The South

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've never been to a "real" southern area in my life. I've been to the tourist parts of Florida and northern Virginia, neither of which is culturally southern (NO BENCONSTINE ARLINGTON IS NOT THE SOUTH YOU ARE NOT A SOUTHERNOR GET OVER IT.) Indianapolis is probably the most "southern" city I've been to. I'm quite happy of this. The only thing I'd drive into a real southern place to do is burn a Confederate flag.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Thank you.

And yes, BRTD, I am Southern.

Even the OP is saying that the DC suburbs are not southern. It basically argues Maryland was until they took over. If the Maryland side isn't, why is the Virginia side?

And you even admitted yourself you don't have a southern accent. You're a Jewish kid from suburban DC, no more southern than a Jewish kid in New Jersey or Westchester, New York.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So constine ignored the bulk of the argument and simply commented on one minor aspect of it. Typical. Barbecue and chicken being popular is not enough to call somewhere the South. Constine reminds me of the "poseur" kids in middle school, who wanted to fit SOOOOOO badly into a clique, but didn't.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Benconstine does not live in an area which has anything whatsoever to do with Southern culture today. Therefore he doesn't live in the South. The end.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

But has someone who has never lived in the south be culturally southern? I could use that argument to argue that north Minneapolis blacks who listen to a lot of Memphis and Atlanta rap are culturally southern even if they've never been there.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So dumb suburban white "wigger" kids are culturally southern?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

LOL. Straha calls someone a troll.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The same Census that considers oil extraction to be a "Mining" occupation.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I think we have to come up with a definition for Southern culture.
So what makes a state Southern?

People with a southern accent?
High percentage of african americans?
Whites and blacks with extremely different voting habits?
Large % of Christians?

What?

Southern accent. Something benconstine admittedly doesn't have, and I bet no one else in Arlington has either unless they are a transplant from the actual South.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

What I'm saying is that DC suburbia that has more in common with New Jersey than rural Georgia and has no real semblance of Southern culture remaining (No, barbecues and fried chicken being popular does not mean somewhere is full of Southern culture) is not part of the south.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Minnesota and North Dakota are as Southern as hell by a certain poster's definition of Southern culture.