[eurasiangurl]

if its fake smiles you want ....along w/ people who will slap you on the back and then STAB you in your back the moment your out of their line of vision, you will fit in quite nicely

incidentally : southerner's arent the only one's who say "sir/maam" i have been to military installations in WA state, MO, AZ and NY and theres plenty of politeness there too. southerners overrate themselves MAJORLY

( bless their hearts.... )

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by eurasiangurl

incidentally : southerner's arent the only one's who say "sir/maam" i have been to military installations in WA state, MO, AZ and NY and theres plenty of politeness there too. southerners overrate themselves MAJORLY

So you hear "sir" and "ma'am" on military bases, you know, places where "sir" and "ma'am" are required forms of address?

[milliganjw]

Originally Posted by miamiman

I read everything you wrote. You must fall asleep on your keyboard while typing because obviously you do not read everything YOU write.

You clearly are still stuck in 1860. Florida is not the South anymore. As a Floridian MYSELF I think I know the state. Very few white Floridians believe themselves to be Southerners anymore.

It may be that the 50% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety who occupy Central and South Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. It may be that the 20% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety in North Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. There are, however, at least two or three million white Floridians of the multi-generation native type and other Southern state transplant variety who all believe themselves strongly to be Southerners. Your erroneous sweeping generalization is simply untrue no matter how deeply you wish it to be so.

As a fifth generation Floridian and true Southerner, I welcome all white Southerners from other Southern states, including those from the Southern border states of the Civil War, to Florida. I also welcome anyone from any other state, even the often abrasive types from New York and New England, to Florida as long as they respect and make an attempt to assimilate into Southern culture by adopting the traditions and speech of the region. A yankee, by the way, is someone who can't stay home and mind his own business, in other words, someone who refuses or fails to assimilate.

Long live the real Florida with its remaining several million white Southerner population. May the fake, commercial, life is a beach Florida die a quick death.

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by milliganjw

It may be that the 50% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety who occupy Central and South Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. It may be that the 20% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety in North Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. There are, however, at least two or three million white Floridians of the multi-generation native type and other Southern state transplant variety who all believe themselves strongly to be Southerners. Your erroneous sweeping generalization is simply untrue no matter how deeply you wish it to be so.

As a fifth generation Floridian and true Southerner, I welcome all white Southerners from other Southern states, including those from the Southern border states of the Civil War, to Florida. I also welcome anyone from any other state, even the often abrasive types from New York and New England, to Florida as long as they respect and make an attempt to assimilate into Southern culture by adopting the traditions and speech of the region. A yankee, by the way, is someone who can't stay home and mind his own business, in other words, someone who refuses or fails to assimilate.

Long live the real Florida with its remaining several million white Southerner population. May the fake, commercial, life is a beach Florida die a quick death.

I was not aware that a true southern meant racist.

[Kevin from Tampa]

Anyone who thinks that northern Florida is not heavily southern either...

1-Has not not been there
2-Has only visited Tallahassee, or not spent more than a day there
3-Has only driven through it

I would say that most of the Florida panhandle, and much of north Florida (almost all rural...west of Jax and north of Columbia county) is Deep South. If you've ever spent time in Madison...Quincy....Wewahitchka....Marianna....etc ...you'd know this.

Get in to the larger cities and fades, but that's true of a lot of southern cities. Charlotte is southern, so is Atlanta, but in a different way than those small towns. Ditto Tallahassee.

[NativeFloridan]

Thought I'd share this description i found on a European Travel Site about North Florida.
"The Florida Panhandle extends along a narrow area from the Alabama border at Perdido River to the west along the Gulf of Mexico Coast into the curve (the Big Bend) of the Florida peninsula.The northern and western borders of the Panhandle are the states of Alabama and Georgia.
Part of the "Deep South" and often known as "the Real Florida", the Panhandle is a unique area of dense pine forest, swamps, snow white beaches, sleepy towns, and amazing seafood (especially shrimp, blue crabs, oysters, red snapper, triggerfish, and bill fish) often overlooked by visitors. It's been so overlooked that a long stretch of it (the area east of Panama City) is referred to as the "Forgotten Coast" and many state tourism maps used to exclude the region entirely.
The Panhandle's beaches are perennially recognized as the best in the nation (usually at least 3 of America's 10 best rated beaches are in the Panhandle) and are noted for their pure white quartz sand, emerald-green and clear warm water, and extensive sand dunes.
Sub-Regions of the Florida Panhandle:
• Northwest Florida - This region is usually synonymous with the Florida Panhandle, but is sometimes used to include areas as far east as the Suwannee River (the region of Middle Florida).
• Emerald Coast - The Emerald Coast, also called the Miracle Strip, includes Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay counties. The Pensacola area (Escambia and Santa Rosa counties) is also often included in this area.
• Forgotten Coast - This region is comprised of Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, and Jefferson counties.
• West Florida - This is the only part of an east coast state to be in the Central time zone and consists of the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Holmes, Washington, Jackson, and Calhoun). This region was once part of the Spanish and British colonies of West Florida (which included parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana as far west as the Mississippi). Its capital was Pensacola.
• Middle Florida - This is the region of North Florida between the Apalachicola and Suwannee Rivers. It was once the core of antebellum Florida's slave-based cotton plantation economy. It includes the six easternmost coutnies of the Panhandle (Gadsden, Leon, Liberty, Franklin, Wakulla, and Jefferson) as well as counties in Northeast Florida. Sometimes all of Middle Florida is considered part of Northwest Florida and, rarely, the Panhandle.
The Cotton Belt counties include the former plantation counties bordering Georgia (Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson) are heavily black and Gadsden county is the only county in the state of Florida with an African American majority. Otherwise, the residents of all of the landlocked counties and Gulf county are primarily of American ancestry. The residents of the remaining coastal counties, excluding Gulf, are principally of British ancestry. Liberty county is the most sparsely populated county in Florida.

