Posted on 06/20/2014 8:53:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say that the South is the most misunderstood region in the United States. Everywhere I go (even sometimes here in the South!) I run into misconceptions about this area. I’m proud of the region I call home, and I wish everybody could know the South that I’ve experienced my whole life. So I’m glad to get the chance to clear up some of the stereotypes and generalizations. Here are the ten things that everybody gets wrong about the South.
There’s a notion that we Southerners still carry a grudge over having lost the Civil War. It’s a fascinating historical era and a huge part of our heritage (like it or not), but we’re not all sitting on our porch swings with sour grapes lamenting that it didn’t go our way.
We do tend to lionize our Robert E. Lees and Stonewall Jacksons – let’s face it, there’s a certain romanticism about that gallant and gentrified culture, the ugliness of slavery notwithstanding. And yes, you’ll see folks flying the Stars & Bars from time to time down here, along with the “heritage not hate” arguments that go along with that emblem, but those people are increasingly in the minority.
Even though we’ll never forget the Civil War — and Reconstruction — we Southerners have moved on. The South truly has risen again, and modern Southerners are vastly more interested in improving the present and creating a better future for our beloved region.
Some people outside the South seem to have the impression that after the Civil War, we freed the slaves and haven’t grown technologically since. I don’t know why people view the South as a technological backwater, but somehow that perception sticks.
It’s true that we have our areas that lack modern conveniences, but most of the South has moved past the agrarian era. Massive amounts of commerce and innovation flow through large cities like Miami and Atlanta. North Carolina and Texas host large technological sectors, and the aerospace industry has a huge foothold in Dixie as well. The entertainment industry has also made the South a home. We’re clearly more than just backwards little farm towns down here.
Another common misconception about the South is that our people engage solely in redneck pastimes — things like hunting, NASCAR, and strange events celebrating possums and kudzu. While these ideas are pretty much true, they’re not the only ways we like to spend our time.
Lots of men, women, and children throughout the South hunt and fish every chance they get, but today’s hunters and fishers tend to do so responsibly, rather than wantonly killing animals for the thrill of it. Besides, hunting and fishing are just a couple of the many great ways to get outside and enjoy God’s creation – Southerners also love rafting, hiking, and camping!
And sure, we have plenty of oddly named festivals dedicated to various forms of wildlife, but for every Deer Festival or Rattlesnake Roundup, there’s an AthFest (a music and arts festival that takes over downtown Athens, GA, every summer) and a Twilight Criterium (a bicycle race through the downtown streets of Athens in the spring). All over the South you’ll find arts events, historic homes tours, music festivals, and tons of other cultural celebrations that aren’t redneck in the least. And we’re more than just NASCAR fans – don’t forget that the South is where college football reigns supreme.
Southerners love to get outside, and we love any excuse to hang out together in our communities –- there’s nothing redneck about either of those.
Southern cuisine has had a bad reputation for a long time. The prevailing stereotype is that of a bunch of overfed yokels slobbering over fatty, greasy fried chicken. Though Southern food hasn’t always been the most nutritious and our obesity rates are high, those rates aren’t that much different from those of our northern neighbors. And our food has undergone some changes over the years.
Chefs like Nathalie Dupree and Alton Brown have developed elegant Southern recipes for many years. Cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Birmingham play host to cutting edge restaurants. Even the Butter Queen herself, Paula Deen, has spent time developing healthier, modern twists on Southern classic cuisine, as have her sons Jamie and Bobby Deen. Though we haven’t always eaten the healthiest of foods, our cuisine is far from monolithic and is more sophisticated than outsiders would credit us.
This is one that we Southerners get wrong most of the time too. We all tend to think of Florida as one big Yankee enclave, largely because of the snowbirds all over the beach towns, as well as the population growth due to the tourism and aerospace industries. While it’s tough to find a Southern accent in the bigger cities like Orlando and Miami, the smaller towns and rural areas have more of a Southern feel.
