[gracielove]

Originally Posted by R-Teddy

No one here is complaining about whinny Southerners. but a friend of mine wrote this up as a message to those who think Southerners are whinny about the snow when they have had so much.....


WHAT NORTHERNERS DON'T GET ABOUT “WHINNY SOUTHERNERS” WHEN IT COMES TO SNOW AND COLD.

Mind you, being a native born Michigander, I o my fair share of making fun of the southerners down here when it snows, BUT, now that I have lived here for years. Here is what those of you Northerners who complain about the Southerners whining don't get.

1. HEAT PUMPS....do you North bound people even know what those are? Well I can't tell you exactly what they are, but, it is what a lot of homes down here in the south have for heating their homes. At least here in North Carolina it is, and I heard in Tennessee as well. Where you have your great working furnaces that are located inside of your homes, and keep your homes nice and toasty on the most part in the dead cold of winter, even below zero temps, we have these. A heat pump is usually ( from my understanding) a device that acts as both a central air ( as in air conditioning) unit and heating until in one. It is locate OUTSIDE of your home. This being the case, when it gets real cold. Like anything under 37 degrees, it stops working as far as heat is concerned. You very quickly find that your “Heating system” is blowing out nothing but extremely cold air as if you had the air conditioning on. Why? Well I can only assume because it is OUTSIDE and so the heating system can not over power the cold temps and is in fact blowing outside temp air into your house. So, we are then left then to heat out house through other methods, usually portable electric heaters, or kerosene heaters, or if you lucky, a fireplace. As Im sure you can guess, this is extremely expensive an doesnt heat the whole house, unless you put one in every room. But good luck finding a way to do that without blowing your circuit breakers.

2. Down here in the south, well NC anyway, they dont even know what a real WINTER COAT is, much less do the stores sell them, and so no one owns them. Down here, our “Winter Coats” are what most of you up north would call a “Light fall Jacket.” Not made to keep you warm when it is actually COLD as in below 35 degrees.

3. Rarely in the south are “winter boots” needed. Stores here in NC do sell them, but like the winter coats, not like the ones you find in the northern states. Our winter boots are more fashion statements then they are actually built to withstand the true wetness and coldness of real winter conditions. Also, the stores really dont sell that overly large amount of them. Especially if it does snow, you find the stores run out of them quick. So most people down here dont even own winter boots. Therefore, they are walking around in this Snow in addition to a “light fall jacket, a pair of tennis shoes, loathers, or high heel shoes. Why? Some would say well that is stupid, but no, its because that is all they have.

4. Snow removal....I think the entire state of North Carolina only has as many snow removal trucks as most northern states have in just one COUNTY, and far less practice in using them. Trust me when I tell you, they DONT know how to use them. When there is a lot of snow, I have found they usually ended up causing more of a mess and hazardous roads AFTER plowing then it was before they did. Why? Because they rarely have to do it. They dont know how to do it right......lol. ….oh, and most people around my neighborhood anyway dont own snow shovels or snow blowers and the such. Its pretty hard to even find them to buy here in Fayetteville.

5. Many, if not most of you northerners, when learning how to drive at age 15/ 16, learned how to o so in the snow. If not, within the first year of learning how to drive you were likely driving in it. Down here, the natives anyway RARELY drive in snow. They dont know their head from their butts when it comes to how to do so. Stuff that make perfect sense, or would be common sense for you, and be second nature for you to do, they are clueless about. Also, most dont have now tires and other such "equipment " most of you would have for their cars. Heck, I havnt met anyone down here that has a widow scraper..lol.. something that is found somewhere in most every car up north.


So yes...they whine, but its because they are not use to it, they do not have the proper equipment nor the clothing and know how for this stuff they rarely get. So northerners...please stop whining about the whiny Southerners.

I suppose what your friend says is partially true but we live in a world where we can obtain just about anything through the mail or some delivery service....though maybe not a snow plow.

When I lived there several decades ago they had gas furnaces. Not much insulation but they did have furnaces. Maybe some genius has since come up with the pump since then. If people don't like the pump why don't they insist that builders not use them?

You live in an area that does not usually get snow storms but obviously it has always been a possibility. I know it was quite cold down there during the winters I lived there so people must be ready to deal with some cold.

I don't know of anyone who makes fun of southerners that have to suffer through a storm. It is no more fun for northerners than southerns. We lose electricity just like southerners do when it ices.

Everyone, north and south, should stay home and stay warm during a storm. We may have snow plows up here but the roads are still dangerous even with snow tires and after the plow has gone through.

Many counties are so broke they don't bother to plow until the storm is over so having a plow is not always a great advantage when it is parked in the garage. You should see the cars and trucks with dents in them during the winters up here cars slide and there is a lot of danger on the roads up here.