Here Are All the Things Southerners Can’t Understand About People in the North

There are a lot of languages in the United States, but even if we’re just talking about English, there are a few things that might puzzle a Southerner visiting up North. We aren’t just talking about accents here, either.

While a Southern twang definitely sounds different from a western Pennsylvania drawl, we mean the words exactly. Put the same person from the South in Pennsylvania, and you might see them trying to figure out Philadelphia’s “water ice” or ordering a “grinder” in Pittsburgh.

Southerners are pretty protective of a few things. If there’s one drink that they often want made just right, it’s sweet tea. In the South, you brew the tea, add sugar while it’s hot, and then serve it over ice. In the North, it’s the other way around: people chill their tea first and then add sugar.

If it isn’t a complaint about how Northerners make their sweet tea, you’ll probably hear the complaint a few times that tea in the North just isn’t sweet enough. On the contrary, those in the North might have the opposite to say about Southerners’ tea.

One difference in mannerisms that you might see between these two regions is what’s considered good manners. To some from the North, the South might seem a bit formal at times. We’re not saying that Southern hospitality isn’t accounted for.

However, the formality of keeping around “Sir” and “Ma’am” at such a frequency in casual conversation can seem a bit odd. On the other hand, we suppose it’s a habit that many Southerners were raised with to be polite, and they might find it strange that others don’t do it as much.

When you talk to people in the South, you’ll hear a lot of people address women as “Ma’am,” no matter what their age is. Looking around online, it’s easy to see that there’s a bit of a divide here.

Some people say that “ma’am” is just polite speech, while others argue that using it when you don’t mean to might feel like an insinuation that you’re calling someone old. What do you think? Where do you fall on the debate?

Cornbread is a great addition to many meals, and in the South, you probably won’t get too many soul food meals without a slice on the side. Did you know that the recipes for this bread side can vary quite a bit?

In the northeast, you’re more likely to run into an addition to the cornmeal, buttermilk, and butter (or bacon grease!) recipe — sugar. For some Southerners, this unexpected sweetness isn’t quite up their alley.

This one is clearly case-by-case because recipes and practices wander outside of their regions, but if you ask a Southerner what’s missing from the average Northern kitchen, you’ll likely hear one answer.

Bacon grease! It can seem like no Southerner’s kitchen is complete without a cup of saved bacon grease. By a Southern recipe, that grease is great for anything from frying up some veggies or eggs to so much more.

Of course, if you’re in college, you might head over to your school’s games to support your friends and have a night of fun from time to time.

Here, we’re more focused on people who are out of college and their interest in college games. One person on Reddit shared about their further north, “That was the biggest disappointment in moving to New England; college football is not big here.”

It’s not just college football that draws in fans when you’re in the South. You might also see a renewed interest in high school football.

This probably at least partially comes from the sheer number of small towns in the South. Plus, not every state boasts an NFL football team. For instance, Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina don’t have teams in the NFL.

If there’s one thing that Redditors seem to agree on (at least when it comes to this topic) is that people in the North can seem pretty blunt to Southerners. Does this mean Southerners are more polite?

No, of course not! However, there’s just a lot less hiding it behind “bless your heart” and other coded language. All in all, it’s not a difference in sentiment; it’s just a difference in communication that varies by region.

This one is often cited as a difference between the Northern and Southern United States but it’s really a regional difference where somewhere is particularly warmer and somewhere else is cooler.

If you used to live in Florida, Alabama, or Georgia, the winter in Maine or New Hampshire might feel absolutely brutal the first time you experience it. Plus, this comes with the difference as to what someone from one of these states even considers hot or cold weather.

Another regional difference you’ll notice is how entire towns adapt to the weather around them. After all, locales are built for the weather they usually experience.

If you grew up in the South, you might be shocked at how much it would take to get a snow day far up in the Northeast. In the South, it’s hard to operate when even a few inches of snowfall. Then again, they’re often less prepared for this weather, and it’s hard to plow all those back roads.

The South has a reputation for moving slower and having a more relaxed pace overall compared to other regions in the United States. So, some people said that when they found themselves moving or visiting up north.

The pace at which people talked and walked was generally surprising to them. However, if you’re visiting a crowded city like New York or Philadelphia, that urgency does keep traffic moving in densely packed areas.

When you’re talking about regional differences, some of that comes from what might be available regionally. For instance, this can make varying foods pretty popular.

