ago on my way to Central America and from what I observed, Miami seems to have more in common with Honduras than "The South". Any Southern elements that remain are vestigial and not the dominant culture at all.
4) People say that the black population in Michigan is Southern - this is an entirely different issue and I don't think it proves your point. I think you're confusing black culture and Southern culture. They're very closely related but not the same thing. Unless you want to say that blacks living in Detroit are Southern.
5) What is that map? Just because you found a map on wikipedia, doesn't make it so. Someone living in west TX or far west OK is Southern? Really?
Why is NC the least southern, southern state? NC is no less Southern than VA or TN which are the other primary states of the Upper South.
All states have good football programs (Appalachian State and NC State has had just as many good years in the last decade as Tennessee, Virginia Tech is always a powerhouse, and UT is obviously known for it's football)...All upper south states have transplants (Nova, Raleigh, Nashville)...All have southern AA populations.....All are tied by the Appalachian mountains, bluegrass, moonshine, and hillbilly culture....All have contributed heavily to the modern day culture of the South (TN with country music, The first sweet tea and mint julep recipe's are documented in the book "Housekeeping in Old Virginia," The annual game between Univ of Virginia and Univ of North Carolina called the Oldest Rivalry in the south and NC has been extremely instrumental in BBQ and Nascar's prominence in southern culture.
Neither of these areas IMO are "less" southern...they are all apart of the Upper South and all contribute to it in their own way
I had been in Louisiana before but never to New Orleans. Last week we drove to New Orleans from just below Charlotte which made us drive in North Carolina less than 10 miles since we are about 7 miles from the South Carolina border to our West. We took I-77, I-20, I-85, I-65, and I-10. It was the most boring road trip I can ever recall. About 800 miles of road, grass and trees. LOL
If anyone wants to move South, there is still lots of space out there. Load up your double-wide and come on down.
BTW, I just read the bold in the post right above this one. I had never realized there were degrees of Southern. In 1967 we moved to Denver, Colorado, for about 9 months. My landlady there told me that she considered North Carolina to be the deep South. I told her I had always considered us Mid-Atlantic.
I had been in Louisiana before but never to New Orleans. Last week we drove to New Orleans from just below Charlotte which made us drive in North Carolina less than 10 miles since we are about 7 miles from the South Carolina border to our West. We took I-77, I-20, I-85, I-65, and I-10. It was the most boring road trip I can ever recall. About 800 miles of road, grass and trees. LOL
If anyone wants to move South, there is still lots of space out there. Load up your double-wide and come on down.
BTW, I just read the bold in the post right above this one. I had never realized there were degrees of Southern. In 1967 we moved to Denver, Colorado, for about 9 months. My landlady there told me that she considered North Carolina to be the deep South. I told her I had always considered us Mid-Atlantic.
I don't know if it's necessarily "degrees" of southern because saying there are degrees implies that one is less or more so. Different types of southern is more accurate.
Case in point. East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Western North Carolina, and to some degree Northern Georgia are some of the largest areas of the cultural region known as South-Central Appalachia. The region has a history soaked with moonshine, bluegrass mountain music, Stock car racing, and Scots-Irish settlers which were integral to the foundations of the Upper South.
Likewise even in the states that are apart of the Upper South different regions in these states are different. Eastern VA, Eastern, NC, Eastern SC, and Eastern GA are all cotton growing regions that have a hot, humid climate and their regional cuisine is very seafood oriented. Further, some of the locals have a non-rhoticized accent (don't pronounce R's) not unlike the Scarlet Ohare accent. In VA and NC we call it Tidewater or (Hoi Toider) and in GA they have a name for it as well.
Both cultures are very much southern without any real gradation making one more or less so....they're just different.
Oh, and the first thing we did was get on a streetcar right outside our hotel and ride to the end and then paid to ride again. While we were sitting there the streetcar driver who was black got into a conversation with a friend of his outside the streetcar. I listened for the longest time and just caught a few words that I could understand. I wondered what dialect they were speaking. Southern Hospitality was alive and well in New Orleans, but that place is definitely different from what I am used to on a daily basis. Life is so funny sometimes.
Wnewberry22, I am one of those South-Central Appalachia people that has moved to the Charlotte area. When we moved to Denver, Colorado, I had not been away from Wilkes County very long. We had another friend that came from our Charlotte office too and one person mentioned that my accent was more pronounced than the other person. At that time I just thought I talked like just about anybody I was around.
I know only one native from the Outer Banks. I just love to hear her talk. She is so refined.
We were around people from California to New England and in between this week. Almost every time I opened my mouth someone would ask me where I am from. I worked on a public job here for 28 years and we have influx from all over the country. When I take those accent tests, I come out a mixture. I think I am definitely Southern though. We vacationed in Ohio years ago and one person there commented that I talked like the people on Mayberry, RFD. Well, I should. The area I grew up in was a combination of Mayberry and more like At Home in Mitford.
Last edited by NCN; 05-07-2013 at 09:03 AM..
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