Are Northern Girls Really Different from Southern Girls?

[EpcotBeauty]

Out of curiosity what is a "grooms cake?" Is it just like another wedding cake that the groom picks out

It is a much smaller cake, usually chocolate.

 

[5Slays]

Out of curiosity what is a "grooms cake?" Is it just like another wedding cake that the groom picks out

It is usually chocolate and something about the groom. Some have favorite team decorations, etc..

Like:

or

 

[DawnCt1]

I find that Southerners have a strong regional identity that tends to make non-Southerners feel like outsiders and unwelcome.

I think that is how she is feeling. She mentioned a 'clickiness', etc. but I do know that she has gone home for the weekend with a couple of the girls, so that sounds pretty friendly to me. I don't think a semester is long enough, but if one is miserable at college, it makes it harder. I hope she doesn't end up jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

 

[brockash]

It is usually chocolate and something about the groom. Some have favorite team decorations, etc..

Like:

or

Hmmm... thanks for the pic's; that helps explain it, because I'll have to say yes, as a northern girl that seems very different

 

[SC Minnie]

On Ace of Cakes they are making grooms cakes all the time.

 

[hentob]

I agree with all the posts...I am a Southern girl, and I just kinda feel like there are differences. Like another said, manners and etiquette are so important.

But, that varies from family to family, person to person. I don’t think being from the South automatically means that you have manners

There are many folks from the North who have proper etiquette. There are Northerners that are rude.

There are very proper Southerners and yet, there are Southern folks that go on and on about how proper and polite they are, which, of course, is very poor etiquette.

It depends on the person, not the region

 

[Soarin08]

One of my nieces started college at East Carolina University in the fall. She loved the campus, the classes, etc. In the beginning she was homesick but seems to have gotten over that part....perhaps. That said, she has reapplied to a university that she was initially accepted to here in the north east. Her excuse, Southern girls are different from northern girls. She has made some friends there. Some girls go home for the weekend, etc but her complaint is, even the girls she is friends with are "different". She hasn't really been out of New England, except for short vacations. I don't think she is particularly shy. One of her best friends from high school is attending the university that she wants to transfer to but she says "this isn't the reason" she wants to go. IMO, it is hard to believe that there are regional differences so big that they can't be transcended by being friendly. Any thoughts? If you are from the south, are northerners that different and visa versa?

Yeah, Northerners and Southerners are different. We have some Northerners here who aren't familiar with alot of our foods (like grits- a few of them haven't ever seen grits before! ) or words (like y'all- most of the Northerners say you guys).

But as for the region, it's more of the way people have been raised, I think. So there are cultural differences for sure, but not necessarily differences in etiquette.

 

[Mommy2cody]

Okay...so I am from California and I really don't have anything insightful to say, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am sitting here reading this thread with a southern accents in my head! I love it....sorry for interrupting!

 

[Snoopymom]

Moved to the South from the NE when I was 18 and it felt like I was finally home! I loved reading all the different opinions .

 

[Mad4Mickey]

yep I think so because we know how important it is to have cold sweet teas for guests

 

[Enchanted_Mama]

Well, this Kentucky girl would like to give you a hug and apologise that we weren't to your liking. If I had met you then, I would have smiled, looked you in the eye, & given you a friendly nod.

And just like the whole South-different areas bring different things. Lexington (UK) is more "Old South"...very traditional, very laid back. Louisville (UL)is more "Northern" feeling...probably because it is a Big City. Murray State & WKU are more small town, everybody knows everybodies business feeling. I do apologise if we offended ya' though.

Oh no one offended me, and people were friendly enough - it was just difficult to connect, if that makes sense. I was in Lexington (UK), so I guess it was the 'old south' thing, but the superficial differences I noticed were that all the girls dressed to the nines (hair and makeup) for 8am classes, many of the girls seemed to be there (at school) mainly for the purpose of meeting a husband, and girls and guys didn't seem to hang out platonically. I have never been much of a 'girls girl' I guess, and that didn't help me much there.

Oh yeah, and I'm Jewish, and that made me stand out as well. I had many people tell me I was 'the first real live Jewish person I've ever met."

The one thing that I did love about it was that 'dating' and 'courtship' were alive and well (at least back in 1990). Boys would call, ask for dates, come pick me up and pay for dinner or whatever, and maybe get a kiss at the end of the evening. Completely different than my experience at school up north (where it was all about the random hookup). So, in that respect, I missed the south!

 

[madge]

yes, I think so. I grew up in the NE and attended freshman year of college in KY. I had a *very* hard time connecting with the girls I met there. In fact, my only three friends were from the NE! I transferred to a school in NY after freshman year and felt much more 'comfortable' there.

well, that stinks.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you go to school?

