Where is "The South?"

[Deleted]

Just ran across this old blog entry describing the boundaries of "The South." The blogger mapped the areas where McDonald's sells sweet tea. It gives a pretty good map of the areas that are culturally southern. It made me giggle. 

lawprofessors.typepad.com/property/2011/08/where-is-the-south.html

[audette]

My husband jokingly calls the mason-dixon line the "sweet tea line" - as in, you can get sweet tea south of it, but rarely north of it...


I also once made the mistake of calling TX part of "the south" when I was in LA. It raised a few eyebrows, and one person commented on it. So I responded by saying, "what do I know... I'm a Canuck - it's _all_ south!".

[Muddled]

I like this map. I would bring the line just a liiiiittle farther north,and add AK. You have to have the bootheel of MO in there, too.

[aspentosh]

I don't consider the DC metro area to be south, even though it technically is. There are huge differences between Arlington/Alexandria and Richmond.

[Deleted]

For academic purposes, H generally uses the former Confederate States as the definition of the south: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Even though they share many cultural similarities, West Virginia and Kentucky don't make the cut.

But whatever. Sweet tea is awesome.

[gt7301b]

Don't forget to add the area where you can get sweet tea, but it isn't southern sweet tea.

[mbcdefg]

What's the difference between sweet tea and regular iced tea? Is it just sweeter, or does it taste different?

Signed,
New Jerseyan

[Deleted]

huh?

I thought McDonald's sells sweet tea everywhere. they have it here in Chicago.

[bubbles]

Feb 1, 2013 9:19:46 GMT -5 swank said:

I find it almost impossible to believe there isn't sweet tea being served in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Sweet tea is served most everywhere in West Virginia, save maybe the Northern and Eastern Panhandles, which identify more with Pennsylvania and Maryland. Most people in Central and Southern West Virginia consider West Virginia to be "The South."

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:20:06 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

What's the difference between sweet tea and regular iced tea? Is it just sweeter, or does it taste different?

Signed,
New Jerseyan

Sweet tea has sugar. So it's sweet.

The sugar is added after brewing the tea, while it's still hot, so it actually dissolves in the tea instead of just a bunch of sugar sitting at the bottom of the glass.

It's amazing.

I love sweet tea but know I shouldn't drink it that often. So my solution is to keep a bottle of simple syrup in the fridge in order to make sweet tea one glass at a time.

[Deleted]

There is most definitely sweet tea at McDonald's in WV, KY, and parts of OH.

ETA:  I was stunned when I first moved here and asked for sweet tea and the server brought me unsweet tea with sugar packets.  Sweet tea is now moving in to the area but I gave people dirty looks who told me tea+sugar packets=sweet tea.  The first few years here was really tough.  I need my sweet tea, people!

[holly116]

I'm in northern Kentucky, so far north I can see Cincinnati's city lights out my kitchen window at night and hear the fireworks when the Reds hit a home run.

We have sweet tea so I'm assuming Louisville does too. I consider anything south of the I-71-75 split the south. It's amazing the difference 20 miles makes . I grew up across the river and always considered myself from the Midwest, until I moved to Denver and was told that Ohio was not part of the Midwest, so who knows!

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:25:56 GMT -5 aswartzw said:

There is most definitely sweet tea at McDonald's in WV, KY, and parts of OH.

This blog post is from August 2011.  I wonder if McDonald's was only serving sweet tea in parts of the country at that time.  Becuase it's definitely not limited to the South now - I've gotten sweet tea at McDonald's in Wisconsin.

[rubytue]

We have sweet tea in MD McDonalds. And despite being south of the mason dixon line, I don't consider MD the south. The south starts around Fredericksburg, VA (ie does not contain NoVA).

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:28:47 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Feb 1, 2013 9:25:56 GMT -5 aswartzw said:

There is most definitely sweet tea at McDonald's in WV, KY, and parts of OH.

This blog post is from August 2011.  I wonder if McDonald's was only serving sweet tea in parts of the country at that time.  Becuase it's definitely not limited to the South now - I've gotten sweet tea at McDonald's in Wisconsin.

Sweet tea was served in those areas since I've been born! 

[Muddled]

Feb 1, 2013 9:27:26 GMT -5 holly116 said:

I'm in northern Kentucky, so far north I can see Cincinnati's city lights out my kitchen window at night and hear the fireworks when the Reds hit a home run.

We have sweet tea so I'm assuming Louisville does too. I consider anything south of the I-71-75 split the south. It's amazing the difference 20 miles makes . I grew up across the river and always considered myself from the Midwest, until I moved to Denver and was told that Ohio was not part of the Midwest, so who knows!

