North vs. South - is there still a "conflict" there?

[zachnsamsmommy]

I really hate it for all of you that have moved to the South and had a bad experience. Most of us would welcome you with open arms!

Of course, I am quite a rebel for a Southern Baptist (by marriage only ). I have nothing against alcohol, and love both Harry Potter and Twilight.

One of my best friends, and neighbor, is a transplant from Pennsylvania. I love her accent, and am mildly amused with her hockey worship (and her with my football worship ). I've learned a lot about Catholics from her, and her about Southern Baptists. Our sons are in the same grade, and are very good friends.

In fact, most everyone in my subdivision is a transplant from somewhere else. I love the diversity...and all the different college/NFL flags that hang during football season.

I guess I just don't understand those that wouldn't be tolerant...I sure hope it is quite a minority.

 

[bumbershoot]

Huh? A Baptist is a Protestant no matter how you slice it. It is a fact that you can't dispute.

I don't care. I am not disputing. I find the belief in the great beyond silly no matter WHAT you call it. And I felt and feel that way even when I'm sort of kind of believing in something like that! (I go through phases)

But I do know, from my experience in a big televised church there, and from DH's experience, that being called another sort of church, no matter if you're using the word as a word to describe not a word for a certain denomination of church, would, at least when I was there, have caused a very very long talk, possibly with some "bless your hearts" being thrown around.

But I don't care.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

It's not what you think. "Bless his heart" can be many things--a term of compassion--"Bless his heart!"( can you believe his mother dressed him in that Auburn sweatshirt?)
QUOTE]

LOL War Eagle.... don't you mean an Alabama sweatshirt?? Bless your heart.

 

[minkydog]

It's not what you think. "Bless his heart" can be many things--a term of compassion--"Bless his heart!"( can you believe his mother dressed him in that Auburn sweatshirt?)
QUOTE]

LOL War Eagle.... don't you mean an Alabama sweatshirt?? Bless your heart.

Oh, 'scuse me while I wap you upside the head wit ma big ol' CRIMSON TIDE beer stein.

 

[dennis99ss]

As far as Houston goes, you would never be picked on for being from somewhere else as we are considered probably the most diverse city in the nation. We have large populations of just about every ethnic and racial group you can think of and just elected a gay mayor. Actually as a northerner or non southern person you probably fit in better around here than I do as a native. I am in the significant minority.

Could not have said it better myself!

 

[ead79]

About the attitude - I have to agree, you get what you give. However, in our situation, we tried to be as nice as we could and were still treated as an outcast. However, I think alot of it had to do with the fact we inadvertently got involved in a family battle when we bought our piece of land. That had nothing to do with whether we were nice or not. And my son certainly didn't deserve to be beaten up in school or on the bus for it.

I wasn't talking about Catholic vs. Protestant. There was not a single Protestant church in our area. And the closest Catholic church was over an hour away. No, I was talking Southern Baptist. A whole different "animal" altogether.

As a previous poster mentioned, Southern Baptists are a Protestant denomination. And I'm so sorry to hear that! I'm a Christian, and I attend a Southern Baptist church. We absolutely don't harbor ill will against Catholics. We all worship the Trinity after all! I realize there are some Southern Baptists that give us all a bad name (as I suppose is true with any religious denomination), but I hope you won't think we're all like that.

 

[jjarman]

See, I don't get that The South prides itself on manners and being polite and that whole "Bless his heart" thing is so rude. I don't think it is cute. Wow. You can sweetly call somebody an idiot...how nice and polite

Call the folks from NYC rude all you want, at least you know what you are getting


All tongue in cheek, people

I don't use the "Bless his heart" thing when someone does something stupid. I use it and only hear it used when something bad happens to someone like a flat tire, lost a job, sinus infection, etc.

 

[JoanGirardi]

I am originally from SW Louisiana and moved to western NY over 20 years ago, and in my opinion, people are people no matter where you are. "Yankees" can be mean, judgmental, harsh people, but most of them aren't. Almost everyone I've met here in NY has been wonderful, truly welcoming and kind and good--hearted. There are deep down mean-spirited hicks in the south, and I'm sure if you look for them you'll find them. Almost everyone there, though, is kind and good and will welcome you into their lives. That's what I believe, anyway. Obviously, everyone has different experiences. My kids and husband have spent a lot of time visiting SW La, and have had nothing but good experiences, thank goodness.

