South or no?

[apusooner]

How many people consider Oklahoma as part of the south? I've been wondering this for a while. I moved from OK to CA about 2 years ago, and people tell me I have a southern accent.(duh) Then they proceed to say that OK is not the south, but the midwest. (wtf?) How do you have a southern accent and be from the midwest? I say it's part of the south. What's everyone else think? not that I am complaining, chicks dig the way I talk and everything, I just wondered if others considered OK part of the south.

[Ike]

I never give it much thought. I've seen it called part of the south, the midwest, and the southwest all at the same time.

But being near chicago now, I don't think there is a person here would call me a midwesterner. These people are just nutty.

I don't know which region I'd put it in, but it definitely would not be the midwest.

[royalfan5]

As a Midwestern, I don't consider Oklahoma Midwest at all. You all have a different set of influences working on you, than the Midwest does. Maybe Oklahoma, Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Texas can be their own Quasi-Region?

[Fugue]

As a Midwestern, I don't consider Oklahoma Midwest at all. You all have a different set of influences working on you, than the Midwest does. Maybe Oklahoma, Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Texas can be their own Quasi-Region?

Wow, have you "had it up to here" with those states, Bill?

[royalfan5]

Wow, have you "had it up to here" with those states, Bill?

No, they just seemed more similar to Oklahoma cultural wise than Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. Kansas is somewhat spilt.

[Fugue]

No, they just seemed more similar to Oklahoma cultural wise than Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. Kansas is somewhat spilt.

dagnabbit, musta slammed into it.

[yermom]

we are the bastard state

[StoopTroup]

We are the Center of the Universe.

[Okla-homey]

Homey's Bulletproof, Incontrovertible, Scientific and Completely Authoritarian Test of Southern State-ness:

1. Presence of a Confederate Soldiers Home? - check (it was in Ardmore)
2. Southern Baptist's the largest Protestant denomination w/in the state? - check
3. Presence of a Southern Baptist university w/in the state? - check
4. Do the natives eat catfish? - check
5. Do the natives generally prefer frying to all other forms of food prep? - check
6. Is devotion and reverence for HS and college football akin to religion? - check
7. Did the state (or its territorial predecessor) send troops for Confederate service? - check
8. Do the natives of the state generally respect and admire military service? - check
9. Did the natives vote Democrat in presidential elections until Carter and straight Repub in every presidential election since then? - check
10. Do the natives' paw-paw's and maw-maw's pronounce "okra" as "oak'-ree?" - check

As you can see, Oklahoma is 10/10 on the Southern State Test. Therefore, Oklahoma is most definitely a Southern state.

You're welcome.

[AlbqSooner]

Dang Homey, I can't believe you of all people missed mentioning the last Confederate General to surrender being from what is now Oklahoma.

[reevie]

we are the bastard state

That sums it up fairly well. Here's my opinion and a quick history lesson...

We're a Southern State but we have identity issues. Hence your question. We don't know who we are, where we fit in and the rest of the country doesn't know either.

We were settled by Southerners, starting with the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creek, Seminoles, and Chickasaws. They came from the South (Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama). They each signed alliance treaties with the Confederate government in the War Between the States and sent a representative (Elias C. Boudinot) to the Confederate House. (I'm assuming we all know who Stand Waite was) They went through reconstruction after the war and even lost territory due to their support of the South.

When the territory was opened up for outside settlement, look at the migration patterns. Eastern and Southern Oklahoma was populated by people coming from/through Arkansas and Texas. Northern and Western Oklahoma was populated by people coming out of/through Kansas. Historically, the larger populated areas have been in the South and East, therefore dominating our "culture". It also explains our political landscape. North and West being traditionally Republican and Southern and Eastern being traditionally Democrat. It may not seem like it now, but we are a Democratic State and our voting patterns are very similar with other Southern States. We can count Republicans elected to the governor's office on one hand. 1964-Bellmon 1968-Bartlett 1986-Bellmon 1994-Keating 1998-Keating. That's all, only 20% of our Statehood history. And it is a direct result of the people who moved here, Southern Democrats.

Our roots are Southern. Why we don't think of ourselves as Southerns? I have no idea. But I for one get annoyed every year when I see Sooners playing for the North in the Blue/Gray or North/South games.

[reevie]

9. Did the natives vote Democrat in presidential elections until Carter and straight Repub in every presidential election since then? - check

The Repubican presidential candidate has carried Oklahoma in every election since 1968.

[MamaMia]

I consider it the south since there is only one state between us and the ocean.

[GDC]

I-40 is our Mason-Dixon line.

[proud gonzo]

it's southern but not deep south. kansas is midwest. oklahoma is not. there's DEFINITELY a difference

[TUSooner]

Homey's Bulletproof, Incontrovertible, Scientific and Completely Authoritarian Test of Southern State-ness:

1. Presence of a Confederate Soldiers Home? - check (it was in Ardmore)
2. Southern Baptist's the largest Protestant denomination w/in the state? - check
3. Presence of a Southern Baptist university w/in the state? - check
4. Do the natives eat catfish? - check
5. Do the natives generally prefer frying to all other forms of food prep? - check
6. Is devotion and reverence for HS and college football akin to religion? - check
7. Did the state (or its territorial predecessor) send troops for Confederate service? - check
8. Do the natives of the state generally respect and admire military service? - check
9. Did the natives vote Democrat in presidential elections until Carter and straight Repub in every presidential election since then? - check
10. Do the natives' paw-paw's and maw-maw's pronounce "okra" as "oak'-ree?" - check

As you can see, Oklahoma is 10/10 on the Southern State Test. Therefore, Oklahoma is most definitely a Southern state.

You're welcome.

Nicely constructed; but just barely wrong. Real cowboys and real Indians means NOT the South. (And I've never heard anybody in Oklahoma or Louisiana or Mississippi or Florida or Alabama say "oak-ree" either.) I've been around the South, and Oklahoma is not it, and we should be dang proud of that fact. Oklahoma is too West to be South. I'm w/ Stoop Troup: Oklahoma is the center of the universe.

[Okla-homey]

Nicely constructed; but just barely wrong. Real cowboys and real Indians means NOT the South. (And I've never heard anybody in Oklahoma or Louisiana or Mississippi or Florida or Alabama say "oak-ree" either.) I've been around the South, and Oklahoma is not it, and we should be dang proud of that fact. Oklahoma is too West to be South. I'm w/ Stoop Troup: Oklahoma is the center of the universe.

If Kentucky is the South, than so are we by gawd.

[TUSooner]

If Kentucky is the South, than so are we by gawd.

But we don't even TALK like them weeerdos!

[Okla-homey]

But we don't even TALK like them weeerdos!

Have you ever been to Durant or Madill?

[TUSooner]

Have you ever been to Durant or Madill?

Well.... I STILL say the cowboys, Indians and WHEAT make us non-South And we don't have kudzu either.