One food that’s really popular in the South but isn’t always as readily available in the Northeast is catfish. They’re common enough that they are easy to catch and pretty cheap as a meal. Fry them up, and you have a delicious dinner, especially if you throw some collard greens and cornbread in on the side.

If you head down to the South, you will likely find yourself embroiled in plenty of small talk, whether it’s how someone’s grandkids are doing or just about the weather. This is just a part of polite conversation there.

You don’t necessarily “have to” be having a conversation before you find yourself having small talk with a stranger. However, some have noticed small talk is different depending on where they are geographically as one regional difference.

On the topic of how Southerners and Northerners tend to communicate, Northerners are often stereotyped as rude or even downright mean. The actual consensus seems to be, even among Southerners, that this is a pretty wild misunderstanding.

Most people moving from the South to New England noticed that maybe Northerners weren’t as focused on adding a layer of pleasantries on every sentence, they no one actually seems to find this divide as either side being “rude.”

Do you remember how we said that even among the same foods, differing recipes can cause a bit of a divide when it comes to regional differences?

If you order potato salad in the South and again in New England, you might notice a key difference. Regionally, Southern potato salad is made with a mayonnaise base. On the other hand, New England’s potato salad is often heavier on the vinegar in the base.

Despite what the name might suggest, Cheerwine is actually a type of soda. The cherry-flavored soft drink is named for its wine-red color.

Rather than being more general to the South, you won’t find this in the North because it’s largely popular in North Carolina. While you might think that the cherry soft drink would have some peers, you might find its fans saying that there’s nothing quite like it out there.

There are some things that are considered polite wherever you go, but they might be seen as unnecessary or extra in one place and just a part of common courtesy in another.

In this case, some Southerners are surprised that they aren’t greeted by as many smiles from strangers in stores. Before you let your anxiety get to you about it, though, it’s just a regional difference, nothing against you personally.

There are some vegetables that get a bad reputation. Okay, some of them might have the backing of being really bad when you prepare them wrong. If there was something that was “Southern-specific” to fit this category, it has to be okra.

Some Southerners can’t get why it’s a regional thing to have fried or pickled okra around. Odds are, much like Brussels sprouts, it’s a decisive veggie that can be prepared to taste even worse.

If you’re used to small towns in the South, you probably find that there are a lot of parts in the Northeast that make you feel like everything is so close together. This one is partially true.

In reality, there are plenty of rural areas as you get into middle or Western Pennsylvania or the northern parts of New York. However, a lot of people generalize the Northeast into major cities like New York and Philadelphia — and even more populous areas like the Jersey Shore.

Thanks to things like the differences in weather and just general regional and state history, there are a number of different career fields and jobs that are different by region.

We aren’t just talking about how you probably aren’t going to have a high-rise office in the South as commonly as up North. Then again, there are also regional differences that cause this. Thanks to different habitats, you’re more likely to meet someone who works with lobsters in Maine than in Alabama.

When Southerners think of Northerners, they often think of them as a conglomerate and vice versa. Well, it’s worth noting that there are differences within the region. If you ask a Southerner if there’s a difference between Florida and Georgia, odds are that they’ll have a lot to say.

Well, the same is true for the North. While these general observations have been interesting, there are things unique to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and every other state in the Northeast — and regional differences within them, too!

There are some people who would argue that the difference here isn’t about whether you’re in the Northeast or Southeast United States.

When you ask this question, you’ll see that many people will argue you’re comparing rural versus urban living. This seems to be a misconception in and of itself, though. At the end of the day, both sides have small towns, but if you aren’t from around there, of course, you hear more about what goes on in major cities.

This might be one thing where the misconceptions aren’t limited to Southerners. You could say that there are some legal differences wherever you go.

Still, since state-by-state laws can vary so much — especially as you get to states that are further away from each other — it’s easy to see some striking differences. For instance, you might be surprised if you’re on a road trip from South Carolina and you try to pump your own gas in New Jersey.

As you move from state to state, it’s shocking to see just how much of a difference it can make in the price of things. Some of this comes down to where you look in each region, though.

If you want to live in Manhattan, it’s going to cost more for food and rent than living in rural Alabama. Then again, it could cost you more to move to coastal North Carolina than to live in parts of central Pennsylvania.

This is another one that you might be able to blame on people in the South who think of the Northeast as a major city like metropolitan New York. However, if you’re visiting a dense, northern city broken into blocks, you might be surprised to find that the traffic adds some travel time.