Ohio is most definitely the midwest.

[aspentosh]

Feb 1, 2013 9:29:46 GMT -5 rubytue said:

We have sweet tea in MD McDonalds. And despite being south of the mason dixon line, I don't consider MD the south. The south starts around Fredericksburg, VA (ie does not contain NoVA).

I think I agree with the Fredericksburg assessment. Oh, Frednecks...

[halfpint]

I personally would include a lot more of Missouri, Kentucky and maybe even the southern bits of Illinois and Indiana. I consider myself to be in "The South" when Waffle House starts popping up as often as McDonald's.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:03:10 GMT -5 audette said:

My husband jokingly calls the mason-dixon line the "sweet tea line" - as in, you can get sweet tea south of it, but rarely north of it...

I grew up 30 miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line. No sweet tea to be had in my hometown. 

[halfpint]

Also, I think McD's started selling sweet tea a lot more places since this was posted. They sell it in Iowa.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:21:13 GMT -5 tacom said:

huh?

I thought McDonald's sells sweet tea everywhere. they have it here in Chicago.

Well that just throws off the entire analysis. 

Is this a new thing? The blog post is a couple of years old.

[HoneySpider]

That map does not go far enough down the coast of Texas....people here love their sweet tea. Ick.

[Deleted]

Louisville has sweet tea. I have to buy one every fucking day for my boss.

But...as much as people here in Louisville like to think they live in the South, they don't. Louisville is nothing like the South and it grates on my nerves that people here in this city think otherwise. Hell, part of the metro area is in Indiana, and Indiana is not part of the South. /gavel

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:23:10 GMT -5 bubbles said:

Feb 1, 2013 9:19:46 GMT -5 swank said:

I find it almost impossible to believe there isn't sweet tea being served in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Sweet tea is served most everywhere in West Virginia, save maybe the Northern and Eastern Panhandles, which identify more with Pennsylvania and Maryland. Most people in Central and Southern West Virginia consider West Virginia to be "The South."

I grew up in North Central WV (not a panhandle). We didn't really identify with a particular region...Pittsburgh the most, I'd say. But no sweet tea in my hometown.

[mrshandy]

Yeah I'll get on board with the Fredericksburg assessment. I grew up in Norfolk VA which is south of Fredericksburg, and while it solidly in VA, it is not as southern as other parts of VA.

It's because of the Navy base and the transient population. I did work at a BBQ diner and we most definitely had delicious sweet tea.

When I worked at a Ruby Tuesday in Charlottesville, they didn't serve sweet tea until a few years after I started working there.

[ECB]

Feb 1, 2013 9:28:47 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Feb 1, 2013 9:25:56 GMT -5 aswartzw said:

There is most definitely sweet tea at McDonald's in WV, KY, and parts of OH.

This blog post is from August 2011.  I wonder if McDonald's was only serving sweet tea in parts of the country at that time.  Becuase it's definitely not limited to the South now - I've gotten sweet tea at McDonald's in Wisconsin.

This is what I was going to point out.  This is an "old" blog entry.  It's only in the past 2 years or so that McD's started selling sweet tea further north.  I think the same w/ Wendy's.  I know there was a time where the furthest north I could get it was southern VA.  But now - all Wendy's in my  area (MD) sell it.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:37:00 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

Louisville has sweet tea. I have to buy one every fucking day for my boss.

But...as much as people here in Louisville like to think they live in the South, they don't. Louisville is nothing like the South and it grates on my nerves that people here in this city think otherwise. Hell, part of the metro area is in Indiana, and Indiana is not part of the South. /gavel

I have never been to Louisville, but I was under the impression that it was more Midwest.

[LoveTrains]

McDonalds sells sweet tea in New England. I have bought it in mass, RI, Maine and CT. But that is maybe only in the last couple of years that they rolled it out nationally.

When I worked in Yellowstone park there were some ppl from Georgia who worked in the employee dining room. Tht is when I first learned of the delicious joys of sweet tea.

[Deleted]

LOL. Sweet Tea is like water around here(fl) - MH used to go through a gallon every couple of days.. Thank goodness he quit that ridiculous habit. Now if he'd just quit dippin' .. heh

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2013 9:32:23 GMT -5 halfpint said:

I personally would include a lot more of Missouri, Kentucky and maybe even the southern bits of Illinois and Indiana. I consider myself to be in "The South" when Waffle House starts popping up as often as McDonald's.

Waffle House is not an indication of the South.

I don't know why, but if I ever die on a hill, this will probably be it. lol