Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

businessinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 107 posts

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#61

Post by jfacoustic »

Parts of East Baton Rouge Parish are liberal enough to be considered New France, but Livingston Parish doesn't deserve the title -- it's more like 50/50. The line may be determined by Catholic vs Protestant; New France consists of Catholic majority Parishes.

I'm a part of the French revival movement in South Louisiana to help preserve the culture. Most French speakers are 60+ years old, which is sad. Before about 1970, children suffered corporal punishment if they spoke French in school. Blame it on the Anglo-protestants.

There isn't much French spoken in Nouvelle Orleans anymore. Same goes for Baton Rouge. This largely happened after Reconstruction: some of the Yankee leadership who took over were just as xenophobic as Southern slave-owners. I'm not trying to defend this change in leadership having to occur, it was necessary to make sure the South didn't try to keep slavery alive. Unfortunately, nationalist leadership was much like today's conservatives in wanting the only official language of L'etats Unis to be Anglais.

South Louisiana is highly underrated though, especially the city of Baton Rouge. Weed is decriminalized, there's an incredible symphony orchestra, plenty of art museums, and damn good food. But it's much more "American" of a town than New Orleans or Acadiana.

Here's a hilarious article explaining the division between North and South Louisiana:

http://dailycrawfishnews.com/2018/05/07/despite-korea-unific...

Anyway, laissez les bons temps rouler, vous-autres!

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#62

Post by tomatotomato37 »

dmurray wrote: post #26
squiggleblaz wrote: post #14

American state boundaries clearly do not reflect these national regions. Federal states have boundaries that either serve to unite separate territories or to administer a united territory. It has probably a source of strength in the US, that states are either much too small or contain multiple different areas in them, since it fosters a broader, national US identity rather than an identity as a New Netherlander or a…

Switzerland seems to be doing OK as a counterexample. Its cantons have a high level of self-government and a history as independent states and cultures. Yet Switzerland is a prosperous country with a strong national identity and minimal talk of secession by the cantons.

Switzerland individually is a bad example because it is pretty much the size of an individual US state, so it's cantons would just be counties in that example. A better comparison would be Switzerland's power-balance with the EU, especially in comparison to the extremes in population like Germany or Malta

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#63

Post by jriot »

jfacoustic wrote: post #61

Parts of East Baton Rouge Parish are liberal enough to be considered New France, but Livingston Parish doesn't deserve the title -- it's more like 50/50. The line may be determined by Catholic vs Protestant; New France consists of Catholic majority Parishes. I'm a part of the French revival movement in South Louisiana to help preserve the culture. Most French speakers are 60+ years old, which is sad. Before about 197…

I am in South Louisiana as well, close to New Orleans. Grandfather is full Cajun, grew up in Cutoff, with his father being the captain of a shrimp boat.

One of my goals next year is to learn French. Do you speak French?

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#64

Post by tantalor »

derekerdmann wrote: post #58
willis936 wrote: post #54

Upstate NY is not Yankeedom. It is Greater Appalachia. Also, many of the Midwest states are less Yankeedom and more Heartland. Also, Dallas is Greater Appalachia and not Deep South yet Houston is Deep South and not New France? Also, LA is El Norte and not the Left Coast? Was this map based on 200 year old data?

Greater Appalachia definitely extends through PA in a T shape across the center of the state and the northern border (sometimes called Pennsyltucky) and covers at least the Southern Tier in New York.

See the image here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Pennsylvania

Like most states, Pennsylvania's rural areas tend to be more conservative and support Republicans. The resulting political map of Pennsylvania is therefore a red "T" in the center of the state with the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas a strong blue.

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#65

Post by jccalhoun »

pjc50 wrote: post #5

It's interesting to see how canned phrases to represent certain concepts can become nonsensical when put together : > The Deep South was established by English slave lords from Barbados and was styled as a West Indies-style slave society, Woodard notes. It has a very rigid social structure and fights against government regulation that threatens individual liberty. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, and So…

I think that it is freedom from government rules but lots of strict social rules. You can do what you want but don't get "uppity" and know you place. We will tell you what is ok not the Washington DC.

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#66

Post by jfacoustic »

jriot wrote: post #63
jfacoustic wrote: post #61

Parts of East Baton Rouge Parish are liberal enough to be considered New France, but Livingston Parish doesn't deserve the title -- it's more like 50/50. The line may be determined by Catholic vs Protestant; New France consists of Catholic majority Parishes. I'm a part of the French revival movement in South Louisiana to help preserve the culture. Most French speakers are 60+ years old, which is sad. Before about 197…

I am in South Louisiana as well, close to New Orleans. Grandfather is full Cajun, grew up in Cutoff, with his father being the captain of a shrimp boat. One of my goals next year is to learn French. Do you speak French?

That's cool. Je parle un peu de francais, et vous? Parisien, pas cadien, malheursement.

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#68

Post by panzagl »

willis936 wrote: post #54

Upstate NY is not Yankeedom. It is Greater Appalachia. Also, many of the Midwest states are less Yankeedom and more Heartland. Also, Dallas is Greater Appalachia and not Deep South yet Houston is Deep South and not New France? Also, LA is El Norte and not the Left Coast? Was this map based on 200 year old data?

Dutchess County is Greater Appalachia, but I don't know that I'd say the industrial northern part is.

Colorado as a Far West state makes little sense- where the people live is mostly Left Coast, with El Norte in the Southern part of the state.

Re: The eleven nations of the United States and their cultures

#69

Post by bloopernova »

Interesting divisions, and certainly something that can be argued about forever.

My feeling is that Michigan probably has most in common with Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine and the rest of New England. I'm not sure it's a Yankee kind of thing though. More of a shared culture based on the environment, lakes, hunting, and exposure/familiarity with large forests.

I wonder how, in a parallel universe, such states combined with Ontario/New Brunswick/Newfoundland would end up looking like, as a nation surrounding the Great Lakes and North Atlantic coast.

Sorry I'm rambling.

Post reply on HN