# NoVa not south? Damfools! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2000, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715 "2000-06-27T12:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/1 "2000-06-27T12:35:14Z")
Whothehell says No’thern Virginia isn’t the south? I live in the Blue Ridge mountains in extreme north Loudoun (it ain’t West Virginia but you can see it from my back yard) county and I can sure as shootin’ tell you that we’re southern. The women are courteous, the men are polite and you can pass the time of day at any store just to be friendly. We’re so southern here that my house dates back to the war and Genl Early camped on our land on his way to the Shenandoah. I want no crap out of any of you southerners! Just remember what state threw itself onto the fire for years to guard you! ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/2 "2000-06-27T12:44:18Z")
Born in Georgia. Live in North Carolina. Virgina is the south. Anyone who says otherwise is stupid. The Confederate capital was Richmond. Robert E. Lee chose to fight for the CSA, because the state he loved seceded. His home state. “Grand Old Virginy”. It is beautiful country, and it is part of the south. Duh. - **NM** ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/3 "2000-06-27T13:36:10Z")
Chance, I think you live in _regular_ Virginia, but Fairfax County might as well be a suburb of New York (being a suburb of DC is just as bad, if not worse). Duh. . ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/4 "2000-06-27T13:41:26Z")
Thank the Good Lord I’m a regular Virginian. I was born at Richmond Memorial Hospital. You might have a point there about all the Yankees in Fairfax. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/5 "2000-06-27T14:12:04Z")
I grew up in Richmond, Vaginia :). I went to Manchester High School. Another Doper lives in Richmond, too, but he can make this known if he wants (not that it’s a bad thing…). Maybe someone needs to get together a VA dopefest. ---
**Author:** ![Modian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Modian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/6 "2000-06-27T14:29:11Z")
Northern VA considers itself seperate from the rest of VA. 🙂 I think the mindset round here is “We’re all one big part of DC, we’re all snobs and who cares bout them tobacco growing, sheep raising, pickup driving good ole boys anyway” 🙂 So there’s NoVA, then there’s the rest of VA. And there was a thing in the Washington Post a long time ago I think where they went around NoVA asking people if they thought they were part of the South or the North. Most said North. And I could be off base and need the help of a Civil War buff, but people who lived in NoVA at the time of the war also thought they were part of the north, especially the closer you got to DC. I could be wrong, but I think that was in the article too. Or maybe I’m delusional. 😃 And extreme north Loudoun doesn’t count as NoVA, only the eastern part of loudoun. 😉 I live in the SW corner of Fairfax county now, but am looking to buy a house out in the hills 😉 Cost of living is murder here. ---
**Author:** ![dwtno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/7 "2000-06-27T14:54:18Z")
Yer all a buncha damnyankees. I did time in NoVa. Ain’t nothin’ Southern 'bout it. So sayeth dwtno, who lives “way down yonder… in the land of dreamy dreams.” ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/8 "2000-06-27T15:00:10Z")
Mynde…My Dad went to Manchester high school. My mother and all of her daughters went to Thomas Dale. We aren’t just Richmonders, we’re South Richmonders. Now that is pretty Southern, if not down right redneck! Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/9 "2000-06-27T15:02:46Z")
yeah, the wars over kids. you lost. give it up. were all one big happy family now. enjoy it. i’ll admit, i love the south, and as a New Yorker true and blue, i can tell you, DC, and Fairfax county, having just spent a good weekend there, is definitely not anyting like the North. Thats pretty southern to me. I spent a good portion of my life in the south. Ft.Benning, Ft.Bragg, Ft.Polk, if those aren’t south, i don’t know what is, and Fairfax was just like them. Polite people, beautiful people (especially the women), amazing food, clean and pretty towns and cities. so stop drawing lines down there and enjoy what it is. damn southerners! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/10 "2000-06-27T15:22:50Z")
“My name is Hamadryad, and I live in Richmond.” “Hi, LOSER!!!” Sorry. No, NoVa (as far as Fairfax and Arlington and Alexandria are concerned) might as well be in another state. If you want good ol’ backwoods mother-humpin’ father-rapin’ dog-kissin’ back-stabbin’ Southerners, Richmond’s got all you need. Sorry. Love the city. Love the monuments. Love the beauty. Hate hate hate hate hate 99% of the people. ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/11 "2000-06-27T15:28:50Z")
Needs2know: > [@](#): > > We aren’t just Richmonders, we’re South Richmonders. Now that is pretty Southern, if not down right redneck! 😃 Modian: > [@](#): > > Cost of living is murder here. Good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/12 "2000-06-27T15:46:49Z")
NH native, Arlington transplant via Washington DC. It’s about as NoVA as you can get since it hasn’t been part of Virginia for the whole time the colony/commonwealth/state has been here. Truth be told I only spent a week in Nawlins back in 1987 so I wouldn’t know much about what’s South and what’s not, but ya just can’t get decent softshell crabs north of Baltimore. Yummy! Besides that, Arlington’s too international to be the South. Hell, I’ve had a good number of opportunities to use the three phrases in Albanian I know down here. Try that in Savannah! That doesn’t mean I think the whole world turns to Mayberry soon as you hit the Fairfax, just that I’m a cosmopolitan kinda guy and I like the city. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Modian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Modian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/13 "2000-06-27T16:23:15Z")
> [@](#): > > That doesn’t mean I think the whole world turns to Mayberry soon as you hit the Fairfax I think you mean leave Fairfax 😃 > [@](#): > > ## Modian: quote: > > Cost of living is murder here. > > * * * > > Good. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/14 "2000-06-27T16:24:57Z")
I’ve lived in the DC area for 24 years…NoVa is NOT the south. It’s the north. It’s REAL north. You have to get past Richmond to be in the South. _waves to Mynd_ times I spent in Southern Virginia ROCKED. Maybe I can get back there eventually. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/15 "2000-06-27T16:47:05Z")
It’s true. And Virginia will continue to give its unwitting consent. Here’s the deal: it seems to be some sort of deeply-held Virginia principle that the local governments should have almost no authority to do anything. Consequently, they can’t do a damned thing about the expansion of the DC burbs through Fairfax County, into (and eventually through - sorry Jonathan) Loudoun County, through Prince William and into Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties, and eventually beyond. Oddly enough, it’s been the Northern Virginia delegation that has fought for greater local power to control growth, and downstate has largely sided with keeping all the power in Richmond, which tends to ignore No.Va. as much as possible. So downstate is effectively saying to the No.Va. sprawl, “shucks, expand this way if you want.” By the time Richmond realizes there’s a problem, it’ll have been assimilated into the DC megalopolis. Scary thought, huh? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/16 "2000-06-27T17:19:17Z")
Gosh, I hadn’t realized how SDMBers are my neighbors in NoVa! I was born in the Ozarks, raised in Kentucky and Tennessee, and lived a good chunk of life in Lousiana. I’m as Southern as fried catfish, and AFAIK, Fairfax County(my home)is a nest of damyankees. This place, lovely as it is, is as Southern as Boston baked beans. ---
**Author:** ![ponch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@ponch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ponch)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/17 "2000-06-27T17:33:51Z")
Reston checking in - not southern. ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nova-not-south-damfools/23715/18 "2000-06-27T17:41:13Z")
You are all quite right about Northern VA and believe me the farther south you travel down I95 the more “southern” it gets. Needs2know