Tip for anyone moving to the south from the north:

Do not criticize/mock southern accents/vernacular language directly to a southerner. It is disrespectful and totally intolerable to southerners. I am amazed at some people who do this in a "joking" manner when in reality southerners are truly annoyed by it.

Ok ... Here's another tip for persons from the south ... Please don't refer to persons from the north as "Yankees". It amazes me whenever I'm in the south, how freely this term is used, often in a not so nice manner. It's disrespectful, even when done in a "joking" manner.

Cher, exactly the point.

When we refer to you as Yankees it is because you usually say something along the lines of, "this place is so backward, that isn't how we did it up north" or, my personal favorite after you've moved and relocated, "we're going back home to New Jersey for a visit" or "back home in New Jersey".

It's like you really don't want to be here.

Calling someone a yankee is not necessarily a nice thing.

We use it disrespectfully because you are in some way insulting us.

Tit for tat you know.

I moved to Athens, GA a little over 2 years ago from North Syracuse NY...when I go back to NY for a visit I do say that I'm going home, because that is and always will be my home. I live in Athens, I'm not from Athens. It's not that I don't want to be here, but my home is in NY, and I'm not sorry if it offends anyone.
Also, I don't get offended is someone calls me a Yankee, as long as they don't call me a Yankee fan...lol

Well, according to local tradition, a Yankee is someone visiting from the north and a damn Yankee is someone who visited and decided to move here. :-)

I agree with GoT. Most folks don't call others "Yankees" unless there's a bit of looking down the nose going on or complaining about the locals in the new home.

mrsd2fan, this is what stumps me.

If New York is your home and New York will always be your home, why did you move to Athens?

This southerner lives by "Home Is Where The Heart Is" and if your heart is in New York, why are you here?

No malice intended, I'm just curious.

I'm with mrsd2fan about both the Yankees (go Mets) and the feeling of "home." We've lived in Tallahassee for 12 years now (definitely the south) and both my sons were born here (which explains why the younger one called the older one "bubba" until he could get his name right). If you are cringing at that, by the way, you are definitely not from here. : )

But GoTravel, there are lots of reasons why life takes you away from where your heart is. I am a Jersey Girl, but I cannot afford to live where I grew up, and in any event our jobs have taken us elsewhere. Plus, the area where I grew up has changed. I actually find a lot of the qualities of my little NJ town here in Tallahassee -- neighbors who know my kids, open spaces where they can play, and a friendly community.

I still feel as though I'm "going home" whenever we point the car towards the northeast, but that doesn't make this any less my home now.

And stevebarr, I knew I had acclimated when I went back home : ) for a visit and found that I was getting honked at for drivig too slowly. My transformation was complete when I started making conversation with store clerks -- when I first arrived I found it, frankly, annoying that people would chat in a checkout line when I had places to go and things to do.

That's funny Barbara - and so true!

It can be fun to watch the faces of shoppers in line irritated by the small talk between clerk and customer.

Gotravel-
Until you've been in our shoes, you won't know why. The company my hubby works for shut down the plant in Syracuse and they offered him a job down here, so, rather than give up a good paying job, and his years of service with the same company, we decided to move here. Please don't get offended by this, it has NOTHING to do with the area and people. But NY is where my heart is and always will be.I for sure don't miss the winters there, but I miss people and places. If this upsets you, then I'm sorry (not really)

Why would it upset me?

I asked because I was curious.

I'm not talking about people that move here for jobs. I live in a retirement area and people move here for retirement, of their own free will.

They still talk about how wonderful life is in the northeast, our lack of amenities, and call the northeast home.

Moving for your livelyhood and retirement are two different things.

I think you know that.

GOTRAVEL...
We would have lived the rest of our working lives in NY had that not happened. Then we would probably have moved south after we reitred, only because of the weather back in NY. There are alot of things I don't miss, such as the weather, like I posted previously, and the very high cost of living. and Hillary Clinton....lol

Maybe we Southerners call Yankees "Yankees" because what Northerners did to our people and land in the 1860s. America experienced terrorism long before 9-11-01. Read about Sherman's march someday and other terroristic acts perpetrated by Lincoln's armies. The whole War of Northern Aggression set the south back decades due to economic ruin and the deaths of 250,000 of our young men.

As William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead; it's not even past."

I'm pretty sure none of us were around when the Civil War was going on. It is amazing too me that the folks of the South (to this day) don't see the good of the North 'winning' that war. This being said, of course by a 'damn Yankee', & I wear the moniker proudly. I know a little bit about the Civil War, as I recall we also helped the South re-build what we destroyed, did we not ? I would ask any Southerner to consider in what state they may be in today had they 'won' the War. I use quotes for winning & won simply because there was a catastrophic loss of life, that could have, & should have, been avoided.

I can't say whether the North winning was a good thing or bad thing, all I know is it was meant to be that way.

As you can see, Mrs, for some people the north did not win the war.

They're still fighting it.

Just for the sake of accuracy, it was not the "Civil War" - it was the War of Northern Aggression. :-)

Yikes guys...someone was really digging. How about those of us who were forced to do the reverse? It is VERY hard to move North after being raised in the South.

My sister and I were sent to a speech therapist because no one could understand us! That is crazy.

Being married to a Yankee (my mother calls hime an adopted son of the South because he loves all the food, etc) gets me a lot of ribbing from my cousins but it is all good natured teasing.

People should always be kind when visitng new areas, not matter what the circumstances.

SANPARIS...
As a born and raised southerner, this part of your post was interesting to me...
"It is amazing too me that the folks of the South (to this day) don't see the good of the North 'winning' that war. This being said, of course by a 'damn Yankee', & I wear the moniker proudly. I know a little bit about the Civil War, as I recall we also helped the South re-build what we destroyed, did we not ? I would ask any Southerner to consider in what state they may be in today had they 'won' the War."

I find it disturbing that you chose to generalize your statements and address "the folks of the South" and to say that you would "ask any southerner" rather than simply saying you have had poor experiences with SOME southerners with regards to your statments...Surely you do not associate this ridiculous nonsense with every southerner. This would be stereotyping at its worst!

bb - Since we were discussing "North v. South" one would assume these would be recognized as generalizations. I was really responding to GeorgeW's over the top tirade re: terrorism, etc. Not including 'all' of anything. This is an especially interesting topic as the Civil War is barely even mentioned in the North outside of a US History class. This is one of our countries saddest occurances, in its relatively young existance. It is a shame that it can still not be viewed by all persons (Americans) as an unfortunate, but necessary, part of our history. BTW, I'd never even heard the term 'Yankee' until I moved to the South (actually Kentucky originally, which was a tweener state). It is commonplace here in NC, where I currently reside. Oftentimes, it is meant to be rude & hurtful, I will continue to consider it as a compliment.

SAn Paris, I'm late, as usual. I haven't read this whole thread, but I will differ with you on the point that the north helped to rebuild the south. This is not accurate. There was no "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the devastated south. President Andrew Johnson was impeached because he wanted to be more gentle and constructive with the south. The south was brought to its knees by the Civil War and forced to eat dirt in the reconstruction.

Throw in General Sherman's scorched earth policy, the rapes, the economic losses of the south, and there are a lot of people who grew up on stories of the devastation. Easy (and convenient) for the victors, who did not fight the war on their own soil, to forget about it.

In the course of time, it really wasn't that long ago, actually. An old man who used to turn the jumprope for my Mother was born a slave.
Just some food for thought here.