The best things about being a Southerner
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Whether you agree that Virginia is part of the South — or even that Richmond is — we think being a Southerner is actually kind of cool.
Why it matters: Much of the nation likes to focus on the South's nasty history — which is fair — but being Southern is so much more than our oppressive past, and its people more than a bunch of hillbillies.
We're actually awesome. Here are some things that make us so.
Diversity
The Southern region of America is one of the most racially diverse in the country; nearly half its population is nonwhite. Comparatively, more than 60% of northeasterners are white and more than 70% of midwesterners, per Census data.
Our food traditions
Were it not for the southern part of America, the world would not have:
- Fried chicken and Southern barbecue (thanks to Virginia. Fight me.) Biscuits and gravy and buttermilk biscuits (hey there Southern Appalachia), sweet tea and shrimp and grits (thanks South Carolina), beignets and jambalaya (Louisiana) and Nashville hot chicken (duh).
- Even the food brands we love, like Texas Pete's hot sauce and Krispy Kreme (North Carolina) and Coca-Cola and Chick-fil-A (Georgia is so much more than peaches), are southern.
Meanwhile, Fast-food breakfast biscuits started in the South, too. In Virginia, actually, at a Virginia Beach Hardee's. Hampton Roads also gave the world salsa blanca, or white sauce.
- And Virginia may not be responsible for inventing French fries, but you can thank Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Hemings for bringing them here.
- (Those Virginians get credit for baked mac and cheese, too, so give a thanks this Thanksgiving to the South for that.)
Literature
Don't let the redneck stereotype fool you, Southerners write good.
- And anyone who's read any William Faulkner, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Truman Capote or (Richmonder) Tom Wolfe can attest to that.
Music
The world has the South to thank for country music and rhythm and blues, both of which helped shape rock and roll — and all of which influenced hip hop.
- So were it not for the South, we'd all still be listening to Beethoven and nothing else.
Y'all
Southerners get to claim the greatest word in the English language — y'all.
- We're also the only group of people capable of both spelling and using it properly.
- The word, of course, is a contraction of "you" and "all" and therefore there's only one place that little apostrophe should go, despite outsiders' infuriating and bizarre "ya'lls," "yo-alls" and "yawls."
The use is equally simple: A group of two or more people is a y'all. If it's five-ish or more, there's an automatic upgrade to "all y'all."
- So if you're texting a couple of friends, it's "y'all wanna grab dinner this weekend?" To your group chat, "What time do all y'all want to meet on Saturday?"
Plus:
Our drawls are awesome (even if we swear we don't have them); we can pickle any and everything; we're friendly, but not fake (and definitely not in a weird way); and at least three of our four seasons are terrific.
The bottom line: It's good to be a Southerner. We should say so more often.