Questions for Northerners by Southerners or vice-versa in the USA?

[DeeBee3]

I’m in Maryland and we’re “the old line state”, meaning the mason dixon line runs through the northern part of our state so we’re both north and south I suppose. My question is to northerners: do you consider Maryland a northern or southern state? And to southerners, same question. It’s funny, when we were in Georgia recently someone saw we were from Maryland and called us “Yankees” which I’d never considered Marylanders to be and it made me curious.

I consider it "mid-Atlantic," but that's just elementary social studies stuck in me.
Wouldn't consider it Southern though. You are in limbo.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

There is nothing like the cold in the South.

Two times in my life I thought I would never get warm again, and it wasn't here north of the border.

Once was in Virginia, and the other time was in WDW. The latter I had to work very hard not to cry like a baby.

I have a kid that plays travel softball as well as high school ball. While travel ball can take us to some different parts of the US with better weather, school ball and regional practices/tournaments for the travel team often mean being subjected to all of the southern elements for many hours on end. As unpleasant as 93 and humid or 107 and dry can be, 12-14 hours sitting outside in 40-50 degree temps has got to be the worst. It takes a day or two to shake that damp chill.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Another Maryland question here - thoughts on Old Bay seasoning? Personally I think it's gross but I'll tolerate it on crabs. Anything else, no thanks. I saw someone buying Old Bay honey butter at the store today so that made me think to ask.

Also I've seen Old Bay flavored vodka in liquor stores around here to which I'm like no thank you.

 

[Southernmiss]

Southerners:

How serious is the Killer Bee situation these days? Whenever I am down there I think of them with a ton of angst.

Forgot all about them.

Not a worry at all.

 

[fly girl]

My question is to northerners: do you consider Maryland a northern or southern state?

Northern

Northerners - what do you think about sweet tea?

Nope. Hard pass. YUCK!

Another Maryland question here - thoughts on Old Bay seasoning?

I like Old Bay. What I do not care for is Maryland soft shell crabs. Hard shell crabs are delicious and the only ones I enjoy.

 

[nighttowll]

Forgot all about them.

Not a worry at all.

Me too!

Way more concerned with regular stinging insects, mosquitoes, and fire ants. You don’t know pain until you’ve been bit by fire ants.

 

[nighttowll]

does it realy get much cooler/tolerable at night in the humid southern states?

Yes and no. If you think about it, it does get a lot cooler, like 10 to 20 degrees cooler. The thing is when you start at a 100, you’re still at 85 after the temp drops. It’s still hot, just less hot. You don’t get the crazy extremes from hot to cold like you do out west when the sun goes down.

When it was really hot in the summer as a kid, I remember the best time to swim was from around 3 am to 6 am. It would take until around 3 for the air to start to cool off, but the pool water would still be warm. Then, as the pool water cooled, the sun would start to rise and warm the air up. Little after full sun rise, the water and air would both be too hot to swim again. You learn to sleep and be lazy during the day and stay up at night.

For those of you in the South near water do you worry about pets and alligators?

It depends on where you live. No alligators where I live right now. We’ve got coyotes and hawks that I’m concerned with, but nothing in the water.

However, when I lived in Tampa, yes I was concerned my maltipoo would make a nice snack. Luckily, we had this weird terrace thing in the backyard with 3 big drops down to the water. The area where the dog would run around was too far for an alligator to jump up and get him straight out of the water, so as long as the backyard was gator free, I felt ok letting him out. I’d never leave him unattended, though, like I do where we live now because I’m sure one could get up there if they wanted. Those things can climb anything.

Also, when we lived down there and when we visit parts of the south with alligators now, we don’t walk the dog by water. That’s a great way to attract an alligator. Just assume every puddle and pond has one, and things will go better for you.

My question is to northerners: do you consider Maryland a northern or southern state? And to southerners, same question.

Never thought about it before, so not sure I’d consider it the North, but definitely not the south.

 

[DadofCorgis247]

Stinging insects are pretty rough. Biting flies are really horrible. Northern michigan gets them in June and they really bite.

As for seasons, I like having all four and fall and spring are the best although spring keeps getting earlier and earlier.

 

[nighttowll]

Sweet Tea

Growing up in the south, there were no other options for dinner. Didn’t matter whose house you were at, either side of my family, grandparents, cousins, friends. All anyone served was iced sweet tea. There would be a huge picture of it on the table. There might be unsweet as well if someone was diabetic, but I will say, it was never as sickly sweet as what they serve in restaurants. Most southerners I know prefer it less sweet and will ask for half unsweet to be added. That or we add lemon or lemonade because the sour helps balance out the sugar. I personally can’t take how sweet it is at many restaurants and usually water it down. Also, sometimes the tea is bad at restaurants. I don’t really understand, but it’s like old or spoiled, and it has this distinctive really gross taste to it, so if you’ve only tried it once and thought it tasted funny, that could be it.

