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August 26, 2003
Southern Man
It's been 140 years, you would think that Americans would have gotten over this whole Civil War thing. I found out this weekend, quite by accident, that to imply that someone who grew up in a northern state was "from the south" is quite the insult.
Case in point, a friend of ours from Nebraska was proclaiming her love of Country & Western music. My American geography not being what it perhaps should be, I made a witty remark about Southerners and their music. Let's just say I learned quite a bit about the American Mid-West and the role of border states (although I did once have to correct my roommate who thought the Underground Railroad was a subway). I have another friend from Virginia (technically a southern state) who also takes offence to being called a Southerner.
I find it amazing that people are still uptight about this. I don't think anyone from Upper Canada gets upset if someone implies they're from Lower Canada, and the term "newfie" is more endearing than insulting. And I for one am first to the defence of the Québécois when the Canada bashing starts (which it does quite often around here).
Just for fun, I started asking Americans if they had the choice of any of the 50 states to expell from the Union, which would it be. So far all but one of the states mentioned are from the South.