Has anyone lived both up north and down south? What differences did you see?

Question

Has anyone lived both up north and down south? What differences did you see? I must say, I wasn't prepared for the differences in the way of life, peoples perceptions, etc... What things have you noticed that are different about people, how they think, what they believe, etc...?

Answer 1

I have, and currently live in CT. Northern people seem more self-absorbed, I believe, and everything seems to revolve around them and their little groups (whether it's their town, their family or just them.) There isn't a sense of doing the right thing for other people without expecting something back, which hit me as being very strange. I was raised with Cherokee values in Tennessee, and we emphasize working together and not asking for anything in return. It's almost as though their mentality comes from the old Ellis Island and tenement days (something we Native people never dealt with, of course.) Their sense of distance is skewed here too--not only do they measure distance in MINUTES (the standard is miles or kilometers,) but they think twenty miles is a long drive.

They also have a very flat, nasal and monotonous way of speaking here. I'm a radio news anchor, and find it interesting that these people think they don't have accents. Trust me, unless you work in broadcasting and have that "on-air" sound, you do.

And to the guy below, how do you explain 25 percent of Connecticut's residents being functionally illiterate if these schools are so great? Yeah, they're great if you can PAY for them. The rich people here may be doing well, but that's about it. 25 percent of people in this state could not even understand what we're typing on here!!!! I would have checked my facts if I were you, and not been so quick to broadcast stupidity. You're proud of something that simply doesn't exist. That crap might have been true in the 1930s, but this is 2007.

Answer 2

I grew up in the north. I spent a few years living in the south. I have to say I'm very glad to be back up north. Sure people in the south are nice, hospitable, and usually polite. They are on the other hand allot slower. Their not as well educated, and seem to be on the shallow end of the IQ pool.
I had roommates in the south with a young child. He was in the first grade. He would not have been able to pass kindergarten in the north. He was actually a very bright kid. It's just that the schools in the south aren't very good.
If you research average IQ scores per state in this country you will find the southern states right there on the bottom.
The issue of racism is seems to still be on the tips of every ones tongue in the south. Though this does seem reasonable considering they are in the south, many people have views that just don't belong in this day and age.
I also noticed that everywhere I went in the south some slow moving and slow thinking person was always in my way. People in the south seem to think doorways are the best places for conversation.
Sure people in the north are rude, arrogant, and in too much of a hurry, but I'll take that over the alternative.

Answer 3

HI
I have lived north south east and west and yes they are all like different cultures and I was in shock going from the west to the east but then I moved east to south and that was an easier move by still alien like and I think I was in culture shock. The food was my biggest problem how it was seasoned and people in the south I found more clannish people in the west more layed back but in a hurry when working, the bible belt was a new experience people seemed more religous and churches on every street. Buliding designs are totally different and seem flimsy in the south cause they don't have earth quakes and bridges weren't as reinforced and scarey for me to travel thinking will it hold my car?
LAmmy
Lammy

Answer 4

People are more laid back in the south, a little more patient and a lot slower moving. Things crawl here when they seem to run up north. Much more polite here as a rule. Northerners GO to a store; southerners "visit" a store.

Answer 5

the devil is up north and vainyard down south

Answer 6

i've lived in portland maine & spring texas
i have to say they both pretty good

Answer 7

they don't call it "the bible belt' for nothing.