<p>Someone else never learned to eat an artichoke.</p>
<p>My kids used to say Chick-Fil-A and Sonic but they are in PA now and moving north.
Back in the day - before Wal-Mart got too big for it’s britches - it was the best thing since sliced bread. BTW - the absolutely cleanest Wal-Mart I have ever been in was in North Carolina, and people really do shop there!</p>
<p>What I really love about the south is the way people talk. Not the accents per se but they always use a simile or a metaphor. Something like when referring to a politician - “He’s all hat and no cattle”.
Or when a cute girl walks by - “She’s hotter than a house on fire”.</p>
<p>Colorful descriptions and threats are quite common in Texas. The geniuses behind the show “Greater Tuna” preserved a number of them.</p>
<p>“If you bring that dog onto my property, P.D. Fiske, they’ll drag the river for your body.”</p>
<p>“One day you’ll thank me.”
“One day you’ll die, and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress.”</p>
<p>Anyone who expects to make $200K per year their first year out of law school – as a lawyer – is out of his or her mind. Nobody pays that much. Nobody.</p>
<p>And how would you know that New York has seen better days?</p>
<p>You know, I love the south - I was born and raised in NC and plan to retire there, too.</p>
<p>However, I am surprised that no one here has mentioned anything about loving the Midwest. I’ve been living here for over 25 years, and although I do miss sweet tea (and spring that actually comes in March, not May!) I have to say that I have come to love and admire the Midwest. In fact, it’s even crazier than that: I have come to love MICHIGAN!</p>
<p>Where else in the country does one use their hand to show you where they live?</p>
<p>What I also love about Michigan:
- The Red Wings
- Paczskis
- Snow
- The proximity of the Great Lakes
- The gritty resilience of the people. Unemployment? Permanent job loss? Hey, we’ve got that, AND poor roads AND the Lions!
- Heck, just the people in general. Warm and down-to-earth.
- Vernor’s ginger ale, Zingerman’s, Sander’s, and Better-Made potato chips
- Curling clubs
- Summer: glorious, non-humid summers where it stays light until almost 10 pm!
- That hand-thing. Don’t Mess With the Mitten!</p>
<p>^I lived in Mi for 10 years. THAT would match my “why I love MICHIGAN” list to a tee.
But ,though I miss Sander’s and Zingermans, I never developed the taste for Vernors. Oh yah and the SNOW (not so much)> ;)</p>
<p>I spent a lot of time in the Midwest, too, and liked many things about the region. However, it is just too grey too much of the time. (although we have had that same color for months here in the South this winter) Also, the Midwest is too far from oceans for me and too far from “real” mountains. I like the people a lot, though.</p>
<p>“Anyone who expects to make $200K per year their first year out of law school – as a lawyer – is out of his or her mind. Nobody pays that much. Nobody.”</p>
<p>I totally agree that anyone who thinks this is out of his/her mind. There were a few years in the early 2000s when it happened at Wachtell and Cravath (with bonus). Now? Not even there. And even in boom times, Wachtell turned away lots of Yale Law 2Ls. Something tells me FNYUS isn’t going to Yale.</p>
<p>Love it…</p>
<p>‘Georgia On My Mind’
cured country ham
milk gravy
spring weather
fall weather
farm house architecture
state fairs
country roads
catfish ponds
porch swing
Brunswick stew
roasted peanuts
pecan pie
country accents, expressions and idioms</p>
<p>You’re right about the greyness, MoWC - November drives me crazy. And I do miss the ocean. I used to ridicule people (okay, my husband) who would say that the Great Lakes are a substitute for the ocean.</p>
<p>However… there was a grain of truth in that statement. Lake Superior is gorgeous - very rugged. Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan is amazing (that whole Traverse City area is amazing), and I love all the lighthouses here.</p>
<p>That reminds me of some stuff I left off my list:
11. The upper peninsula of Michigan
12. ■■■■■■ - the Michigan variety.</p>
<p>Vernor’s!!! I love Vernor’s! It got reformulated a while ago to lose some of its kick, though, no? (It basically doesn’t exist here, so I don’t get many chances to drink it. Once in awhile when I am visiting relatives . . . )</p>
<ol>
<li>Tim Allen’s series of commercials about Michigan tourism - “Pure Michigan.”</li>
</ol>
<p>I think gray should be the state color of Wisconsin although it’s nice and sunny today.</p>
<p>oh Vernors must sell something else up north- cause the stuff we have is 
I bought the ginger ale and it tasted like fructose water with some soda thrown in.</p>
<p>Don’t Like it a’tall…</p>
<p>religious know-it-alls
so-called sweet tea
sunbelt new-suburbs, often gated
lack of mass transit options
horrendous traffic (Atlanta and No. Virginia)
excessive insider/good ol’ boy influence in local government
everything fried, fried, fried
summer heat
expensive attractions like the zoo or aquarium (these are priced fairly in NYC)
‘pave paradise put up a 10-lane highway’ atitude
‘to heck with cities’ atitude</p>
<p>By the way, bought my first 6-pack of Vernor’s while in Virginia last month. I was underwhelmed. What’s all the comotion about? The taste was little different from the bland Canada Dry brand.</p>
<p>musica, your artichoke comments remind me of: our family moved to soCal from Long Island in the mid 60’s. Parents bought a house with an unusual tree in the backyard. Strange fruit-like growths appeared, hard as rocks, bright green. Then, they mysteriously turned…black!!!..and then fell to the ground. Ughh!! The dog got a hold of one and ate a lot of it. We quickly took it from the dog and waited for him to get sick and possibly die…this mysterious fruit…avocado! ;)</p>
<p>As JHS alluded - the current Vernor’s lacks some of the kick that the old stuff had. Also, I believe it doesn’t transport well over state lines - kind of like grits and BBQ (although Zingerman’s does do an amazing pulled-pork!)</p>
<p>OH sopranomom92…all the missed chances for cheap guacomole…oh the HORROR.</p>
<p>Avocados are pretty cheap in the grocery stores now- they are like $1ea even the organic ones. I like them on toast with salt and pepper.</p>
<p>I don’t like a lot of fried food, but when my relatives would visit from MO, they would always bring * a lot* of pork tenderloin to share. ( they were hog farmers ) Pound it a little and flour it a little and it barely needs any frying at all - so good.</p>
<p>With the wilted lettuce salad and some rolls and sweet tea- all you need is white corn on the cob ( yellow corn is " field corn" 
) .</p>
<p>But we have salmon.</p>