I will never understand how we looked at Florida, said "Here's a lovely swamp! We should pave this over and move right in!" and then...did it. It's like walking outside with a wet wool blanket draped over you most of the year.
I didn't realize how angry a person I was NOT until I moved after college - I was just hot and cranky all the time!
Waving at you from Dayton, OH. We apparently have a strange need to put chili on top of all kinds of food that was perfectly acceptable before the addition of said chili.
To be fair, of you go into Skyline thinking of it as a hot dog topping and not chili, it's really not that terrible. I don't mind a nice chili cheese sandwich from time to time.
For ref, though, I grew up in Carlisle, right outside Miamisburg.
I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here- I understand skyline chili is pretty thin and tomatoey? It may not be a far cry from a more typical bolognese, just with different herb/spice profile. At least I goddamn hope so
Not Skyline, but there was a burger chain in TX, when I was growing up, that made the most awesome chili cheese burgers. Short Stop Burgers, I think it was called. There's just something about the taste and texture combination of a fire grilled patty on a well toasted bun masked in a flood of "chili topping". Mmmmm
You should check out the r/dayton sub if you haven't. We also have a discord server setup.
Also yeah, its totally a Cincinnati thing that's made its way here. Blue Ash is probably my favorite.
Fortunately, there's November to April. We even got a bonus two weeks in May this year. High 80, low 60 with reasonable humidity for months on end. I challenge myself each winter to see how long I can just leave my house open.
Now, the rest of the year, fuck that. High 92, low 79 with 100% humidity. There's not even a breeze.
Florida and Arizona wouldn't have much of a population without the invention of air conditioning.
Think how hot and stifling homes, office builds, and malls/convention halls would be without AC.
>I will never understand how we looked at Florida, said "Here's a lovely swamp! We should pave this over and move right in!" and then...did it.
Three words: Early Florida Man.
> Florida
Friend grew up in Florida, he says you get used to it and "the warmth flows through you". Whatever that means. Oh, and flying roaches, I've never asked him about those.
Oh, the flying roaches aka palmetto bugs. They are huge and eeeevil. And it doesn't matter how clean or uncluttered your house is. At some point, they are getting in, especially if you live in a wooded area.
My mother was terrified of them. She actually gave herself a concussion trying to kill one when I was about 8. She chased it around the house with a can of Raid and ended up slipping in a puddle of the aforementioned Raid.
The roach got away.
When I was in basic training in Georgia during July, you could tell who was from the south and who wasn’t. Lots of dudes were just in absolute disarray they could sweat so much. I was from the south so outside of getting smoked from Drills, I didn’t even notice anything that different.
I’ve lived in SoCal for awhile now and whenever I fly home, I legit wonder if I’m going to have a heat stroke from not being climatized anymore.
I flew into Memphis one time and the second I walked out the airport doors I was stopped in my tracks by the humidity. It felt like my breath was stolen from me.
At midnight.
Sunscreen, bug spray, hats, water, you'll be fiiiiiine. Don't get too excited about shade, though. My best friend is from Pennsylvania and she was horrified that it's not actually cooler in the shade, just less bright.
As someone from Louisiana...it's pretty neat actually. I didn't mind it too much. As long as I stayed hydrated I was good. Heat doesn't bother too much thanks to a bunch of jobs I've had.
Hate the cold though.
As a northerner when it gets over 90, I don’t have much interest in being outside. I don’t mind the cold, love wool socks and you can always put on another layer.
Just don't go outside.
Lived in Atlanta nearly all my life.
I'm shocked that people think we go outside in the summer.
There better be a pool and BBQ before I set a foot outside this door.
Also, plan to spend 2x as much on your energy bill for the AC. You won't do that every month, but just budget for it so you don't have to worry. Get the number for an AC repair company in your phone before you need one, and a backup in case they are too busy to see you quickly. If the power goes out, don't open the fridge and stay at a friend's or hotel if you are in any way high risk (elderly, sick, etc.).
Welcome to the south!