Historical Background -
• American Florida Territory (1821-1845)

Andrew Jackson served as Florida's first territorial governor, residing at the capital of Pensacola. He was noted for his persecution of Indians and Hispanic Creoles, many of whom left the territory to be replaced by an increasing number of Anglo Southern settlers, including many planters and black slaves. To determine a location for a territorital capital, riders on horseback were sent on the Old Spanish Trail from the territory's two main cities, east from Pensacola and west from Tallahassee. The riders met at the Indian village of Tallahassee, which became the new territorial capital city. As cotton plantations flourished, Florida's growing population came to be 50% slave. In the Panhandle, most slaves outside of Pensacola were concentrated in the new capital of Tallahassee and in the plantation counties near the Georgia border, notably Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, and Jefferson. Sandier areas near the coast were less dominated by plantation agriculture.

• Antebellum Statehood (1845-1861)
Florida was admitted as a state in 1845; its admission having been slowed by the struggle with the Seminole Indians in sparsely populated South Florida and the need to wait for a free state (Iowa) to enter along with it. North Florida, including the Panhandle, remained the most populated part of the state.
• Confederate Period (1861-1865)
In January of 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union and join the newly formed Confederate States of America. Fort Pickens, one of three forts guarding the entrance to Pensacola Bay, was held by Federal troops. In the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, the city of Pensacola and the two Confederate forts fought against an invading Yankee army and Fort Pickens. Pensacola was conquered by Yankee troops and most of the city was burned. Residents evacuated inland to Greenville, AL. The Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory, was a Pensacolian and is buried in the city's historic Saint Michael's cemetery.

• Second American Period (1865-Present)
The ravages of Reconstruction greatly damaged the region's economy. Cotton, worked largely by the sharecropper descendants of freed slaves, remained crucial to the economy but slowly economic diversification and urbanization reached the region. Vast pine forests, their wood used to produced paper, became an economic basis. Shipping declined in importance but the military and manufacturing became prominent and harvesting of fish and other seafood are also vital. Aside from cotton and pine trees, major crops include peanuts, soybeans, and corn.

• Present 2011
The late twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in the beach-based tourism industry and the rapid development of previously pristine wilderness beaches, particularly those around Panama City and Fort Walton Beach-Destin. The region did not receive the twentieth century influx of northern retirees and Latin American immigrants and remains an Old South stronghold of largely (excepting military families) native-born residents."

[Winter_Sucks]

Originally Posted by milliganjw

It may be that the 50% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety who occupy Central and South Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. It may be that the 20% of white Floridians of the Yankee transplant variety in North Florida do not believe themselves to be Southerners. There are, however, at least two or three million white Floridians of the multi-generation native type and other Southern state transplant variety who all believe themselves strongly to be Southerners. Your erroneous sweeping generalization is simply untrue no matter how deeply you wish it to be so.

As a fifth generation Floridian and true Southerner, I welcome all white Southerners from other Southern states, including those from the Southern border states of the Civil War, to Florida. I also welcome anyone from any other state, even the often abrasive types from New York and New England, to Florida as long as they respect and make an attempt to assimilate into Southern culture by adopting the traditions and speech of the region. A yankee, by the way, is someone who can't stay home and mind his own business, in other words, someone who refuses or fails to assimilate.

Long live the real Florida with its remaining several million white Southerner population. May the fake, commercial, life is a beach Florida die a quick death.

Wishing people would die because they are not like you?

Those are some mighty fine down home Dixie values.

[P Andrews]

Sir and Ma'am is not just being polite, it's a showing of respect towards other human beings, a courtesy that was more widely used years back, than it is now.
In the northern and central parts of Florida,(that are generally more rural areas)
these mannerisms are more prevalent and still pretty much used when addressing
the public, whether it's a friend or stranger, it is a show of respect, or otherwise referred to as "Southern Hospitality."
And we can pride our southerners for it, because it is something they have continued to do over the years, as a lot of people forgot how to respect our neighbors, these people do it by their choice, not because they have to.
It is a lost art, not something that is necessarily, locked into the SOUTH.
People shouldn't have to live in a certain region to have southern hospitality, it's just an area that it is more widely practiced.

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by Winter_Sucks

Wishing people would die because they are not like you?

Those are some mighty fine down home Dixie values.

Wishing people would die? Where the hell did you get that from? That's clearly not what he said.

[Winter_Sucks]

Originally Posted by ComSense

Wishing people would die? Where the hell did you get that from? That's clearly not what he said.

Yes, that person did. Read the last line he or she wrote.