Northerners and southerners are like cats and dogs. Just like our locations, we are polar opposites. So, when I moved from my hometown in New York to South Carolina, the culture shock was unbelievable. Even though I have lived in the south for years now, I STILL don’t understand the southern culture. Odds are anyone else who has made the big move from the north to the south (or vice versa) understands what I am saying. Here are 10 things Northerners living in the South totally can relate too!
1. Everyone in the South is so friendly and it confuses me.
The niceness is ridiculous; I guess it isn’t called southern hospitality for nothing. When I first encountered the friendliness of a southern I thought they were being sarcastic. We don’t have that nice and friendly attitude where I am from!
2. Stop telling me I have an accent, I don’t have an accent, I just have a different vocabulary!
I don’t have a heavy northern accent, but when I talk you know I sure as heck am not from the south. For example:
BBQ to us is hamburgers and hotdogs, but in the south BBQ is pulled pork. I say cart, my southern friends say buggy. Who even came up with buggy?! When I am about to do something I say, “I am about to do it,” southerners say they are “fixin’ to do it.” I didn’t know it was broken! Northerners will tell you how it is when you’re being dumb; southerners (mainly women) will say, “bless your heart!” You can curse me out in every way, but “bless your heart” will always piss me off more because of the patronizing tone. Here are some other things New Yorkers might think when they head down South.
3. Please stop calling me a Yankee.
I get it was a way to refer to a Northerner, but it’s 2016 and is time to let it die. Maybe it is just me, but I hate it when I am referred to as a Yankee. It’s bothersome for the same reason “bless your heart is.”
4. Why do strangers wave at each other?
You would think I’d get used to it by now, but I don’t. Every time a stranger waves at me I spend a good 10 minutes trying to figure out who they are and how I know them. I just assume if you’re waving at me I know you, because that does not happen in the north.
5. What do you mean you don’t sell alcohol on Sunday?
On top of a lot of stores being closed on Sundays, some places actually don’t sell alcohol on Sundays! It might not seem like a big deal, but for the adults in my crazy family, sometimes you just need a glass of wine ASAP.
6. Why is everything moving 300 times slower than regular life?
There is not nearly as much going on in the south as there is in New York, so for most people there is no need to rush. Everything is done at a leisurely pace. Sometimes that’s fine, if anything it can be relaxing, but other times I just want to get through the grocery store line without hearing about how someone’s mom’s, cousin’s, sister’s hamster has a cold. Let me get my crap and get out.
7. Domino's is not real pizza, and NEITHER IS PAPA JOHNS.
When I say I want pizza, I am talking real, New York style, greasy, beautiful pizza. Your Papa John’s isn’t going to cut it, sorry.
8. No Italian restaurant you bring me to will reach my expectations.
New York has one of the highest percentages of Italians in the USA. So, either you grew up with your grandparents cooking you amazing Italian food or you have eaten in a family owned Italian restaurant with authentic, hand-made food way too many times. You can’t possibly top the Italian food you get when in New York. I guess you could say I am an Italian food snob.
9. The south has New York beat with fried food though.
Southern comfort food is fried, covered in cheese, or served with green beans/collard greens and a glass of sweet tea. When you try it all for the first time, you may or may not feel like you’re going to die, but what a happy death it would be. Southern food comforts better than any therapist and is cheaper!
10. Lifted trucks, mudding, and camo are more than just words.
Nothing say’s “I’m from the south” like a muddy lifted truck owned by a person who religiously wears camouflage. I am all about you doing you, but why? I still do not understand why someone would want their truck covered in mud and lifted so high they need a step stool to get in it. The camo thing is hard to wrap my head around too. Who are you hiding from? A deer isn’t going to jump out and kick your ass at school, you don’t need to wear camo all of the time!
These are just a few of the things that run through my head nearly every day. This is just because the culture differences between New York and the South are crazy different. That’s not a bad thing and I know New York is probably a crazier and more foreign place to southerners than their home is to us. Our cultures are so different, but we do have one thing in common… A love for who we are, where we are from, and how we were raised.