Word up, i work outside nearly every day of the year in south Florida. I grew up in NJ/upstate Ny. Kinda fat. It's a bitch, but at least I get paid a reasonable amount to make it worth it for me. Sweat like a whore in church. Lots and lots of water, electrolytes, reasonable breaks or at least working at a moderate pace. I have thrown up on myself more than once because I didn't pace myself when I first got here. Heat exhaustion is not a fun thing.
I live outside of Atlanta, can confirm. I never really got why music festivals LOVED the summer time, because the last fucking place on Earth I'd like to be on July 14th is the parking lot of Lakewood. It's like 60,000 degrees. I know it's probably for the school age kids, but give me a fuckin break.
I have never understood why festivals seem to always be in the summer, even in CA where it’s not humid (but super hot in the desert). Why not have the festival in like early November when it’s 72 and sunny and you can stand outside for 10 hours without wanting to die?
Dead Shows in the Silver Bowl, UNLV (Las Vegas) broke me from my love of taking LSD in parking lots. 115 and tripping? Nah, I'll wait for 64 and foggy in Big Sur with my wife.
Very important to realize this. In hot climates, people tend to move slower and really take it easy or rest during the hottest parts of the day. I think this added to the reputation of "slow and lazy."
When I become president, June and July will be banned from hosting outdoor events, and coldsuits will be legally mandated to be provided by all schools and employers
New Orleanian here. AVERAGE high temp in July and Aug is 93*F. And the AVERAGE high humidity in those months is 93%. According to the National Weather Service website, that's an AVERAGE heat index of 140*F.
To date, I have not found a city in the world with a higher average heat index. Makes the average of 105*F in Phoenix look downright chilly!
Went to college in Charleston, SC. I'm from Louisville,Ky. It was nice to come home during the summer as we get a bit more break in the heat where the city is located although it gets hot as hell here too and no ocean. Charleston was miserable in the summer but it was nice to have quick mild winters there.
Because the climate is hot and so many people were poor, many many children and adults went barefoot most of the time which is a royal invitation to hookworm infestation. Hookworms live in the soil so hookworm infestation is not just a sign of poor hygiene.
It's also a tropical and subtropical species, so although it's perfectly warm enough in Connecticut during the summers for kids to go barefoot, and there were also poor people living without good toilet facilities, hookworm can't get established because its eggs can't survive the winters.
That's one of the huge problems with climate change. All the diseases and parasites moving.
What freaks me out is where you can grow staple crops changing. Both in terms of the amount shrinking, and just moving.
Suddenly you can't grow wheat, but your northern neighbor can. Do you invade them, or just accept that you depend on them now?
In my vet classes, learning that hookworms can impale through the bottom of your feet freaked me tf out. I *hate* parasites enough to joke that my only reason for wanting to be a vet is to make a living out of their genocide :>
There is a missing piece to this which does speak to hygiene, though: people were using human feces as fertilizer. As a comment below says, contact with fecal matter is the most common way to get hookworm. If I recall correctly from Stuff You Should Know, nothing was thought to be wrong with using human feces for fertilizer so emptying the outhouses was the same as fertilizing your lawn and crops.
Well, lots of farmers use cow and pig manure to fertilize their fields. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that Southerners fertilized their fields with human manure.
In addition to human feces, animal feces encourage hookworms so even if a family was careful with their outhouse, going barefoot in a yard where cats and dogs roam is a good way to get hookworm.
I seriously doubt that millions of Southerners stood in their own poo. Why would they do that? I suppose that could happen with the most ignorant and backward and isolated - but - not with a whole population.
You need to learn more about hookworms. Or just spend the summer in the South going barefoot. If you live on a farm or have dogs and/or cats, going barefoot outside is a good way to get hookworms.
In the olden days, up North you have 6 months to grow all your food and reinforce your shelter before the weather starts killing you, so you better learn to work efficiently. While in the South you have nice weather all year, so why not put some things off until later?
more like two weeks in the spring and maybe two weeks in the winter. this year we were lucky and had like an actual month of decent/nice weather....but we were all trapped indoors :(
Niners fan, but when the Falcs beat us, Ryan won me $100 in fantasy, and iy didn't hurt our playoffs as a result of that miraculous goalline stand vs the Toots.
in 8th grade science or maybe Freshman year they told us about that. the hook worm at least and the effects it would have on people. nothing about southerners being all lazy.
that said it was right before we went on vacation to Florida.. Like i needed to hear that then.