 

[Minnesota!]

Northerners - what do you think about sweet tea?

Tea shouldn't be sweet.

Another Maryland question here - thoughts on Old Bay seasoning? Personally I think it's gross but I'll tolerate it on crabs. Anything else, no thanks. I saw someone buying Old Bay honey butter at the store today so that made me think to ask.

Also I've seen Old Bay flavored vodka in liquor stores around here to which I'm like no thank you.

Maryland I count as a northern state. And Old Bay is bland. We use it in our boils, but it definitely needs more flavor.

 

[barkley]

I have a kid that plays travel softball as well as high school ball. While travel ball can take us to some different parts of the US with better weather, school ball and regional practices/tournaments for the travel team often mean being subjected to all of the southern elements for many hours on end. As unpleasant as 93 and humid or 107 and dry can be, 12-14 hours sitting outside in 40-50 degree temps has got to be the worst. It takes a day or two to shake that damp chill.

i highly recommend heated vests. the battery packs last a decent amount of time and if you get one on the larger size and layer clothing it can be long enough to tuck under your tush to use as a seat warmer. we have friends who think nothing of throwing outdoor get-togethers 'before it get's too cold'-when the temp is already in the low 30's before the windchill factor is figured in they are quite popular at the college football games here (and be gotten for screaming deals on amazon during black friday sales).

 

[nighttowll]

we have friends who think nothing of throwing outdoor get-togethers 'before it get's too cold'-when the temp is already in the low 30's before the windchill factor is figured in they are quite popular at the college football games here (and be gotten for screaming deals on amazon during black friday sales).

This scares me! There’s no amount of clothing heated or otherwise that I can put on that would have me outside in those temps. I’m taking a jacket to Disney next week!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Tea shouldn't be sweet

This is how people know I’m not originally from here. I get a lot of funny looks if I order unsweetened tea. Some old coworkers once took me to a popular cafeteria and one of the conditions was that I drink at least two cups of sweet tea.

 

[nighttowll]

This is how people know I’m not originally from here. I get a lot of funny looks if I order unsweetened tea. Some old coworkers once took me to a popular cafeteria and one of the conditions was that I drink at least two cups of sweet tea.

Immediately know you’re not from the south if you aren’t drinking sweet ice tea or if you offer to bring sugar to add to unsweet tea. That’s a worse sin than not drinking it. A real southerner knows you cannot add sugar after the tea has cooled.

Curios to all of you who don’t like sweet ice tea. Do you like hot tea? I guess because I’ve grown up on ice tea, I just can’t do it. Don’t like hot tea at all with the exception of some of the herbal fruity ones and then only when I have a sore throat, but black or green tea, no. I can’t stand it. It actually makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Another Maryland question here - thoughts on Old Bay seasoning? Personally I think it's gross but I'll tolerate it on crabs. Anything else, no thanks. I saw someone buying Old Bay honey butter at the store today so that made me think to ask.

Also I've seen Old Bay flavored vodka in liquor stores around here to which I'm like no thank you.

I live in New England, and I love Old Bay! I put it on fish, have added it to soup, and have been meaning to try the Old Bay Goldfish crackers I saw advertised. But I wouldn't really be interested in the butter or vodka.

 

[Minnesota!]

Immediately know you’re not from the south if you aren’t drinking sweet ice tea or if you offer to bring sugar to add to unsweet tea. That’s a worse sin than not drinking it. A real southerner knows you cannot add sugar after the tea has cooled.

Curios to all of you who don’t like sweet ice tea. Do you like hot tea? I guess because I’ve grown up on ice tea, I just can’t do it. Don’t like hot tea at all with the exception of some of the herbal fruity ones and then only when I have a sore throat, but black or green tea, no. I can’t stand it. It actually makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

Love hot tea. I can't do the sweeter ones usually, but oolong and black are my faves. Iced oolong is my absolute favorite!

 

[Stratman50th]

No. I’ve always lived in warm humid places and am super cold natured. It’s like the air is giving me a warm hug. I love that when it’s not a million degrees, and I’m dressed accordingly.

It’s the bright sun that actually bothers me the most.


Honestly, it never occurred to me that people lived without them. Bugs and reptiles are just a normal part of life. They’ve always been there.

Snakes are outside. You rarely ever see them. Might be under a crawl space, in a flower bed, or in the woods, but they aren’t slithering through my living room. Same with alligators. Leave them alone. They leave you alone. Assume even a puddle has one in it.

Opened the door last night to let the dog out, and a huge June bug flew at my head and landed on my shoulder. That freaked me out way more than a spider chilling in a dark corner somewhere minding his own business would. Wasps, bees, hornets, biting horse flies, those all concern me way more than spiders. Those get inside and go crazy because they can’t get out, and they will sting. Spiders leave you alone. You don’t touch them. They don’t bite you. Flying things attack!

