Those hicks in Alabama...

CJones

CJones

Final Approach
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uHaveNoIdea
Having proudly grown up in Alabama and now living outside of Alabama, I am constantly fighting the 'hick' stereotypes tied to the south in general. In fact, I discovered a new one when I started work this summer - apparently everyone in the south knows how to play the banjo. Who knew!?

These stereotypes run deep - I once nearly fell out of a desk in a college Sociology class because the 'Professor' (if you could call her that) actually made the comment "Yes, actually the south is about 10-years behind the rest of the country as far as being 'modern' goes." My hand nearly hit the ceiling because it went up so fast. Needless to say she was 'corrected' very quickly. ;)

A little known fact about north Alabama specifically is the existence of the Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, U.S. Space and Rocket Center and other space/rocket oriented endeavors in the area.

This article in my hometown newspaper shows how much pride the area holds for its efforts, although struggling to remain within 10 years of the technology found in the rest of the country. ;)

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/2...ollo-lunar-mission-was-made-in-North-Alabama-
the article said:
"Alabamians designed, tested and built the vehicles that took us to the moon," said Al Whitaker, a spokesman for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. "That Saturn V rocket that went to the moon should have had a big sticker on it that said 'Made in Alabama.' "
......
......
Bob Stewart is an astronaut, space shuttle pilot and former Sheffield resident.
"I am a big booster of North Alabama," Stewart said. "I tell people it was the U.S. Army that put this nation in space and they did it from Huntsville. Back then, people called NASA the 'North Alabama Space Agency.' "
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One of the vets who had formerly been at UAB said in a committee meeting a few weeks ago (referring to laboratory animal procedures) that if he didn't like it, and animal probably wouldn't either. I immediately listed the habits of wallowing in mud, coprophagia, and of course a dog's favorite greeting of another dog. I then made a comment about Alabama Vet schools. Got a good laugh.
 
Back in the early 1960s (before such silly things like space travel existed), my mom was in high school, and moved from Virginia to upstate New York when my grandfather took a new job. Of course, Virginia isn't real south (we don't usually marry our cousins), but to New York folk, it's all the same. Those people call it the Civil War instead of its proper name, the War of Northern Aggression.

Imagine the various teachers' collective surprise when my mom could not only read and write, but do so better than most of the rest of the class! Mom did well in high school, but was expected to fail everything since people from the South are dumb. In all seriousness, the teachers didn't believe that my mom would be able to read or write. The fact that my grandfather had just accepted a position as head of research and development a major corporation should have been some indication that maybe reading and writing were on the list of things my family did know how to do.

Give me the South any day where people are polite...
 
CJones said:
So we could have been on the moon in the 1920's if the rockets had been designed in any other part of the country?? ;) :D
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That is entirely true and I must compliment you on your powers of deductive reasoning. Not to bad at all for a son of the south.:D

Keep in mind that while the south does have it's weak points, it is a world leader in fried foods!:smilewinkgrin:

(ducking and running)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Give me the South any day where people are polite...
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Smart southerners use the "Aww, shucks" factor to great advantage to undermine elitist Yankee snobs.

There are few people on the planet more insular and myopic than New Yorkers.

newyorker2.JPG
 
dmccormack said:
Smart southerners use the "Aww, shucks" factor to great advantage to undermine elitist Yankee snobs.

There are few people on the planet more insular and myopic than New Yorkers.

newyorker2.JPG
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

I need to save that! As someone who was raised in Manhattan, that's definitely how everyone there thinks.
 
smigaldi said:
you have not had breakfast in the UK then.

fried eggs with fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, deep fried toast, and baked beans.
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Aye, the Brits do well out of the gate and there is something to be said for fish-n-chips and various pub grub. In my opinion they lack the total dedication to fried food that is found south of the Mason-Dixon. Yes, once the Brits bring out the boiled and burned dishes they fall by the wayside to the true leaders.:smile:
 
Clark1961 said:
That is entirely true and I must compliment you on your powers of deductive reasoning. Not to bad at all for a son of the south.:D

Keep in mind that while the south does have it's weak points, it is a world leader in fried foods!:smilewinkgrin:

(ducking and running)
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Well, I did have to have everyone in the office take their shoes off so I could count that high.. :D

smigaldi said:
you have not had breakfast in the UK then.

fried eggs with fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, deep fried toast, and baked beans.
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After my wife's first 'Alabama Thanksgiving' several years ago, on the return flight to Iowa, she was talking to my mom about how different (but good) the food was there - specifically the fried and/or sweet stuff. My mom made the comment "Oh yes, in the south everything is either fried or covered with butter and sugar... or all of the above!" Truer words have never been spoken. :D

smigaldi said:
in the 1960s Alabama was running ten years ahead, but then stopped so they are now 30 years behind. But it is ok, Alabama still ain't Georgia! That has to count for something!
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The running joke when I was in high school in regards to all of the standardized tests we took was "Thank God for Mississippi." :D
 
Neil Young is selective about the songs he writes about states. I think Alabama is one of only two. :smilewinkgrin:


Trapper John
 
CJones said:
After my wife's first 'Alabama Thanksgiving' several years ago, on the return flight to Iowa, she was talking to my mom about how different (but good) the food was there - specifically the fried and/or sweet stuff. My mom made the comment "Oh yes, in the south everything is either fried or covered with butter and sugar... or all of the above!" Truer words have never been spoken. :D
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When I make sweet potatoes the only way I can make them is with butter and lots of brown sugar. Then back until a gooey mess!!

