This list is clickbait idiocy. I regret reading it. I will probably regret writing about it.
Many of the items cited aren’t even emblematic of the South, just rural areas in general. The South is very large and diverse. Many of them apply only to some (very small) areas of the region.
The only one I noticed that is pretty universal is sweet tea; it is fairly easy to find someone who knows how to make good sweet tea in the South. It is nearly impossible to find outside the area.
Also, mosquitoes are only really bad and ubiquitous in Florida for the most part. By ubiquitous, I mean exactly what that word means. In Florida, they are around in great density nearly always, while in other regions they might be bad in specific areas at specific times but it is possible to get away from them.
In Florida (and parts of Georgia), they are everywhere just about all the time.
For instance I am in Tennessee now and I was told several times by locals that the “mosquitoes can get bad here.”
To a Tennessean, a bad mosquito problem is that you see one or two every few minutes and get bitten once or twice. This is the height of summer, by the way.
Now to a Floridian, that is the bare minimum. That is winter. That is what I as a Floridian call “no mosquitoes.”
Also, I’ve yet to find a really good rib or barbecue joint outside the South, so that is true, too.
I’m from too far south in Florida to be a true southerner, more or less on the east west line that runs through the middle of Lake Okechobee that separates south Florida (not the south) from the rest which has a lot of Southern features (more inland than on the coast).
A few comments on a few items I can identify with.
Where I’m from we all said ‘coke’ for any carbonated drink.
A lot of people sad ‘yes, sir’ and ‘no, ma’am’ all the time but it wasn’t required.
I sitll use ‘y’all, it’s very convenient and it drives me crazy when non-users think it’s singular . In Gainesville, everybody picked it up so you’d get people with otherwise non-Southern (or in some cases non-US) accents using it.
As for bbq, in europe it’s too painful to even think about…..
I was probably 10 before I realized tea could be drunk hot. My cousin made great ice tea but I followed the recipe I ended up making tea-flavored sugar water.
Where I’m from you don’t wanna go floating down the river (too many dangerous things in the water). I loved Ichetucknee in north florida (but always saw a snake or two including a cottonmouth on the dock once).
Mosquitos seem to like some people more than others (a friend insists they can smell blood chemistry) and they mostly didn’t bother me too much. Also we had mosquito trucks going by every few days spraying huge clouds of pesticide (which we rode our bikes in….).
I miss pickup trucks in Europe. When I was a kid we loved ride in back though that would probably get you thrown in jail now.
After my parents divorced, I lived about 100 yards from the Ichetucknee River. Actually on the Santa Fe, but right at the confluence of both rivers.
Ha, with hot tea, the same here.
I think I first read about it in some book or other and my thought was, hot tea? That sounds utterly disgusting!
I later came to like it, but it took a while.