A-way down South in Dixie

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Sydney

Hmmm, what part of Wisconsin? Just wondering as it is something that I've come across in Wisconsin here and there, mostly old farm wives who still cook with lard.

I grew up in Eau Claire, and my mom has family in the Galesville farming community area.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by jmurrell

Don't forget that the big patriotic outdoor holiday, with parades and concerts and so on, is Memorial Day. July 4th is just a day off from work.

Here, it's pretty much reversed. Memorial Day is all about cooking out. Parades, concerts, fireworks, and such are all centered on July 4.

Perhaps it's because we are on the coast, so a) we get a lot of folks (temporary and permanent) from around the country, and b) you can actually be outside in July without dying of the heat (especially on the waterfront, where our festivities are focused).

[Adina]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Here, it's pretty much reversed. Memorial Day is all about cooking out. Parades, concerts, fireworks, and such are all centered on July 4.

Here in Louisville, it's pretty much the same. But Louisville is a Midwestern city that's dressed up Southern. More rural KY, and down into TN and Miss. it changes.

Perhaps it's because we are on the coast, so a) we get a lot of folks (temporary and permanent) from around the country, and b) you can actually be outside in July without dying of the heat (especially on the waterfront, where our festivities are focused).

The heat is a big factor, July in the Mississippi is not the time to be outside.

Of course the other factor is that July 4 is not remembered for Independence but for defeat. See the Battle of Gettysburg and the Surrender of Vicksburg.

Jeff

[RevBob]

Originally Posted by jmurrell

Here in Louisville, it's pretty much the same. But Louisville is a Midwestern city that's dressed up Southern. More rural KY, and down into TN and Miss. it changes.

No, down here in SE TN/N GA, July 4 is very much "fireworks and cookouts" time...

[Adina]

Originally Posted by RevBob

No, down here in SE TN/N GA, July 4 is very much "fireworks and cookouts" time...

Maybe it's changed since I was a youngun then. Summers I spent in rural Mississippi Memorial Day was the big deal. I had an uncle who explained, quite forcefully, that the Fourth was a Yankee event, and not appropriate. He was slightly more colorful than that of course. Could just be a family quirk though.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by jmurrell

Maybe it's changed since I was a youngun then. Summers I spent in rural Mississippi Memorial Day was the big deal. I had an uncle who explained, quite forcefully, that the Fourth was a Yankee event, and not appropriate. He was slightly more colorful than that of course. Could just be a family quirk though.

Family thing, I suspect. Any excuse for a party is inherently valid and the 4th was not a Yankee Victory of them crackers what tried to rebel, but a commemoration of our independence from Britain, both North and South.

That said, Nascar is responisble for the growth of memorial day as a holiday. ;)

[The Sundered Sky]

Originally Posted by moldymaltquaffer

It's been over a decade since I lived down that way, so I've forgotten many of the little eccentricities and phrasings. But I want to play them to the hilt with my character in an upcoming game.
Anybody want to help jog my memory?

Overview:
My intent is that the character will come across as "too dumb to fool", with that being a deliberately false impression. Much like it often is in real life. ;) I lost count of all the times I saw someone hamming up the role of a country bumpkin taking an outsider to the cleaners.

Some entertaining examples, please?

I think it would've been nice if the responders had noted their state or former geographic area they were commenting on, to help give one an idea of what customs exist where.

It's not just a matter of "the South" having different areas/culture, but the generational thing also affects some of the customs. Some customs(relating to food particularly) have and are fading away.

For instance, I'm in SE Oklahoma, the closest mall is an hour away in Sherman, Texas. And many of my elders(now dead) had more pronounced Southern culture than I'll ever have. Several had a fondness for "mountain oysters". Given my disgust at the idea of eating cow/sheep/whatever balls, I can assure you most in my age group have left "mountain oysters" behind on yesterday's dinner plates.

I've read stories about RC and moon pies being a "southern working man's lunch" in days past, but it has disappeared as a regular, widespread staple by my time. We have RC, and moon pies, sure. But this notion surrounding the combination is gone.

There does seem almost a church on every corner as some have noted, but perhaps not the exact same culture mentioned..I don't know how often I've been asked "So what church do you go to?" by strangers, but I'm betting it's almost non-existent.

BBQ is not necessarily pork. It's often beef, in fact. I prefer it. But it can be anything.

People DO seem to covet living in the country around here. I do not share their enthusiasm.

We are always "fixin'" to do something, a habit left over from our Scotch-Irish ancestors, judging by "Albion's Seed". Apparently "cute" is one of these Scotch-Irish legacies as well.

Blue Bell is the best ice cream in the country!..or so the commercials say, and in doing a taste comparison with even their simple vanilla flavor, it's much better than even local rip off competitors("Blue Bunny").

Peach cobbler is indeed a favorite. And other cobblers, and apple pie, but peach and perhaps blackberry seem to be supreme. Also, coconut pie. They tend to like pineapple on dessert things as well. I thought "what is it with southerners and pineapple?!" Pecan pie is great, especially with some cool whip. That's peh-khan, not pee-kann. We like our pumpkin pie in the fall too.

Watermelon is REALLY popular in SE Oklahoma as well. Two places in town are selling some right now. Fried chicken. The old timers used to sit on the porch and chat in the evening, before(and even after) TV came along. This is part of that "old generation" thing though. In fact, I've noticed some of the racial stereotypes I'd hear about black people often sounded very familiar to my majority-white experience. I kept wondering where all these stereotypes/slurs(having to do with "porches") came from, yankee whites? Because white southerners loved all this fried chicken and watermelon business the most, it seemed. *Spits a seed out and goes back inside*

July 4 and Memorial Day are both big days, but the 4th is bigger for sure.

