Kentucky & whether or not Florida is truly southern

[Swamp Donkey]

Yeah It's good for 4 or 5 Saturdays a year and maybe a week in the keys every other year.

You too, huh? Wonder Woman also?

 

[soflagator]

Since you have never been to KY, nor will you ever visit KY, I’ll consider all your opinions about KY null and void. I’ve lived in FL half my life and KY the second half. Both have their merits and issues. I’ve enjoyed and disliked both states.


In the words of the great esteemed philosopher, Jimmy Buffett, don’t try to describe the ocean if you’ve never seen it.

I never said I’d never been. I said it’s the feeling of some people I rely on that I shouldn’t return and thus I haven’t and won’t.

 

[Gatordiddy]

@CDGator - there are many redeeming qualities

Corvette museum (highly recommended)
Bourbon Trail
Horse country
Kentucky Derby
Patty Loveless
Dwight Yoakam
Louisville Slugger bats
The original Kentucky Fried Chicken

And the best part?
Natives: Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush and the birthplace of Bluegrass music

 

[TheDouglas78]

To the bold - exactly.

To the rest - all inference on everyone's part in the thread. Not being southern is not a bad thing and I haven't claimed otherwise. I stated a position that most ppl tend to agree on, Florida isn't really southern. Everything following that statement was Floridian insecurities coming out and folks showing their desire to be associated with southern culture along with some thin skin when it comes to the topic.

Truth is unless you grew up in a really small town in very rural Florida, you aren't southern. Nobody that grew up in a Florida urban location is southern, nobody south of Tampa is southern. But go to a traditional southern state and try to apply the same thing - doesn't work. Georgia, bama, sip, Tennessee, Carolina - those places are deep south whether you're in urban areas or not. And the culture is consistent and strong throughout. Just doesn't ring true for Florida and that's fine. We probably have more 1st and 2nd gen northern transplants in this state than we do actual historical Floridians. You can't be 'southern' if the majority of the population is either from or have parents who are from northern states. Sorry everyone, unless you grew up Florida rural and can track at least a few generations back, you really aren't southern.

Don't @ me.

I would say I-4 would be a good line for the difference in the Southern in Florida and the other half of Florida. Tampa bay area from Tarpon down through the skyway is basically another world, just like Orlando, and stuff below I-4. North of that you have a lot of small truly Southern towns. Gainesville would be a Truckstop without UF being there. I can't say much for the Panhandle, it's filled with Rednecks and Carpetbaggers.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

There are many different parts of the South with each one being different. Florida is not really southern any more. It's just Florida. Take it or leave it.

I was born in Tennessee. Grew up on the West coast of South Florida. Have a lot of family in Florida. Lived in Mississippi, North Carolina, now back in Tennessee. Family has been in the South since before the Revolutionary War--Virginia to Georgia to Mississippi. So if anybody is Southern it's me. But not a redneck. I speak with the very slightest southern drawl that is almost not detectable. My dad had a southern drawl . He sounded like Bear Bryant. I speak with a sort of bland non-regional accent sort of like announcers on television. Now my wife who was born in Tennessee has a nice southern accent that is not hick sounding but when we are down in Florida people keep asking her if she's from Alabama. We get a laugh.

When I was growing up in South Florida we lived in a neighborhood with mostly Midwesterners. But in my house we ate traditional southern foods and watched SEC football. We didn't give a damn about the Big Ten or Notre Dame. If the SEC wasn't on we didn't watch it unless maybe there was nothing else to do and we had to watch a Southwest Conference game like Arkansas versus Texas. We seemed to gravitate towards other people from the South who lived on the Gulf side of South Florida and there were/are a quite a few of us, more than you'd think, mingled in with the Ohioans and Michiganders.

Now the native black folks (Afro-Americans) of Florida didn't seem all that much different to me than the blacks in the rest of the south. Family, church, soul food that sort of thing. I used to see them fishing in the canal along the side of the Tamiami Trail with cane poles and not rod and reels. Nice polite fine people.

I'll tell you that this is true. The South of today is not the South I grew up in. It's a rapidly changing region with a lot of transplanted folks who have moved in from all over. Homogenization, at least in the urban areas, I'd guess you'd call it.

Some parts of the South are still southern. I was in Clarksdale, Mississippi several months ago exploring where some of my people were buried etc. I had to go to the restroom so I went into a Walmart to do my business. Me and an old black man a couple of stalls down from me were the only ones in there . I could hear him moaning when straining at stool. Then he began saying "Thank you Lord Jesus. Praise God. All glory to you Heavenly Father. Thank you Lord" in a most reverent and prayerful tone. I guess you could say it was a moving experience in more ways than one. No question about it. I was in the South among God's people. Home again. Home again.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

No, LA is the southern part of Florida. Everything geologically south of Ocala, except some of the Keys, are Yankee infested. I grew up in Pensacola. Red Level, Brewton, Florala, Pace and Jay are as southern as you can get.