As a side note, SW Louisiana has a very large Catholic population, as does western NY. Guess I lucked out on my move because there were no religious issues for me. Whew!

 

[DVCLiz]

That makes me sad.

We are relocating our family from PA to The Triad in June. I really liked Clemmons and North West Greensboro.

Don't worry, hentob - the Triad area is nothing like the most rural part of Mayodan, NC - they are miles apart literally and figuratively. Sounds like mvazul fell into a thicket of dumb rednecks - and we do have some of them in NC - but that's not the way people are usually treated in NC and especially not in the Triad or the Triangle.

 

[hentob]

Don't worry, hentob - the Triad area is nothing like the most rural part of Mayodan, NC - they are miles apart literally and figuratively. Sounds like mvazul fell into a thicket of dumb rednecks - and we do have some of them in NC - but that's not the way people are usually treated in NC and especially not in the Triad or the Triangle.

I am so excited about the move

Scared, but giddy

We have closed minded people here too. Like someone else said, it is a small town thing and can happen anywhere.

 

[Shutterbug]

Oh am sure things will be fine...
After all, its not like you are from Michigan and moving to Ohio......then maayyyybe you would run into problems

 

[Bitsmommy]

I grew up in small town, rural, Tennessee and was Born in Chicago. My entire family was from Chicago or further north. Yes, there is a little bit of the "civil war" still being fought. Will it ruin your sons "formative years" NO!!!
I was very young when moved here, but some things still don't make sense to me. When I started school, I didn't understand some of the words that the kids were saying. I did get teased, by teachers and students, but it wasn't anything detrimental. It was more, "hey, Matchinske (my maiden name) go paaaarrk, ya caaaaarr, in the yaaaarrd." Yes, I had teachers that would say that to me. I didn't go home crying about it or anything.

I loved school growing up. Yes, small town ways are frustrating, but I think that occurs up north. He may be teased for liking the Vikings, but if he was a native Tennessean, he may get teased for liking Vanderbilt. (yes, I am aware that one of those is a college team and one isn't, you get the point) The food is different. Snow days are a great perk. They close school down here for an inch or less of snow! My point is, that he will get teased for something, no matter what it is, because that is what kids do. They pester the crap out of each other!!! I would suspect that his accent and his state of orgin would be what he was teased about, but if he was born here, he may be teased because someone thought his hair cut was bad. KWIM?? Hope this helps!

 

[Jennasis]

I am so excited about the move

Scared, but giddy

We have closed minded people here too. Like someone else said, it is a small town thing and can happen anywhere.

Shoot me a PM when you make the move. Clemmons is lovely. We're about 15 minutes west of there.

 

[ilovejack02]

LOL, Now I havent read this entire thread, but OP I hate to say, I about fell on the floor laughing at what your son's dad said.


I have lived in South Louisiana my entire life. I have never seen anyone treated like that.. though we do tease my cousin's who are Florida Gator fans .. but all in good fun.

Maybe it is your son's father that is the problem and not the fact that he is from the north.

I just noticed you lived in New Iberia, I grew up there , then moved onto to Lafayette and now in Denham Springs, right outside of B.R.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

I am an Atlanta native (really!)

Your experience shouldn't be any worse than my first trip to NYC where everyone talked down to me and pointed out things like sidewalks (seriously) to me because we must not have them down south.

Or the time when our neighbors from Ohio excluded me from a dinner party because they had invited a black person (thought I would have a problem with it).

Or the times I have heard northern transplants to Atlanta talk trash about the "natives" openly (because they assume if you are wearing shoes and can say a complete sentence, you must be from somewhere else).

I really don't think you will have a problem.

 

[hentob]

Shoot me a PM when you make the move. Clemmons is lovely. We're about 15 minutes west of there.

Oh, I will I am glad that you think Clemmons is nice

Do you drive to WDW? We only fly now from PA, but are excited about the chance of driving. How long does it take you? Is it a bad drive?