 

[madge]

Well, this Kentucky girl would like to give you a hug and apologise that we weren't to your liking. If I had met you then, I would have smiled, looked you in the eye, & given you a friendly nod.

And just like the whole South-different areas bring different things. Lexington (UK) is more "Old South"...very traditional, very laid back. Louisville (UL)is more "Northern" feeling...probably because it is a Big City. Murray State & WKU are more small town, everybody knows everybodies business feeling. I do apologise if we offended ya' though.

don't forget Northern Kentucky ... that's almost an extension of Cincinnati. I don't find that part of the state very southern at all. It has some southern tendencies, but Greater Cincinnati really is its own geographical area.

 

[chrisw127]

Out of curiosity what is a "grooms cake?" Is it just like another wedding cake that the groom picks out

A groom's cake has got to have a theme. Extra points if that theme embarasses the bride and/or her family.

 

[DawnCt1]

All of these replies have really confirmed what my thoughts were on this entire subject. If she can't make friends enough in the south to feel comfortable, I can't believe it is going to be that much easier in Rhode Island mid year. I am thinking that it has more to do with her friend going to college there, than "southern girls". I reminded her that her friend will already have established friends and she will be working at fitting in. Heck, I would love to live in the south where everyone is friendly and smiles. Of course, I will talk to anyone since I am a pretty friendly person, so I would be quite comfortable there. When asked specifically what it was that "bothered" her, she described one of the girls in the dorm who is going to have her hair cut with "longer bangs and I will comb them this way, and I just think that long bangs are really in right now, and with the shape of my face, it will look really good, and I can part my hair on the side if I want, or I could wear it like this...etc, etc, etc." For my niece it was TMI, but so what? I think a lot of New Englanders cut to the chase to quickly, and she can be a little abrupt at times.

 

[Soarin08]

yep I think so because we know how important it is to have cold sweet teas for guests

That's the truth!!!!!

 

[JCJRSmith]

Well, East Coast girls are hip. I really dig those styles they wear.
And the Southern girls, with the way they talk...they knock me out when I'm down there.
The Midwest Farmer's Daughters really make you feel all right.
And the Norther girls, with the way they kiss, they keep their boyfreinds warm at night....





Sorry about that, but when I read the title of the thread it was the first thing that came to mind.

 

[Judy from Boise]

Also, all that storied "friendliness and warmth" often masks a deep distrust of outsiders. We are taught to be polite for the sake of politeness, and we sometimes overdo it in a way that seems very syrupy and fake to those from elsewhere. Southern people also tend to be more aware of the markers of socio-economic status than those from elsewhere in the country, and women, especially, will tend to unconsciously pry a bit to try to place you. That can come off as very shallow if you are not used to it. (Let's be honest, it can also BE very shallow. Some women are schooled to be very concerned with the social status of those they associate with, and women in the South who think this way tend to be rather more transparent about it than those elsewhere.)

.

I agree this is how i feel.
I have lived in the west for 98% of my life, and I will say that there are huge differences between westerner's and both groups !

 

[kristilew]

Ok, I didn't read every one of these posts, so this may have been said, but it does seem like most posts are focusing on the North/South dichotomy. Which is of course what OP asked about.

But there is something else that may be at play here: the college itself. And forgive me if I offend any Pirates with this, but ECU is a different sort of college than some of your other southern schools. It has a rep as both a party school and a school where the young women are very career-focused, especially in the nursing, teaching, and hospitality fields. (Those of us with NC roots still sometimes call it EeeCeeTeeCee from when it was just a teacher's college.) There's a certain type that goes there instead of some of the bigger, or smaller, or tougher, schools in the Southeast.

ECU tends to attract a lot of sheltered southern good-girls, who may go a little wild with freedom, but basically have all the "kingdom rules" down pat. There is a whole language and set of behavior that goes along with that, and I could see how a northern girl just might not get it.

 

[DawnCt1]

Ok, I didn't read every one of these posts, so this may have been said, but it does seem like most posts are focusing on the North/South dichotomy. Which is of course what OP asked about.

But there is something else that may be at play here: the college itself. And forgive me if I offend any Pirates with this, but ECU is a different sort of college than some of your other southern schools. It has a rep as both a party school and a school where the young women are very career-focused, especially in the nursing, teaching, and hospitality fields. (Those of us with NC roots still sometimes call it EeeCeeTeeCee from when it was just a teacher's college.) There's a certain type that goes there instead of some of the bigger, or smaller, or tougher, schools in the Southeast.

ECU tends to attract a lot of sheltered southern good-girls, who may go a little wild with freedom, but basically have all the "kingdom rules" down pat. There is a whole language and set of behavior that goes along with that, and I could see how a northern girl just might not get it.

Interesting comments. I am sure she likes to party, and she is interested in nursing.