Hey everyone! Dana here and this time on Ask An American we've got a question from Facebook
and it is: Are people from the South really so different from the rest? Yeah, I just cannot
help but laugh reading that question. Um, I'm just going to go ahead and assume that
by "the rest" this person is talking about the rest of the people in the rest of the
United States outside of the South and not "the rest" as in all the rest of the people
in the whole world. And first, before we can decide whether or not they're really so different,
we need to figure out what and where the South actually is. So according to the U.S. Census
Bureau, the U.S. is split up in the four regions: the Northeast, the Midwest, the West and the
South. The South, according to them, is actually made up of 16 states and actually stretches
pretty far north in the U.S., all the way up to Delaware and Maryland. So, I think when
people ask about the South, they're usually more thinking about the culture and kind of
the region associated with what's actually called the Deep South. The Deep South is a
more exclusive club of states often made up, depending on who you ask, by Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and like I said, depending on who you ask, northern
Florida, part of Tennessee, the eastern part of Texas. So the Deep South is really more
of like you'll know it when you see it type of thing. And for me, the interesting thing
is, I'm from Florida, and as you heard, I mentioned northern Florida as sometimes being
part of the Deep South, the South, um, but yeah, because I'm from Florida, a lot of people
meet me over here and they say: Oh! You're from Florida! You're from the South! Eh, not
quite. I don't think people from Alabama would be very happy to hear people from West Palm
Beach being called part of the South. So actually, coming from South Florida, it was always a
joke with my friends that the further north we drove in Florida, the more south we actually got.
Okay, so now that we've done our best to define
where and what the South actually is -- and by the way, with all of this, I'm talking
about present day. So present day United States and present day South. So now that we've defined
where it is we can start to answer the question: are the people from the South different? And
I would say yes, they are. There is definitely a unique culture in the South. One that me,
who has never lived there, um, I have really only scratched the surface of it traveling
there on vacation, seeing it in movies, reading about it in books. There is definitely, though,
a very unique culture there. But something important to note: when I talk about the South
being different from "the rest," um, I'm not saying that the South is different and the
rest of the United States is all the same. And that the South is then the only big different
place. No, really, in the U.S. almost everywhere you go has some sort of cultural difference
to it. So not just in the four big regions that I listed at the beginning, but then also
within sub-regions in there. So for example, New England. New England also has a very different
culture and way of life, even some cultural differences from its neighbor New York. Um,
my parents, they recently moved from Florida to Colorado, and phew! I can tell you it's
not just the climate that is different from South Florida and Colorado, but the people,
the way of life, the way of thinking about life. Just so different; everywhere you go
around the U.S. you're gonna see different foods, different customs, different clothes,
different, perhaps the easiest way to tell where someone is from, different accents.
And perhaps one of the most famous of all is that Southern drawl. Okay, so besides that
accent, what else makes the South or the people of the South special or different from the
rest of the people in the U.S.? Perhaps it's a catchphrase that you've heard before: southern
hospitality. So, southern hospitality, I think, is something that people in the South are
really proud of, and basically what it is is it's the idea that they will welcome people into
their home, um, just really invite them into their home with warm, open arms and a smile
on their face and invite them in. Offer them some kind of a cold drink, maybe some sweet
iced tea, because of course it is often very hot and humid in the South. And they'll invite
them in and just really welcome them into their home. Now while this is true, while
people in the South are definitely known for being warm and welcoming, I've also gotten
the feeling that people in the South can sometimes be a little bit bit wary or suspicious of
outsiders. As far as religion goes, there's another term
that perhaps you might have already heard of: the Bible Belt. The Bible Belt runs right
through the South, the Deep South, and so yeah, people there are pretty conservative
when it comes to religion. The Deep South is an area of the U.S. where you've got the
most people going to some kind of Christian church, so the most people going there in
the country. Um, yeah, so religion definitely plays a pretty big part of life in the South.
But now, yeah, keep in mind, all of these are generalizations. Of course you're going
to have people in the South who don't go to church, who perhaps don't have that hospitality.
Aren't going to welcome you into their house, they're not very friendly. These are just
generalizations of what you might find in the South, what's pretty common and how the
South can be different from other parts of the country. Very lightly just walking over,
touching on politics for a moment: the South is known for having a bit of a distrust for
the federal government in general. So, you've got this tug of war between states rights,
the right of the state to make their own laws for themselves, versus federal laws. And you've
had this tug of war in the South between states rights and federal laws since the very beginning,
and the South, in general, is more in favor of more states rights and less power to the
federal government. As far as food goes, which is personally my favorite topic to talk about:
you've got some amazing foods in the South. And when I think about Southern cooking, I
think about fried foods and also barbecue, ugh! So barbecue is basically meat cooked
out on a grill, but the different way that the meat is cooked and what spices are used
really also differs from little region to region to region within the South, and
Mr. German Man and I have talked about going on a barbecue food tour. Just traveling through
those states and eating as much and different barbecue as you can. Ugh, I'm, I'm definitely
looking forward to that. But yeah, once you then get on down to Louisiana you do have
some of those foods but also you've got that Cajun influence. So now you've also got gumbo
and jambalaya. And, ah, some other foods that, typical Southern foods as far as fried foods
go, you've got alligator meat, fried. You've got hush puppies, which are fried cornbread
balls. So yeah, just some, some really good options. As far as sports goes, football is the big
one, that's the most beloved, but actually not necessarily NFL, not necessarily the
National Football League, but rather college football. I had no idea. Ah, I went up to
college, I went to college in northern Florida and the people went crazy for college football.
I thought it would just be, you know, the college students into it, but no. Everybody
loved it. And then of course the other one you've got
that's pretty big is NASCAR. And coming from Florida, Daytona is the big place to race
it there. And of course, we cannot forget about the
music coming from the South. What amazing musical genres have come from there. We've
got, of course, blues. Um, jazz coming from from New Orleans. We've got gospel. We've
got soul. And then of course we've got the country music playing on the radio today by
Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood. So just so many musical influences coming from the South.
And all of these things that I've mentioned today, all of them make the South unique,
make the South special, and make the people of the South different from "the rest."
So my question for you is: what did I leave out? If you're from the South, what would
you like people to know about your culture and your area? What would you like to tell them?
If you have traveled around the U.S. what interesting differences have you noticed
from place to place? And also, of course, what other questions would you like me to
do my best trying to answer about the U.S.? Please let me know in the comments below.
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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the South is split into.....no.