Rural Florida has its share of charming small towns and quaint family farms. Some of the smaller tourist attractions (with apologies to my friend Lisa De Pasquale, who suggested this myth to debunk) play into the biggest Southern stereotypes – just look for your local alligator wrestler next time you’re down there.
I’m proud to claim Florida for the South – well, except for Gainesville. I’ll never claim the Gators.
For many people outside the South, Southern culture begins with Green Acres and ends with Honey Boo-Boo. Viewing Southern culture through the lens of lowest-common-denominator sitcoms and variety shows fits the narrative that Southerners are uncultured hicks. My aunt, who moved to Seattle from Atlanta in her mid-twenties, tells the story of a neighbor in the early ’80s who was surprised to hear that we have museums in Georgia!
Such ignorant views of Southern culture (whether intentional or not) overlook the South’s immense contributions to high culture and pop culture alike. The Southern literary tradition spans from Flannery O’Connor to William Faulkner to Alice Walker to Pat Conroy to Lee Smith and includes playwrights like Tennessee Williams. Southern music ranges from Elvis Presley to Al Green to Hank Williams (Sr., Jr., and III) to R.E.M. to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra — not to mention a thriving film and television industry based in the South.
Southern culture is so much more than the lowest common denominator, and thankfully plenty of us down here are working hard to prove it.
For some reason, there’s a prevailing belief that Southerners are hostile toward outsiders. I imagine that this particular misconception probably originated during Reconstruction, when “carpetbaggers” and other Northern busybodies saw fit to punish the defeated South for the sins of slavery.
The well-worn phrase “Southern hospitality” doesn’t merely apply to our neighbors. Throughout the South we’ve grown accustomed to making the most of the tourism business, from high profile destinations in and around bigger cities to smaller niche tours specializing in show business, historical homes, or the haunted South. Many areas around the South also actively court bigger businesses from all over the world.
Come visit us down here in the South. We’d love to see y’all!
Remember the idiotic Euro-techno hit song (and video) “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex? I was in college when that piece of trash came out, and I was appalled by the portrayal of hillbillies in overalls and straw hats spitting tobacco juice all over the place. I remember thinking, “Is this what they really think of us?”
Sadly, there’s a certain misperception of Southerners, especially those in rural areas, that’s not too far from that these days. Bill Maher referred to the 2012 presidential primaries in Alabama and Mississippi as “Toothless Tuesday.”
So it’s true that we have our hillbillies down here – and they all seem to have reality shows – but the South is a vibrant region full of professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, and hipsters – boy, do we have a lot of hipsters. Those who look down on us as a bunch of hicks don’t know what they’re talking about.
I could write so much on this subject — in fact, I already have. We can place the blame for Hollywood Southern accents at the feet of lazy casting directors and clueless dialect coaches. The fact of the matter is that there are more than one or two Southern accents, and they’re as varied as the people who speak them.
Interestingly enough, many linguists argue that the accents in the South most closely resemble the accents of their ancestral homelands — English, Celtic, and even Canadian French, in the case of the Cajun accents — than any other American dialects. Check out the video above featuring professor and former dialect coach David Stern (Hollywood must have fired him because his accents were too good), and listen to the audio clip at this link to get an idea of the origins of our beautiful Southern accents.
Oh, and brace yourself, because — to paraphrase the late, great Southern treasure Lewis Grizzard: “God talks like we do.”
We Southerners have traveled a long, difficult road when it comes to race relations, and we’ve had to atone for a multitude of sins when it comes to the specter of racism. But the truth is, the acts of racism that occur in the South these days are isolated and rare.
In many ways, much of the South has grown to fit the melting pot ideal the Founding Fathers set. As Glen Browder wrote in 2012, “…the southern people generally live their lives without constant, dominating thoughts about white supremacy.” It says a lot about how far the South has come since the days of segregation that the Supreme Court struck down the sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that stood to punish the South the most.