CJones said:
The running joke when I was in high school in regards to all of the standardized tests we took was "Thank God for Mississippi." :D
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I lived in MS and FL so hence just Georgia bashing. AL not so much as there was just a wee bit of similarity between MS and AL :D:D

Besides, it always seemed like the Georgia boys thought themselves better than everyone else. Yet it was they that lost the south to Sherman and hence the war itself.
 
Back to the "We're smarter than you" mentality people have.....

On the radio this morning, they were having a 'trivia' contest. The question was "What was the name of the space ship that took the first man to the moon."

The answer.........

Apollo 11

*sigh*
 
you can pick up Alabama radio from Minnesota???
 
tonycondon said:
you can pick up Alabama radio from Minnesota???
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Nope. The string and tin can won't stretch that far, and Jeb can't yell from the top of the tree loud enough for me to hear him up here.
 
smigaldi said:
I lived in MS and FL so hence just Georgia bashing. AL not so much as there was just a wee bit of similarity between MS and AL :D:D
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Really. First joke I heard after my family moved to FL was "Why does the St. Johns river flow uphill?"

Because Georgia sucks.
 
I grew up in the South, and since 1997 have lived all over the West. FWIW the "most" provincial place I've ever lived...is every place I've ever lived. Though rural Utah and Alaska might have a slight edge for the top.
 
I can tell you that, from my experience, Southern Californians (as a clump) are the least knowledgeable about what happens outside SoCal, operating with the absolute knowledge that no place else matters.

Other observations from life present themselves, but would likely call for an immediate removal to the Spin, so here is where I stop.
 
Born in New York but proud to say I was raised in Alabama. Been in Kansas 12 years now and still consider myself an Alabamian.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

I need to save that! As someone who was raised in Manhattan, that's definitely how everyone there thinks.
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Haha. I grew up in the strip called "Jersey" and that was the hinterlands. When I was a kid I didn't know there was anything between there and California except for a few national parks. All those square states. I never figured I'd end up spending the majority of my life in one of them.
 
I know that things have changed since 1955 but in 1955, when I was 15, I took a quiz in Readers Digest. The purpose was to determine my age based on what I called things (e.g. ice box, frigidaire, refrigerator; Victrola, hi-fi, stereo; etc.). The result of the quiz was that I was 35 instead of 15. I grew up in the Missouri ozarks. That would indicate to me that, at least in terms of material things, we were 20 years behind the big cities.

That doesn't mean that we were dummies or that we couldn't read and write.
 
Everskyward said:
Haha. I grew up in the strip called "Jersey" and that was the hinterlands. When I was a kid I didn't know there was anything between there and California except for a few national parks. All those square states. I never figured I'd end up spending the majority of my life in one of them.
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I've heard of this place called "Jersey" that you speak of!

When I was growing up, I all thought all trees were planted by humans. After all, in Manhattan the trees were always in these little man-made boxes, except for Central Park, which was supposed to look natural.

It never occurred to me that such massive expanses of nature that man had not yet destroyed existed, we just read about such things in class.
 
I thought all of NASA was in Texas?

Both states might be a little miffed if they push the buttons and nothing happened in Florida or California.
 
plink plink....plink.....plinka plinka plinka plinka plinka...........

sigh.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
When I was growing up, I all thought all trees were planted by humans. After all, in Manhattan the trees were always in these little man-made boxes, except for Central Park, which was supposed to look natural.
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That's OK, I was already an adult before I figured out why they're called "waves of amber grain".
 
....as in, the banjo stereotype....

The Fret Society was just here (Peoria, IL).
 
bbchien said:
plink plink....plink.....plinka plinka plinka plinka plinka...........

sigh.
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bbchien said:
....as in, the banjo stereotype....

The Fret Society was just here (Peoria, IL).
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Bum diddty Bum

;)

The bum-ditty can be broken down into these three simple movements:

  1. BUM -- Play one of the first 4 strings with your middle (or index) finger. This is a quarter note.
  2. DIT -- Strum with the back of your middle (or index) fingernail. This is an eighth note.
  3. TY -- Pluck the 5th string with your thumb. This is an eighth note.
Click to expand...
http://www.ezfolk.com/banjo/Tutorials/The__Bum_Ditty_/the__bum_ditty_.html
 
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