Room is spinning. World is shattering. Constants fare ailing. And as usual, I'm feeling like a fool.
Does everyone else know that the Mason-Dixon line which demarcates North and South starts all the way up in Pennsylvania? Doesn't that seem a little high up? For years now, seriously, years- I've talked about how I've never crossed the Mason-Dixon line, how I've never been to the South, except for Florida (which doesn't count) and how I'd really like to cross it one day. And tonight I'm planning a road trip to Memphis and see that oh wait, I've already crossed that line forty bazillion times. The South is right there! You could accidentally walk over and not know it. Apparently, our nation's capital is also in the South. Who knew? I realize how ignorant I'm sounding here, but I'm willing to make myself vulnerable to educate others because I don't believe we talk about this line enough. People deserve to know that the South is not all the way down there the way you might think it ought to be, the way its name suggests. It's right up here below Pennsylfreakingvania. And crossing that line isn't exciting at all. There's no confetti. No welcoming party with pecan pie and hush puppies. No, it's pretty much the same highway scenery as the North.
(mock me how you will, but Lenny, who knew about the line, shares in my shock, and she's the smartest young person I know)
Moi: I didn't know the Mason Dixon line was so high up!
Lenny: It's mind blowing
Moi: Are you mocking me with the mind blowing? Because I'm actually surprised I'd crossed it without realizing it.
Lenny: No, I'm serious. I'm amazed that the south starts so high up.
1 comment:
my grandmother lives just about 15 minutes from the start of the mason-dixon line. in the town next to her, there's a stone called the "stargazers' stone," used by mason and dixon as one of the original surveying points to form the line (which actually lies 15 miles to the south).
when you know this and go to philadelphia (and the surrounding areas), you'll start hearing overtones of the accent. especially down on the delaware border, too, the vegetation starts to change -- lots of viney things. everyone's very polite. no one ever believed me, growing up, when i told them how southern it really was.
vindicated! *s*
http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/mason_dixon/#fig8
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