Don’t get me wrong – race is still a touchy subject all over the country, but I’m proud to say that we’re not a region of backward, racist hicks.
I follow #4.
We are now celebrating our ninth year on our little acre homestead here in GreenAcres, located in rural NWGA...loving (almost) everything about the area and the culture.
I even scared myself one time (one time only!) in a restaurant counter transaction with a female when the term "darlin'" (as in "Thank you, darlin'!") came out of my mouth spontaneously. I was so stunned that I had to ask my wife if that really did happen or was I hallucinating...
Other than that I am still unable to spontaneously use the terms "y'all" or "fixin'ta" as well as dropping the use of forms of the verb "to be"...as in: "The car needs fixed..."
Can't imagine willingly returning to living in Philly or Boston.
Gee... I’m really shocked at this given how we are portrayed in the media................................................
Y’all is very normal. Fixin is very southern. I went to school in Auburn (grew up in Atlanta) and after a year I was saying “fixin”. Lost it after moving back to Atlanta. I still say y’all and always will.
I agree. Jude Law's Southern accent was extremely good in Cold Mountain.
I remember that...yes, it was.
For example, Michael Caine in "Secondhand Lions."
"Now, you boys 'bout to let them teenage hormones get you in a world o' trouble..."
If you’re shopping for a retirement place my bio page..history, pics of TX.
Have you ever had really good grits? There are some dreadful creations masquerading as “grits.”
A lot depends on how the grits are made and how they are processed. The best are stone ground served with cracked black pepper, salt and lots of butter (see nearby Butter thread today) and/or red eye gravy. And crispy bacon on the side, of course.
If you don’t like them that way, then you probably never will...
Should read ‘see my bio page.’
I think there’s a similarity in cadence between British English and southern English that makes it easier to transpose between the two. (Although personally I never found Vivien Leigh’s accent very convincing as Scarlett...)
20 years out of NC but someone on the phone yesterday asked if I were British. I had to drawl to prove I wasn’t.
If you’ll notice on the next few CW threads the typical crowd of Northern and Southern apologists always appear and are but a minute fraction of the total FR population.
Do people really do that? Sure, some people may think there's an undifferentiated "South" somewhere, but even Northerners are pretty savvy about the differences between North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, or Louisiana and Mississippi -- even if it's only the difference between the one where the banks or Atlanta or the Cajuns are and the other one. Northerners do seem a bit more aware of differences between Southern states than they do Western states, if only from long car trips to Disney World.
Ironically, it may be more Southerners who promote the idea of a "solid South" who lump together very different states and areas together than Northerners.
Texas is neither southern nor western. Texas is Texas.
Many lakes and water sports in and around B'ham.
The Panhandle coast is 5 or 6 hr drive, but no more beautiful beaches to be had than Destin, Panama City, FL and Gulf Shores, AL.
In fact, I rent beach lodging and have some in Panama City and Destin July and Aug.My husband and I used to travel 10-12 weeks of year, but he is gone and I just do a few now and rent the rest.
Hope you check AL out.
The B'ham area has Birmingham Southern Univ. Univ. Al at B'ham, Sanford Univ., and Montevallo.UAB known for medical, B'ham Southern great music educ. Montevallo and Sanford lib. arts and Sanford law.
About the phrase "dam Yankee". I learned it at boarding school in TX. My civics teacher said it was just one word-damyankee. --Sorry! I couldn't resist.
vaudiine
They need to visit Huntsville, AL. I am proud to have called it home since 1966.
I posted something about Huntsville. I have lived here since my late husband graduated from MS State in 1966. Look up www.aztechnolgy.com. He had a dream and now our daughter, her husband, son, daughter and friends are keeping his dream alive.
Check out Huntsville, AL. It is in the state but very different.
The legendary Scarlett O'Hara was a Brit!
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama. Sugar white beaches. I love the gulf!
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