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Favorite Southern State


Fruit Cove

What is your favorite state  

312 members have voted

  1. 1. What is your favorite state

    • North Carolina
      85
    • South Carolina
      29
    • Georgia
      18
    • Florida "see graphic"
      47
    • Texas "see graphic"
      13
    • Tennessee
      55
    • Louisiana
      12
    • Alabama
      15
    • Mississippi
      5
    • Arkansas
      13
    • Virginia
      15
    • Kentucky
      2
    • West Virginia "see graphic"
      1
    • Missouri "see graphic"
      0
    • Oklahoma "see graphic"
      2


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It occurs to me, all this debate about what's Southern and what's not Southern, and it really all depends on which Southerner you're talking to. I'd never consider Broward County, Florida, Southern, and I'd deny anybody who would. After all, sweet Nastea at the Burger King doesn't exactly count as sweet tea. I've always used I-4 as the dividing line in Florida, but then again in Highlands, GLades, Hardee, Hendry, Okeechobee, and DeSoto counties, Southernness is a very dear way of life, and those are all south of I-4. Just goes to show that hard lines and orange colored pencils don't make the South; people do.

I would encourage anyone with a passing interest in the South, modern Southern history, and what makes the South and what is unmaking it, to go to your library and check out a book by Joel Garreau called the Nine Nations of North America. He devises a very interesting breakup of North America among cultural and regional lines that is very telling, and his chapter on Dixie is perhaps the most insightful thing I've read about the South and what is happening to it in my entire life. And Garreau wrote this in 1981. He considered Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinatti, and Washington to be "border towns," places that have some Southern influence and some other influences as well. He drew a line through Florida from about Fort Pierce, around the southern end of the Lake, and out to the coast somewhere around Charlotte Harbor. Debatable, but for his purposes probably a useful line.

The book is definitely worth a read; just reading some of the comments here about how many northerners et al have moved to all the Southern cities reminded me of the book. The South is changing. Garreau thought it might be in danger of losing its identity entirely, but was at a loss as to what, if anything, should be done about it. Perhaps, he thought, Dixie's future was as America's new melting pot.

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I LOVE Florida, and have lived in South Florida since I was 11 (thats 17 years). I consider this my home... However, I do NOT consider it to be the South.... It is a region all its own. In terms of the best place in the South... Tennessee all the way! (I'm moving there next year.. so I am a bit biased.. hehehe)

So I voted for TN.

Paula

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This is an old topic, but anyway from my perspective there are different 'souths' so it's hard to define a boundary. A lot of people have a different idea of what the south is. Many of the states on the boundaries are certainly not going to be confused with any 'deep south' state. When some people talk about the south they mean the 'deep south'. By that definition Arkansas tends to get left out because we're west of the Mississippi River. Personally I tend to look at areas that have some southern aspects to it. From that aspect I'd certainly put much of east Texas in. Also east Oklahoma and some southern areas of Missouri.

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Hven't plowed through this entire thread, so it may have been posted before, but I'd go with Louisiana.

Where else in the South can you walk into a barroom in some small town where the tables are heaped with crawfish, 80 yr. old ladies are playing boure', a band is playing, and everyone but you is speaking French?

And that's at 9 in the morning! :lol:

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Hven't plowed through this entire thread, so it may have been posted before, but I'd go with Louisiana.

Where else in the South can you walk into a barroom in some small town where the tables are heaped with crawfish, 80 yr. old ladies are playing boure', a band is playing, and everyone but you is speaking French?

And that's at 9 in the morning!  :lol:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL sleepy...yur a little off :D

1.there arent many places in Louisiana that still speak french..just some families and areas in cajun country and creole country.

2. i dunno about the 80 year old ladies playin boure..guess yur gonna have to find that out for yourself

3. Crawfish isnt normally heaped on the table till around 5 or 6pm..thats when everyone comes around for a crawfish boil ;)

All kidding aside, i think Lousiaiana is a great state because of the diversity of people, the history, and the atmosphere of the whole state.

Saying it is the "best" state all depends on what you idea of "best" means, if you want beaches, crystal clear ocean waters, and beautiful women walking around in bikini's...Dont come to Louisiana....go to Miami or Jacksonville

But if you want a state with great history, great people, a great atmosphere ,and GREAT FOOD..come on over to Louisiana :)

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I just voted so that I could see how many voted for what. I have to say that I'm not surprised by the numbers. North Carolina in the lead because it can draw votes from both the beach lovers and the mountain lovers. Tennessee with it's mountains, varied terrain and hardwood forests. Florida because of all the beach lovers. South Carolina for many of the same points as North Carolina and the charm of Charleston. I'm surprised that Georgia didn't get a lot of the votes for the charm of Savanna, the beaches, and the mountains above Atlanta. I also think that many of these are the more populus states and along the major I-95 and I-85 corridors to the south. Everwhere has it's charm and what is special to one is not important or even disliked by another. The South has three unique cities, Charleston, Savanna, and New Orleans that do not feel like other places in the US. Numerous cities with grand skylines. A quant small city in Chattanooga that has mountain vistas and views that you normally only get in the west. There are interesting historical sites and funky junk. All of these make for special places and places that for each of us is the best.

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I'm not talking as an outsider.  I lived in New Orleans for 25 years, and spent my honeymoon in Breaux Bridge--if you can believe it, so I have experienced those things myself.  So, I don't think I'm a little off.

At fais do-do's, and I've been to them a number of times, crawfish were heaped on the table, old ladies were playing boure', the band was playing, and people were drinking and dancing--all at 9 AM--and French was the primary language. There is/was a barroom in downtown Breaux Bridge where that still goes on.  And no, I'm not talking about Mulate's--the tourist joint on the edge of town.

There is a famous fais do-do in either Eunice or Ville Platte where you can experience those things.

I've traveled extensively in that part of Louisiana and have been in many places like that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sleepy, I meant it in a jokingly manner

Breaux Bridge is considered to be part of cajun country, and as I said, that is one of the areas where many people still use french as the main language.

I was kidding about the crawfish thing, Crawfish is heaped on the table at any time of the day in south Lousiaiana, which I am sure you know.

I personaly have never seen old ladies playing boure', but it seems you have spent more time in that area of the state then I have, so im sure that it goes on there.

I apologize if you took my prior statemant personally in any way...

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Sleepy, I meant it in a jokingly manner

Breaux Bridge is considered to be part of cajun country, and as I said, that is one of the areas where many people still use french as the main language.

I was kidding about the crawfish thing, Crawfish is heaped on the table at any time of the day in south Lousiaiana, which I am sure you know.

I personaly have never seen old ladies playing boure', but it seems you have spent more time in that area of the state then I have, so im sure that it goes on there.

I apologize if you took my prior statemant personally in any way...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No offense taken.

White-haired, chain-smoking, old ladies are incorrigible gamblers. Check out the nickel slots at any casino. lol

I realize French died out in New Orleans in the 30's. I only knew two native New Orleans French speakers there--George Dumontier and Genevieve Pitot, and that was back in the early 80's. Mayor Morial the First, grew up in a French speaking household.

I knew some Cajuns there though who spoke French who'd moved to NO from Acadiana--one was born in the mid-50's and didn't speak a word of English til she started school in about 1960. She's about 50 now, and her parents in their 70's still don't speak English.

In NO I think most Cajuns seem to live on the Westbank--Marrero/Westwego, etc.

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I definatly encountered french in NO. Though i could never tell if they were locals, or if they were visitors from France, They were definatly speaking french. But there is a small Haitian community in Tally that speak french, so i think you could run into it everywhere in the region.

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