They are as redneck as you can get. There's a distinct difference. Tell me you've never lived in a traditional southern state without telling me...

 

[B52G8rAC]

They are as redneck as you can get. There's a distinct difference. Tell me you've never lived in a traditional southern state without telling me...

Welp. I gather Alabama and Texas fit your definition so you are wrong on this assumption. The Florida Panhandle is as southern in outlook as it gets. Not talking about the tourist spots.

 

[cover2]

Listen, I think you’re great. I even asked for a second windbreaker for you. But you live in LA. So I kinda assumed you’d just sit this one out altogether, or you know, maybe start a diversionary topic like “Hey, am I the only one that still likes Mr Pibb?” or something.

You’ve done the “Cleveland Steamer” thing, haven’t you?

 

[AlexDaGator]

I was born in Louisville. And happen to like it.

Your mom loves a hot brown.



Alex.

 

[Seedy]

@CDGator - there are many redeeming qualities

Corvette museum (highly recommended)
Bourbon Trail
Horse country
Kentucky Derby
Patty Loveless
Dwight Yoakam
Louisville Slugger bats
The original Kentucky Fried Chicken

And the best part?
Natives: Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush and the birthplace of Bluegrass music

+CDGator

 

[Nalt]

+CDGator

In what order?

 

[CDGator]

+CDGator

Good answer!

 

[AlexDaGator]

We used to stay in Cincinnati every other year for the Kentucky game.

Rural Southern Ohio (or "Ahia" as some pronounce it) is pretty country. I didn't say Southern, I said country.

After one game, I found myself in a Cincinnati bar wearing a number 1 Gator jersey, sunburnt, hoarse, and working on tying one on.

This giant redneck come us to me. Big, burly dude, ruddy complexion, boots (not dress boots, real boots, called "ropers"), flannel shirt, trucker hat, scraggly beard, the whole look. He could have driven to the bar in a tractor. Real deal farmer.

He asks me "WHO WAYERS NUMMER WUN?" Despite his elevated volume, I couldn't understand him. Accent was almost Tennessee (I said almost). Recognizing my confusion, he shouted even louder "WHO WAYERS...NUMMER WUUN!?!" Finally understanding, I replied "Percy Harvin". His eyes got wider and he responded with "PURSEY!? I LOVE ME SOME PURSEY!" I immediately grasped that he wasn't talking about Percy but was proclaiming his fondness for the female anatomy.

So yeah...country.



Alex.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

Welp. I gather Alabama and Texas fit your definition so you are wrong on this assumption. The Florida Panhandle is as southern in outlook as it gets. Not talking about the tourist spots.

The fact that you equate bama and Texas in any way, then imply neither of them are southern proves you don't know what you're talking about. Texas is not southern at all. Alabama is. Florida is not. The fact that these things triggers you so, proves my point better than I could. Thanks!

 

[B52G8rAC]

The fact that you equate bama and Texas in any way, then imply neither of them are southern proves you don't know what you're talking about. Texas is not southern at all. Alabama is. Florida is not. The fact that these things triggers you so, proves my point better than I could. Thanks!

Well maybe not today. When I was going to school in LA, we stood for Dixie and had Lee and Jefferson's birthday's as holidays.

 

[MJMGator]

Well maybe not today. When I was going to school in LA, we stood for Dixie and had Lee and Jefferson's birthday's as holidays.

Well, it was nice of y’all to honor them while they were still alive.

 

[bradgator2]

I dont agree with some of it…. But still pretty funny and fitting

 

[AuggieDosta]

View attachment 69177
I dont agree with some of it…. But still pretty funny and fitting

I'm from the ? and there's plenty of southern, plenty of country, and plenty of redneck to be found in ? but, sadly, there's a growing number of yankees and liberals and useless developers invading the ?.

 

[bradgator2]

I'm from the ? and there's plenty of southern, plenty of country, and plenty of redneck to be found in ? but, sadly, there's a growing number of yankees and liberals and useless developers invading the ?.

Yup. I was born and raised in the ?

 

[bradgator2]

Tampa tourist attraction ranked among top 10 most boring in the world: study

Tampa is home to many attractions and exciting things to do. But according to a study of the world’s most boring attractions, one place unfortunately ranked fairly high.

www.wfla.com