A majority of the people of the American south are the descnedents of British people who came to America around the time of the American Revolutionary War. The English spoken in various parts of the South has been affected by the people who went there. The Appalachian Mountains are still home to a variety of English that is kin to Scots and Ullans. If one listens to the music produced in the Appalachians and the music of Ireland and Scotland, one will notice many similarities.
We always hear about "Americans do not have culture." Well, these people have never been to the South. The South has a sistinctive, and lively culture that is very unique, and very Euro-American, in my view. A lot of the Southerners also have Native American ancestors and some African ancestors, but I would say a majority of them are the descnedents of the British (Lowland Scots, Ulster-Scots, English and some Irish and various other British [Cornish, Manx, Welsh]).
I always wonder, why is the southern accent so different?
I think a lot of people ask this, but I could not give an answer. However, I think a large part of the reason the southern accent is so different is because of evolution from the British accents.
Southern culture is sometimes misrepresented as being racist. While this can be true unfourtnately, there are a lot of Southerners who are not racist. That being said, what does anyone feel about the Cofederate flag being a symbol for Southern Pride? Most people associate it with slavery and the South, but there are people who see this flag as a symbol of the South? What do you think about it?
To see what it looks like, go to this site; www.fotw.net and look for "confederate" or look under "united states" and you should find it.
It's pretty from an objective non-USA point of view, pretty than the Car-Mangled Spanner.
Mississippi incorporates the confederate flag into it's own flag doesn't it? I'd say that it was just pride of being in the South, rather than the Southern states being racist.
I think they recently removed it. I'll check for you.
Knowing the history is hard not to associate racism with the confederate flag. Whether it is the pride of being in the South, or it symbolizes the idea of superiority really depends on how the southerners see it themselves. I guess it is the same idea when American Indians protested about the names symbolized the characteristics of the tribes such as the name football team "Redskin". But if people care about the fact that the Native Americans are not comfortable with such names, maybe they should not use them.
I think you are thinking of the South Carolina flag. A bunch of people (be them mostly blacks) wanted the flag to be taken down from the capital building. And then in Georgia, they redesigned the flag to make the Stars and Bars miniscule in comparison to the old version of the flag.
KT, maybe it is an American thing. Or maybe I am coming at this with a Southern point of view, but the flag rerepsents Southern pride more than anything. It is people who want to be very politically correct that want the flag to be banned forever.
The Irish tricolour and the Union flag are mostly thought of as the Irish and British flags respectively. But in Northern Ireland they have a totally other inflated meaning. This is probably the same thing.
Also, many people - and funnily enough particularly in England - are positively guilt-stricken about even mentioning the Cross of St George, which after all is only the historical flag of England.
Yeah I must have confused the South Carolina flag with the Confederate flag. I've never spent enough time in the South to understand the connection between the flag and the Southern pride. Hm... I guess Maryland is not considered the South, right? (I was told that since Maryland was in the middle and was neutral during civil war, a lot of the battles took place in MD).
Wasn't it a slave state (Maryland) that stayed in the Union?
Yes, I think it was a slave-state, and it was a border state, who favoured the South. But I am not sure about this. Well Simon, the next time I am in England, if you see some guy walking around with a St. George's Cross pin on, that might be me. I bet everyone who would see me would go "well, there's another yank."
I have just somthing to say also; when I said I was English, people thought this was weird and bizarre. What If I was from England? Would you think that my very strong patriotism towards England would have been bizarre then? Just something to think about. And remember, I am American, with English family and heritage, so I am still very much proud to be English (I have just realised that I am American).