In general, Spiders really don’t bother you. They tend to stay in dark out the way places. Its rare one would actually come near you. You learn to be aware of places they might be.

For instance, I always check between the shampoo bottles and the side of the shower/ tub before grabbing the soap. Perfect little spot to build a web, especially if they got in through the plumbing. Last night, I was looking for my pin collection and was rummaging around in an old bin in the back of the closet. I was super aware and checking to make sure a spider wasn’t in there as it would have been a prime spot to find one. I check my shoes before I put them on. I check old gloves or coats. You learn to shake things out. If you are aware which is a second habit, the chances of you getting bit are so small.

People get bit when they touch a spider by accident by picking something up one is inside or on. Spiders don’t really come find people. You don’t bother them. They don’t bother you. There are so many worse things to get you in the south, than a spider.

Fire ants are probably the worst. They attack in mass. It’s so bad. Way more freaked out by ants if they get inside. They will get all over you. Makes me itchy just thinking about it. We had an infestation in my old house. They built a colony inside my wall. They were crawling along the electrical writing and coming out our light fixtures. I had to move out of my room. 40 gallons of poison later, we had to cut the wall out and drop bombs in. It was awful. Spiders eat the ants. They can stay.

I wasn’t aware we had scorpions in the south. I have only run into those out west, and they do freak me out as well as the tarantulas. I just pretend they don’t exist because there’s nothing you can really do about either of those. Except, always check the shower before getting in as the scorpions like to come up the drain. Most likely place I’ve seen them when I lived out west.



No air conditioning that I’ve ever seen, just closed in. Florida has strict laws about how pools must be secured with continuous fencing without gaps, locks, and pool covers. This is part of the reason why you see so many completely closed in. If you have to build something anyway, might as well get a nice screened in area out of it as well. The screens help keep bugs, critters, and leaves out of the pool as well which cuts down on maintenance. If you’re rich, you can afford a fancy glassed in patio. You don’t see these type of enclosure in the rest of the south because they don’t have the same strict laws.

Wow, thanks for writing this! You saved me a lot of time.
I just recently found out we have scorpions in FL.
I've seen several snakes in the yard. So far just the non-venomous variety.
Fire ants have gotten me several times.
Alligators are another you don't bother them, they won't bother you. The ones to worry about are the ones that people have fed. They aren't afraid of people and have no problem getting too close. I live on a lake and see them out back all the time.
As far as weather. It was hot and humid in MD where we originally came from. It just didn't last as long there. We did the same there as we do here, go inside where there's AC. The difference is the winters here are amazing. Up north you escaped inside to the heat. Here it's pretty nice all season.

 

[fly girl]

Immediately know you’re not from the south if you aren’t drinking sweet ice tea or if you offer to bring sugar to add to unsweet tea. That’s a worse sin than not drinking it. A real southerner knows you cannot add sugar after the tea has cooled.

Curios to all of you who don’t like sweet ice tea. Do you like hot tea? I guess because I’ve grown up on ice tea, I just can’t do it. Don’t like hot tea at all with the exception of some of the herbal fruity ones and then only when I have a sore throat, but black or green tea, no. I can’t stand it. It actually makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

Yes, plain no milk or sugar. My go to tea is Earl Grey.

 

[fly girl]

I live in New England, and I love Old Bay! I put it on fish, have added it to soup, and have been meaning to try the Old Bay Goldfish crackers I saw advertised. But I wouldn't really be interested in the butter or vodka.

I don't think I would go out an buy them, but I could see Old Bay butter slapped on a biscuit! And definitely the vodka for a Bloody Mary.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

i highly recommend heated vests. the battery packs last a decent amount of time and if you get one on the larger size and layer clothing it can be long enough to tuck under your tush to use as a seat warmer. we have friends who think nothing of throwing outdoor get-togethers 'before it get's too cold'-when the temp is already in the low 30's before the windchill factor is figured in they are quite popular at the college football games here (and be gotten for screaming deals on amazon during black friday sales).

I think several of our friends who hunt have them or something like them. I know the heated chairs were also a popular option for a while, although most people opt for varying sizes of portable propane heaters as well as battery operated heating blankets. For school ball, the state and district policies don't allow for us to play in the low 30s. I believe they use a WetBulb approach, incorporating real-feel and windchill. The chart says 33 degree "real-feel" is the deciding line. The funny thing, as it gets into the actual 30s here, it starts to dry out (same thing that happens as it gets really hot). So, low 30s is usually a more pleasant feel than mid 40s. For travel ball, I know we've had some late night games that have dipped into the upper 30s, but sometimes those will get called just because bats are more likely to crack in those conditions.