Lew Powell argued in 1985 that the South had vanished.
The culprits come from points North. Where Yankees in blue uniforms failed — in wiping out the South — Yankees in blue Hickey Freemans have now succeeded.
"When I mention the South to these people," says UNCC geographer Al Stuart, "they get a funny little expression on their face. They don't know what I'm talking about. I immediately have to qualify it as the Southeastern United States."
The Charlotte Observer editor wrote that it was "just a matter of time until Charlotteans speak with Southeastern accents, eat Southeastern fried chicken, offer our guests Southeastern hospitality."
The complete essay after the jump.
Hat Tip: Lamara Williams
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Yankees finally wiping out south
Lew Powell, Charlotte Observer
Nov. 10, 1985
Have you noticed? The South has disappeared.
Oh, you remember — the South. Kudzu, moonshine, fatback, sit-ins, Goody's headache powders. Coming back to you now?
Quietly, insidiously, the South has been replaced by the Southeast — as in NCNB is the largest bank in the Southeast."
Seems like only yesterday that network camera crews were buzzing about in search of Jimmy Carter's South. About the time they found it, we lost it.
The South, in fact, has been kidnaped. If this were a movie, it would be called "Invasion of the Identity Snatchers."
The culprits come from points North. Where Yankees in blue uniforms failed — in wiping out the South — Yankees in blue Hickey Freemans have now succeeded.
"When I mention the South to these people," says UNCC geographer Al Stuart, "they get a funny little expression on their face. They don't know what I'm talking about. I immediately have to qualify it as the Southeastern United States.
"Except for New Englanders, Yankees tend to be insensitive to regional distinctiveness and pride. They're slow to pick up on the South and its nuances. It's as if the South is a club, and they don't belong to it.
"It's been said that the South is a geography of the mind. The Southeast is just the bottom right quadrant. The exact geographic boundaries of the South have been a source of endless debate These are pragmatic hard-heads who would be less than patient with that kind of discussion."
John Shelton Reed, UNC sociologist and South-watcher, has observed that this phenomenon is most pronounced in upwardly mobile cities like Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Atlanta.
"I was in Macon (Ga.) the other day and ate in a place that billed itself as The Best Restaurant in the South," he says. "It wasn't — the lead item on the menu was salmon croquettes — but in Chapel Hill, a restaurant serving Southern food would be looked on as just another ethnic place."
"It's just a matter of time until Charlotteans speak with Southeastern accents, eat Southeastern fried chicken, offer our guests Southeastern hospitality ("Can I pour you a splash of Southeastern Comfort?") and read our reissued copies of W.J. Cash`s classic "The Mind of the Southeast."
And don`t expect the next generation to save the South. "The idea of the South seems to have lost its punch with younger people," says geographer Stuart. "We offer a course on The South." They say, south of what?"
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