# What is "Southern?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683 "2003-10-26T17:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/21 "2003-10-26T23:34:22Z")
Large parts of MD north of the metro DC area are definitely Southern, they just didn’t get around to seceding. And I can’t believe anyone would think that Washington DC wasn’t Southern. My take on Southerners: People who make a big deal between Southerners and the rest of the country. Esp. those who have absolutely no concept of history or traditions they give lip service too. No one cares anymore! People move around! In my experience, Northeasterners are more alike Southerners than people from the West coast. The real divide is East/West, not South/rest. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/22 "2003-10-27T00:09:39Z")
Sweet tea is served hot, people; the Southern drink is ICED sweet tea. Being able to use damn as a sentence that stands alone (and mean any of a dozen different things by it) is a fairly southern trait. Scratch that… I meant, “nnndayam”. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/23 "2003-10-27T00:37:57Z")
> [@](#): > > And I can’t believe anyone would think that Washington DC wasn’t Southern. DC? Southern? As a resident of the aforementioned city, I must protest. I would think you would have a devil of a time finding any long term District resident who self identifies as a Southerner. What is it that you feel makes it Southern? We are awfully close, but I grew up here and identified with the North. You have to go about thirty miles to the South or West to really enter areas that you could plausibly call Southern. One of the defining characteristics of DC is its lack of any regional identification. We have no accent. Our food is not typical of either North or South. We fancy ourselves our own little region. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/24 "2003-10-27T00:46:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fruitbat \* > \*\*… > > One of the defining characteristics of DC is its lack of any regional identification. We have no accent. Our food is not typical of either North or South. We fancy ourselves our own little region. \*\* A city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency, right? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/25 "2003-10-27T00:47:51Z")
Saying: “Y’all ain’t gonna’ believe 'dis shit” instead of “Once upon a time” is very southern. Also, **brianjedi** is right about the war. “The War of Northern Aggression” is the only really acceptable term for the recent unpleasantry. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/26 "2003-10-27T01:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > DC? Southern? As a resident of the aforementioned city, I must protest. I would think you would have a devil of a time finding any long term District resident who self identifies as a Southerner. What is it that you feel makes it Southern? We are awfully close, but I grew up here and identified with the North. You have to go about thirty miles to the South or West to really enter areas that you could plausibly call Southern. I was born and raised in Northern VA, and I don’t really consider myself Southern. I actually consider this region to be generic American. There is no real regional accent nor is there a true regional cusine. This area was maybe Southern a hundred years ago, but the influx of people that moved in with the New Deal, World War II, and the post war boom have transformed this area into something else. ---
**Author:** ![Girlbysea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Girlbysea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlbysea)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/27 "2003-10-27T01:18:29Z")
Pass the hush puppies please… ---
**Author:** ![jesleigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@jesleigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesleigh)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/28 "2003-10-27T02:45:04Z")
I was born and raises in South Alabama. My daddy calls me his lil’ Scarlett (Gone with the Wind ;)) I have a very strong southern accent (although I do speak with mostly correct grammer). The way to win a man’s heart down here is to cook for him. I am country to the core, but I have one tiny confession: I can’t stomach fried foods. It makes me sick as a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Cantankerous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Cantankerous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cantankerous)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/29 "2003-10-27T02:54:46Z")
[hijack] An old joke gives the definition of Yankee: In Europe it’s someone from the US. In the US it’s someone north of the Mason Dixon Line In the North it’s someone in New England In New England it’s someone from Vermont. In Vermont a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/30 "2003-10-27T04:33:12Z")
