Southern vs. Country

sarahchristine:

3isagoodnumber:

So lately, my friends and I have been debating the difference between Southern and Country. I say there is a difference and they say its all redneck to them.

Discuss.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

Southerners are most certainly not all rednecks and there are rednecks all over North America (plenty of redneck Canadians). Country people are not all rednecks either!

I really cannot get into this debate because I will get a bit too worked up.

I found this interesting. Having been to all 50 states I think I can offer some perspective. I have lived in a number of states both above and below the Mason-Dixon and  East and West of the Mississippi. I believe that southerners get confused with “country” by a large portion of the population as a result of our accent. There are folks in the south that would be totally lost in the country.  I have lived in parts of the north (Maine) that are a whole lot more like “country” than plenty of places that I have been to in the south. I think that the term “redneck” does not as much apply to where one is from but what “culture” one has/or does not have. You can have a twang or a drawl and not be from the “country” or be for that matter not be a “redneck”. The reverse also holds true.