Just so you northerners know, Florida, where I live, is not the south. I used to work with a very rude co-worker who always gripped about how rude people in the south are. She complained our city was not a city. New York, now that's a city. I finally got annoyed with her and had to let her in on a little known secret to the northerners.
Florida, is not the south. Florida is the north.
It's the most southern place in the USA she argued.
Correct, but Florida is not the south. Florida is a bunch of northerners, angry from being cramped in their over populated cities, fatigued from yelling at each other, blaming their frustrations on the snow, relocating to a sunnier place, but trying to turn a paradise into an over populated mess of hatred and anger so they can feel more like they are at home, a place they hate, because they blame the snow for their problems, rather than their customs.
She was appalled.
I told her to drive 600 miles north, into the south, where the doors are unlocked, you ask your neighbor for some honey, and leave with a glass of sweet tea too. If the person you are talking to can finish a sentence in less than 1 minute, you're not talking to a southerner. They're not dumb, they just aren't rushing through life. If they don't know what grits are, they are not a southerner. If you don't get diabetes from their tea, they are not a southerner. If you are angry because you got cut off during your commute, you are in the north. If you are enjoying the view while stuck behind a tractor, you are in the south. N vs S is a custom, not a geographical location. It snows in most of the south, just not as much, so they make snow-cream but don't need shovels.
Update Disclaimer: I have met lots of nice people from the north. My mother is from Long Island. I've also met lots of terrible southerners, like when the KKK showed up at out cabin in Georgia, and told us if we ever rented to blacks, they would burn our house down. Take the above for the banter that it is. I have family in New Jersey and New york. They are great people.
