Are southern states really friendlier than other parts of the US?

[Winston]

I recently watched a movie from 1977 called "Smokey and the Bandit" which takes place in the South, starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields. Wow everyone in it was so friendly, open, fun loving, carefree and laid back. LOL. Have any of you seen it? It makes the south look so fun loving and carefree. LOL. The sequel to it is great too. So fun and entertaining. Makes road trips and reckless driving look fun and hokey and campy too. lol

Smokey and the Bandit
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076729/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Sokey and the Bandit 2
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081529/?ref_=tt_rec_tt

[aspiabc]

I lived in a southeastern state in my grade school years. In my opinion, the southern hospitality is mostly long gone by now. I was picked on, made fun of and shunned in my school as being the only asian kid. I think back now, and it could have been partly due to racism even though I didn't understand it then. However, the older folk there did practice a certain charm and cultural etiquette even to strangers. But I think it's all gone now with the modern media in control and the kids now grown no longer subscribe to the old happier american culture of past generations. It probably all looks the same now with the same conglomerate franchises on every block and growing poverty and homelessness, and the same nasty now internet assisted bullying culture everywhere for kids and younger people. Perhaps pockets of the midwest, colorado, texas, maybe western florida may be the only "nice" states left.

[MrMan]

Southern culture is more friendly. People say hello to strangers and nod at them, and it is easy to strike up a conversation. I've lived in the midwest, and they are pretty friendly, too. I hear up in New York, some people get mad if you strike up a conversation with them if you don't know them or if you look at them.

Southern man may also more likely to get in a fist fight if they feel like you insult them. Most blacks in the US came from the south, and that's probably a bit of the culture they took with them. The South used to be quite an 'honor culture' back in the day.

As far as wild driving goes, smokey and the bandit style stuff is not okay. Dukes of Hazzard stuff isn't, either. But if you drive past Atlanta traffic on I-85, you might wonder if drivers get the road name sign is the speed limit sign.

[WorldTraveler]

Health care in the US is very affordable.

All you have to do is get catastrophic insurance , for $500 to $1000 a year. It covers you for a million to 2 million in claims. The deductible is btween 2,000--- 5,000. Oh and it is tax deductible, so the government is subsidizing a large portion of it. If you're in a 50% Tax bracket you pay only half of that $500-$1000!

But catastrophic doesn't cover you for every sniffle you get ( anything under the deductible). You have to pay that out of pocket, but since most of you are healthy that doesn't amount to much. But more,since you will be paying out of pocket, you'll go out and compare prices! With every consumer doing that , rather than not caring becuase an insurance company is paying for it, the price of medicine will come down.

Check it out. It's a myth that health care is unaffordable. The democrats promote this belief so that they can get you to vote for them.

YOU ARE BEING MANIPULATED.

Please give me the names and the links to this affordable high deductible insurance that only costs $500 to $1000 a year. I've never seen any health insurance that cost $41 to $82 a month. Do you have it or you just heard it exists? I have high deductible health insurance and it cost $440 a MONTH and will be going up soon to $500 a MONTH. So that comes out to $5280 a year or $6000 a year with high deductible! Oh, and until you hit your deductible you pay full price for all your medicine. Also, I've investigated lower priced policies and most doctors won't even take them!

If your making enough to be in the 50% tax bracket why would you want high deductible insuance? It is not good insurance.

[Winston]

Wow check out these trailers and TV spots for the film "Coal Miner's Daughter" starring Sissy Spacek, about the life of country singer Loretta Lynn. It takes place in the south and the people in the trailer look very friendly, warm, and expressive. Is the south really like that? The lifestyle and living looks very relaxed and simple and down to earth too. lol

[MrMan]

I was thinking about posting a new thread on this topic. I have been spending a lot of time in the south. In big cities, like Atlanta, for example, the culture is kind of diluted with people coming from all over. Maybe 20 or 30% of people have southern accents in some of these cities. But if you get out to rural areas or large towns, you meet a lot more people who are local.

A lot of people say 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir'. I'm in my late 40's, not a kid anymore, so that may be partly why. But you can generally strike up conversations with strangers without angry or shocked looks.

I am from the south. A cousin of mine moved to Illinois and went to college there. He said the weather was cold, like the people.

Maybe I don't relate to some of the comments here about how cold people are because I have only spent a short time in California or New York City in my life and much of my time in the US has been spent in the South. People in Ohio also seemed relatively friendly. Maybe it is a 'flight over country' thing-- where people in the rural red states tend to be a bit friendlier than people in the big cities.

[MrMan]

Wow check out these trailers and TV spots for the film "Coal Miner's Daughter" starring Sissy Spacek, about the life of country singer Loretta Lynn. It takes place in the south and the people in the trailer look very friendly, warm, and expressive. Is the south really like that? The lifestyle and living looks very relaxed and simple and down to earth too. lol

I skimmed around the video, and I've seen the movie, so I am not sure why you chose that clip. But that was set many decades ago. The south is not as poor as it was back then. My impression is that southerners tend to be friendlier than some other parts of the country. It's okay to say 'hi' to strangers on the street, or 'hey'. 'Hey' means 'hi' in the south. People from up north sometimes get offended by that. One guy from Long Island said it was okay to say 'hey' there is if someone is about to get hit by a bus.