On the flip side, some that are more used to city traffic might find the long, winding back roads of rural areas a nuisance. Of course, northern Virginia and Florida might challenge your idea of less traffic in the South.

Some of these differences are so small that you might not even think about them until you’ve experienced them. Of course, some of these subtle changes vary according to what’s popular and in demand.

When visiting up North, some Southerners noticed a different drink than sweet tea. Rather, they noticed that they were being offered a lot more sparkling water than they were used to when they went out to eat.

This is another one that’s bound to happen when you’re talking about two different regions, no matter what they are. After all, not every restaurant can have a branch everywhere.

There are some restaurants that people who live in the South just can’t get when they visit up North. For instance, if you want to get Zaxby’s, Waffle House, or Cookout, you’ll have to make quite a trip unless you live in a few lucky locations.

This probably comes down to the density of people living in northern cities like New York City, where you might notice something about the hours of business.

If you’re in Philadelphia or New York, you’ll see that the businesses are open later or even have around-the-clock hours. This is because, with a high population density, those hours still make these businesses money — whereas less populated areas just don’t have this kind of demand.

While it’s odd, you might think about the North — if you’re from the South — as having a lot of parks. There are a few things that factor into this.

For one, there are just some parks in the Northeast that are really famous, places like Central Park. Then again, you might see a park as a more dedicated green space in a city that stands out because there’s just not enough natural space for a park to blend into.

We’ve talked about quite a few food differences that you might see if you’re visiting the southern or northern United States.

One food that Southerners seem to miss quite a bit when they go north is grits! While you can find oatmeal on every corner, grits just don’t seem as popular, so you might have to look a little harder. We wonder what drives this regional popularity.

Of course, that isn’t the only food that Southerners miss when they move or just go on vacation. There are plenty of others that might sound odd if you’ve never tried them.

Biscuits and gravy is one of those dishes that’s great when you want a hearty breakfast without too much effort. All you have to do is make some sausage and white gravy and slather it over some biscuits, and you’re good to go.

When you live in a sprawling town in the South, there’s more that a Northeastern city can surprise you with other than just what’s available. How close it is can be another case altogether.

Not only are things available and often open for longer hours, but you don’t have to go as far, either. If you’re from somewhere where things are more spread out, the idea of walking a block for coffee, groceries, and more can really catch you by surprise.

We aren’t saying that Southerners don’t like their coffee. No matter what region you’re from, odds are that you like stopping for a cup of coffee on your way to work, school, or while you’re out doing errands.

Instead, we’re talking about differences in where you might get your coffee, not what you might order. While you can get Dunkin’ in the South, the loyalty to the chain in New England is just something that doesn’t compare to its popularity anywhere else.

We’ve already talked about how a lot of what you hear about differences between North and South comes down to communication styles.

As such, one thing that some people are really surprised about when they travel further north up the East Coast is that they don’t run into rude people. It just goes to show that the stereotypes that you hear aren’t always based in fact.

One thing that’s hard to understand if you just go by hearsay and never visit both of these regions yourself is that what you hear isn’t always true. We already talked about this with the stereotype Southerners often have about “rude” people from New England.

As it turns out, if you visit both locations, you’ll likely find that they aren’t as different as you might expect. There are regional differences, but you’ll notice that you see a lot more in common than different.

Once again, we find ourselves back at the debate of pitting small southern towns against bigger northern cities.

If you’re used to big parking lots in small towns, finding parking in a big city might be just the thing to ruin your day. In fact, it can ruin anyone’s day. However, this is once again related back more to the density of the population than to the region alone.

As we’ve said, the North gets an unfair reputation sometimes for being constantly busy and having places to be.

This might be true in major metropolitan areas but the reality is that sometimes it is more relaxed when you have the chance to get out of the city. Small towns in New England can be just as relaxed and at a slower pace like small towns in the South.

We’re back one more time to the city vs. rural area consideration. In fact, you might be able to consider the suburbs in this debate, too. The odds are that if you don’t live in a big city, public transport in the United States is few and far between.

However, what you might miss is that even though there are more buses and subway options, bigger cities often have mass transit problems of their own that residents have to contend with.

If you live in the South and don’t spend a lot of time in the North, as we’ve said, you might hear more about its big cities than anything else. As such, it’s easy to sum up the region into these cities.

However, you might be surprised at how much green, open space there is to explore nature when you get out of the big cities. There are plenty of places to hike, camp, and explore nature when you move further north.