I'm not sure where TShiggins is from or how many Southern states he's been to, but much of his post applies in my experience.

No one says "ahnt", but a few say "aint". Mamaw/Papaw aren't unheard of. Almost nothing doesn't go with cornbread. And some of the oldtimers did enjoy crumbling cornbread up in milk, especially buttermilk(throws up). Squash is popular, and you need plenty of black eyed peas on New Year's Day. We like our Mason jars for canning and drinking out of. The old timers liked the poke salad, but I've never had any.

Pinto beans and cornbread are a staple here, stemming from the Depression era and just poor people in general, like my forebears growing up in the sixties(I'm 32). My Grandma/Mom would cook them for several hours with some ham hock and butter mixed in. Butter up some cornbread, add in some raw onion on the side, and I'm set. Some have told me they'll eat a slice of tomato with it, though I haven't seen it myself. We call them "Red beans" around here, though I've noticed that moniker isn't common. Apparently people use that name for Kidney beans instead? Granted, cooked Pinto beans are brown and Kidney ARE red, but it can be confusing when one is raised to speak of them a certain way.

My mother moved to Canada and said "oh my God, they don't know how to cook red beans and taters up here!".

The gravy comments from several posters are ALL correct! An Aussie friend(who had moved and married a Texan, they both wound up in Indiana) told me "you ruin it". "What?" "Everything, you people put gravy on EVERYTHING!". She's right, too. Bring on the biscuits and gravy! And the Chicken Fried Steak'n'gravy while you're at it..


Common threats include water moccasins/cotton mouths, rattlers, and copperheads. Poison ivy/oak, etc.

Sometimes when it rains in the summer, it will cool down..if you're lucky. It's very humid here and the rain sometimes just makes it worse. I was going into work the other evening walking next to this dude from Cali/Hawaii, and it was funny...it had rained earlier and was still unbearable, he says "I swear...Oklahoma and the equator..are the only places on Earth where it can rain and still be hot as s***!!". I'm sure these aren't the only places, and I greatly dislike humidity and the Southern sun.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

I've noticed some of the racial stereotypes I'd hear about black people often sounded very familiar to my majority-white experience. I kept wondering where all these stereotypes/slurs(having to do with "porches") came from, yankee whites? Because white southerners loved all this fried chicken and watermelon business the most, it seemed.

I've noticed this too, and not just with slurs and stereotypes. After teaching in inner-city Boston for a couple years, I liked to think I had gotten some small familiarity with slang terms used by black teenagers up north... and then I moved to the South and got married, and I started hearing the exact same slang from my white husband and his family. I'm guessing it's because black families brought a little bit of Southern culture with when they moved up North, and the yankee whites just assumed it was a 'black thing' rather than a general Southern thing. But it's just a wild guess.

[RevBob]

Lots of stuff here, so of course I'm going to try to trim this down...

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

I think it would've been nice if the responders had noted their state or former geographic area they were commenting on, to help give one an idea of what customs exist where.

For myself, I seldom explicitly note my location...because it's right there in my signature. :)

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

I'm in SE Oklahoma,

Ah. Spread-out cattle country, from your description. That explains several things, like beef being the main BBQ meat and greater emphasis on privacy.

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

Blue Bell is the best ice cream in the country!..or so the commercials say, and in doing a taste comparison with even their simple vanilla flavor, it's much better than even local rip off competitors("Blue Bunny").

We've got Blue Bunny here, too. The local big ice cream is Mayfield, though, and all snack cakes are Little Debbies. Of course, since Little Debbies are made just on the other side of this metro area (Collegedale is NE Chattanooga; Hixson is NW), that's only natural.

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

Peach cobbler is indeed a favorite. And other cobblers, and apple pie, but peach and perhaps blackberry seem to be supreme.

Egg custard pie. Mmmmm. Sadly, it seems to be fading away.

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

July 4 and Memorial Day are both big days, but the 4th is bigger for sure.

Not surprising at all. I note that my home state of TN spent the least time as part of the Confederacy; joined last and - except for WV - left first.

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

No one says "ahnt", but a few say "aint".

"Aint" means "is not." "Ant" goes with "uncle."

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

Pinto beans and cornbread are a staple here ... My Grandma/Mom would cook them for several hours with some ham hock and butter mixed in. Butter up some cornbread, add in some raw onion on the side, and I'm set.

I prefer biscuits over cornbread, and can't stand raw onion. Otherwise...

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

We call them "Red beans" around here, though I've noticed that moniker isn't common. Apparently people use that name for Kidney beans instead?

Ayup. (Yes, I deliberately adopted that word from Stephen King's Maine, but it still works here.)

Originally Posted by The Sundered Sky

Common threats include water moccasins/cotton mouths, rattlers, and copperheads. Poison ivy/oak, etc.

And teenagers entering the woods on suicide pacts. :)

Seriously, this is the southern end of the Appalachians. If you've seen The Descent or the Wrong Turn movies...head a couple of hours northeast of here, and that's about where they're set. That said, some of those folks would still blend in jest fahn 'round heah.

[combatmedic]

One I recall my Dad and some of my uncles (all Texans) using:
"That boy took off runnin' like a stripe-assed ape!"