**Cantankerous** : You may have the record as this board’s champion lurker! Three (3) posts in 4 & 1/2 years? Dial-up connections are hell, ain’t they? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/31 "2003-10-27T05:49:25Z")
I heard it that hush puppies came from hog killing. When you slaughter a hog in the fall you have to boil the bristles off it… if you do several at a time there will be a thick layer of lard on the surface of the water. Now, any dogs you have around your house will smell the scent of blood and meat and in order to keep them away from the meat (cleaner that way) you cook up little balls of cornmeal in the scum on top of the water and throw it to them saying “hesh-pup!”. It might be a point of southern pride if members of your family have argued over who gets to inherit the ‘hog killin pot’. ;\> I myself like to hold onto the bits of my childhood and family history that mark it as ‘southern’ because it’s fading away so fast… soon it’ll just be in books (it’s already gone the way of nostalgia and ‘quaint’) and we’ll all be a nice homogenous mass of middle america… as interesting as cream of wheat and velveeta cheese. I think some call that ‘progress’ and look forward to it so we call all just be nice good little american consumers. I can hardly wait. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/32 "2003-10-27T13:41:29Z")
Moon _pie_? What a time to be alive. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/33 "2003-10-27T14:39:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnoopyFan \* > \*\*My name is SnoopyFan, and I am southern. > > It can’t just be about location because even if I moved to NYC today, I would be southern till the day I died. > \*\* Thank you, **snoop**. for saying that, since I am _not_ southern, despite having lived in West Virginia all my life. I don’t have much of an accent (though I do say “ya’ll” from time to time. I don’t attend church. I’ve never had a moon pie. I don’t have any potatoes in my house, but rice will do just fine. I think southern must be a state of mind, not dependent on what state you live in. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/34 "2003-10-27T14:46:04Z")
Please for the love of all that is holy: 1. Stop calling Maryland ‘Southern’\*. I am _not_ Southern! 2. Get your cholesterol levels checked. JuanitaTech, who firmly believes ‘Southern’ is the stuff nightmares are made of…or deep fried in…one or the other. [sub]\*Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the history of my state but, still…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/35 "2003-10-27T14:48:50Z")
I’m a Southern born and bred…well I was till I got married and lost that surname. I do miss it though 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Skerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skerri)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/36 "2003-10-27T15:03:51Z")
Southerner born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. (Pronounced Challllston.) 🙂 Being Southern means: Sweet iced tea served with everything but breakfast. Saying “how ya doin?” to random people when you pass them on the street. Eating a big supper with your family after church on Sunday (or synagogue on Saturday), then dinner later. Fried chicken, hush puppies, cornbread, country friend steak with white gravy, moon pies, she-crab soup and homemade biscuits (none of that store-bought stuff.) Walking into a Wal-Mart or a Piggly-Wiggly and bumping into at least one cousin. Getting together with your entire family at weddings and funerals, and the occasional family reunion. Saying “y’all”, and calling people sweetie, honey, or darlin’. Going to tea rooms and having lunch with your friends. Owning a copy of “Gone With The Wind”, and “Scarlett” too, only if it was on sale. 😉 I’ll think of more things while I’m at work, I’m sure. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/37 "2003-10-27T15:33:24Z")
A real Southerner has used and is quite fond of Goody’s Headache Powder. ---
**Author:** ![hocow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hocow/32/4112_2.png) [@hocow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hocow)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/38 "2003-10-27T15:53:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnoopyFan \* > \*\*I believe if someone comes to your house, you should feed them. You should also know by the end of the visit if they know the Lord. > \*\* Boy, am I glad you mentioned the feeding thing. My best friend’s dad is from Kentucky and every time i walk by him he tries to feed me. I mentioned it to my best friend and he said it was just a Southern thing. Also, his dad has been known to have a religious lecture at the dinner table. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/39 "2003-10-27T17:53:30Z")
When you call all your momma and daddy’s friends “Aunt” and “Uncle” When you admit (like a Midwesterner) that you come from a small town and (unlike a Midwesterner) you’re proud of it Your home town wasn’t “dead,” it was “a good place to raise children” You always want to go to the big city to shop, even if you live in Atlanta Red-eye gravy An antebellum mansion in the old part of town inhabited by two elderly sisters Your accent comes back as soon as you visit home I can’t believe no one has mentioned grits! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683/40 "2003-10-27T18:13:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ftg \* > \*\*In my experience, Northeasterners are more alike Southerners than people from the West coast. The real divide is East/West, not South/rest. \*\* Based on this thread (and others like it), I have to disagree _completely_. I’ve lived on both coasts, and I do see minor differences between the people there … but the life the southerners describe is totally alien to me. Total strangers waving at you on the road? Being asked about your religion within moments of meeting someone? Fried fish? _shudder_ And no, DC is NOT southern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-southern/209683.md?page=3)