 

[Squishypig]

First, southern Louisiana is not the south , it is, well, just southern louisiana. Kind of like its own little world where if you are not from Houma, or Morgan City, or even NOLA, you are outside. I don't think there would be a problem with being included, picked on, etc. though. Louisiana is a nice place, but I would not put it in the same place as "the South". Those who know Louisiana know what I mean. Those who don't won't understand anyway.

I grew up just north of Baton Rouge and yes I know what you mean. A lot of those areas just don't havea lot transplants that move there. If so, they either came from Texas or Mississippi. :lol: A lot of these towns are primarily made up of families, LARGE families, who have lived in the same place for generations and it can be hard to break through into their inner circle. My mom is from Brooklyn and moved to Slaughter, LA when she married my dad and it was hard for her because people didn't neccessarily take her into the fold because well, they didn't need to since they had generations of family to be their support system. A lot of these families are so protective that outsiders could be considered a threat until they prove themselves otherwise. Some of my Italian family members in the NE are similar. For the most part they are polite, but it's a cautious polite.

No one here has ever been anything but nice - no "yankee go home" nonsense, unless it was meant all in fun. Recent case - we got some snow here. By some snow I mean a dusting! And it pretty much shut down the town. its really funny in a pathetic way. When i complained how silly it was that people here couldnt handle a dusting my coworkers would tease about the yankee stuff. Nothing meant to be mean or whatever.

I live in SC now (work in Charlotte) and when someone picks on me when I say I don't drive in the snow, I just throw it right back that at least I can drive in the rain without going 25 mph on the interstate with my caution lights going! I may not like the white stuff and ice but I can drive like the wind in hurricanes and floods!

If I'm being totally honest, I think that some folks (not most, but a handful) move to the South and are very bitter at having left the North. Those folks sometimes say stuff that is very insulting--constantly complaining about how different everything is down here. To me that's just bad manners, just as it would be for me to talk poorly about where they live.

It really is. I can tell when someone is joking or maybe they are just homesick and reminiscing because I've been in their place. But some people are down right MAD that things are done differently that they are literally combative. And they are so consumed with pointing out what they think is "wrong" that they miss the good qualities of living here. Thankfully I've only run into a handful of these people in the 3.5 years I've lived here but I honestly wonder why they moved at all if they hated this place so much.

You know what? You find ignorant people everywhere. My ex's family lived in New Jersey and when I flew up to meet them after I graduated from high school (1996) the first part of the trip was them talking down to me, quizzing me and pretty much dismissing anything I said until they eventually realized that I was pretty much taking them head on and keeping up with them. I just did it with southern charm! One night his aunt kept going on and on about this restaurant and how wonderful it was and how we probably had nothing like it back home! Imagine my suprise when we pulled up at a Burger King! So like I said, ignorant people are everywhere.

 

[VillageMama]

I'm far more concerned that the child's father does not want him to move closer to him. What kind of father wants his son to be 1,000 miles away??

And P.S. ... Kentucky is too a Southern state! Although Kentucky remained officially "neutral" during the Civil War, there was much agreement with the issue of State's Rights. When Abraham Lincoln asked Kentucky governer Beriah Magoffin to send troops for the Union army, Magoffin replied, "I will send not a man or a dollar for the wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern states.".'

And have you ever talked to a native Kentuckian? The lovely southern drawl is alive and well all the way to the northern borders of the state.

 

[portocall]

This thread had me say WOW. I grew up in the South and my mother is from New York and my Dad is from North Carolina. I currently live in SE Louisiana, but grew up in small town FL. We were used to having many new people from the north, we never had issues with where they were from, only when they constantly complained that everything was better in xyz. Then it just got frustrating.

In SE Louisiana, we are a pretty welcoming bunch. Sure, there are some definate differences, such as shutting down schools for the freezing cold (pipes burst or heaters not working) but that should just be mildly ammusing to those accustomed to the bitter cold temps.

 

[yoopermom]

After all, its not like you are from Michigan and moving to Ohio......then maayyyybe you would run into problems

Or from "under the bridge" (Lower Peninsula) to "above the bridge" (Upper Peninsula)

Terri