[Outcast9428]

Yeah I can see a substantial difference just between northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia. In college the kids I met from Northern states were more pretentious and snobby then the people from my home town.

That being said I think the degree of difference between the north and the south might not be as wide as people would hope. Most people definitely don’t set you up with girls here. But at least in the south I see much more of a friendliness towards strangers whereas in the north people seem to act downright hostile towards everybody around them.

I will also say that one time during 4th of July, my friends and I just walked up to a neighbors July 4th party. Didn’t know the people at all just walked right up and asked if we could join and they said we could. Probably would never be able to do that in the north or west coast.

[Winston]

Another movie about a famous country singer named Patsy Cline called "Sweet Dreams" from 1985. It shows the South as a very friendly lively place too. Notice the country western dancing scene at the beginning. It looks very spirited and lively. Wow. Is the south still like that? Isn't that a great place you can meet girls and southern belles? lol

[Winston]

Wow guys. So the south is really friendlier after all. Why do some of the guys here from the south deny it though? Is it because they're used to it and the grass is greener on the other side?

In new mexico i noticed that strangers would talk to me easily too and look comfortable with it.

However what if u cold approached girls in the south? Would they flirt back and would they give u their number? Any of you try cold approaching in the south before? If so what happened? Is that welcome over there?

[Winston]

Btw what about the northerners in Montana and Idaho and North/South Dakota? Aren't they friendly and hospitable to strangers too like southerners?

[MrMan]

Wow guys. So the south is really friendlier after all. Why do some of the guys here from the south deny it though? Is it because they're used to it and the grass is greener on the other side?

Who is from the South who denies it? Are they from a big city?

However what if u cold approached girls in the south? Would they flirt back and would they give u their number? Any of you try cold approaching in the south before? If so what happened? Is that welcome over there?

I have been married 20 years so I personally could not tell you anything about cold approaching girls. And if I tried to experiment for you (which I would not do), they might treat me as a non-threatening dad not out to get their number.

I would imagine being able to start a friendly conversation with a woman without getting a scowl and a 'why are you bothering me' look would help a guy get a number if that is what he is after.

[Outcast9428]

Wow guys. So the south is really friendlier after all. Why do some of the guys here from the south deny it though? Is it because they're used to it and the grass is greener on the other side?

In new mexico i noticed that strangers would talk to me easily too and look comfortable with it.

However what if u cold approached girls in the south? Would they flirt back and would they give u their number? Any of you try cold approaching in the south before? If so what happened? Is that welcome over there?

I've never really had much success cold approaching girls here. Although I will note that you can do it without getting a hostile reaction most of the time, its just not very likely to succeed. The best nights I've had at parties or nightclubs were actually the result of a girl approaching me.

There's always a contingent of people out there who seem offended and determined to deny that there are any cultural differences between different countries, regions, states or whatever. They get almost angry at anybody who points out differences and says "no its exactly the same here!"

It could also be what you mentioned in terms of them having grown up in it and getting used to it so they don't notice the subtle differences very well. I think people also assume that whenever people talk about the differences between cultures that the person presuming a difference is imagining an entirely different world/society rather then just saying there are some differences in how people act. So the person you are talking to might assume you think that all southern girls are trad wives and that the south is some kind of hyper-religious environment.

I'd say the best way to describe the south is that it feels more like the US did before the woke/PC politics really took over everything. You still hear lots of people, including white guys, saying faggot or nigga once you get to know them pretty well. Some particularly bold people might even use the hard R version. The way I'd describe most people in the south at this point is that they are liberal but hostile towards wokeness/progressive ideology. You'll also see a lot of open Trump supporters flying flags from their cars or houses. I've seen the confederate flag many times although its not as common to see as it was ten years ago.

The South probably also has more right-wing extremists and genuine traditionalists then the north does. Although I will say they are also uncommon here.

[boixos24]

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[Winston]

Outcast,
Yeah I remember in a town called Capitan in New Mexico, that this blonde lady I met at the laundry mat one time was nice to me and very cheerful. She drove me to the grocery store while I waited for my laundry. Later she gave me her FB contact. However, when I contacted her on FB later she was nice and wrote back, but not interested in hanging out, even as a friend, because she had someone she said and of course, I wasn't her type. So even in the south if you are not her type, she won't hang out with you even as a friend. Even though she was friendly and hospitable and gave me a ride around town and was interested in hearing me talk about deep topics. So even if she is friendly and interested in talking to you, she doesn't want to hang out, because you're not her type. So I guess the southern friendliness has its limits.

Does New Mexico count as the South?

Also, would I get racist stares in the South? Would anyone call me a "chink"? I've been called that before in elementary school during the early 80s in California. So racial slurs like that were used in the early 1980s even in CA.