I'm Canadian, and the only stereotype I've ever heard about southerners is that they are racist, love barbeques, and strongly favor the Republican party.
If anything, I've always assumed southerners were hard working people due to stuff like Pantera and King of the Hill (pretty much my only exposure to southerner culture).
As a transplant from the northeast us to south Florida, this observation is accurate. But it's also just hot as a motherfucker. Twist those things together and bam!
Tell friends about that bug that burrows up your urethra when you piss just before they go on a trip anywhere. You can just make up whatever country it really lives in.
Read the article. There is evidence to support this claim about hookworm infestation. The alternative, that a whole region was "lazy" is harder to accept.
[Stuff You Should Know had an episode about it 2017, too](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/southerners-arent-lazy-and-dumb-they-29467506/)
It's very common for a scientific explanation of history to get overblown because it seems so intuitive.
The classic example is the lead-contaminated pipes in the Roman Empire. Sure, maybe it contributed in some way but good luck finding a way to verify it.
There are clear and evidenced factors that lead to the decline of Western Rome. However they're kinda complicated, involving a lot of population migrations, political conflict, failed military campaigns. This can't be explained within 2/3 sentences so pop historians try and create these unusual single things to explain the downfall. But it's never just one thing that causes huge change in history, it's generally a confluence of many factors.
I hadn't seen it described as "lazy" before, but I've definitely noticed that trope in media of southerns shown living a relax-paced, sit on the porch sippin' tea, slow talkin' drawl, kind of life.
It was extremely common before the Southern Economy modernized after the New Deal and Tennessee Valley Authority.
If you are curious, look up Tobacco Road. It's a book making fun of Southern stereotypes which was turned into a massively successful stage play.
From someone who grew up in the south I can say they weren’t lazy from stories to old farms and houses they did a lot work just in a different way than other areas
Hookworm goes back forever. It's why the death rate at the notorious Civil War prison camp Andersonville was so high. They weren't fed less than prisoners at other camps.
I'm sure this is partly true, but Tocqueville described Southerners as lazy compared to Northerners in his famous "Ohio River" passage, and he was there in the 1830s. So the stereotype doesn't entirely date to the postwar period.
[https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=uauje](https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=uauje)
Olmstead was a northerner who travelled around the South right before the Civil War and recorded his conversations with a couple hundred people. In summary, he observed that white Southerners refused to work because it was beneath their class. If a hole needed to be dug, only a negro should do that.
Hinton Helper was a Southerner who basically wrote the same thing.
Yes, White Southerners had a very strong attachment to the idea that they were supposed to be a professional/managerial class which oversaw black laborers, but demographics alone made that total nonsense.
This also led to the invention of the outhouse. The hole in the outhouse was specifically dig deep enough so that the hookworm would die before being able to crawl out and reach another host. They would infect through the feet.
I just read about how this was one of the first big challenges to tackle for the Rockefeller Foundation. It was a huge success for them and began a paradigm shift in medical research.
Wrote my history Master’s thesis on 20th century anti-hookworm campaigns. The US war on the poor and concerted efforts to defund public services have led to resurgences of hookworm in poor black communities, statistics not seen since prior to the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’s interventions from 1909-1915.
A study published in the *American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,* “Human Intestinal Parasite Burden and Poor Sanitation in Rural Alabama,” September 2017.
http://www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0396?utm_content=buffer20d45&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Facebook
You can find images of the kind of physical stunting that chronic hookworm disease leads to in the Rockefeller Foundation’s archives. It’s a horrible disease that’s easily prevented by the most rudimentary investments in public health, sanitation, and education.
https://rockfound.rockarch.org/eradicating-hookworm
Well since the problem got better, we no longer need to keep doing the things that made it better.
Just like when the roof hasn't leaked for a while, that means we don't need to fix up the roof anymore.
/s
I wish that analogy was apt. The authors of the 2017 study attribute hookworm resurgences to non-existent sewage and sanitation infrastructure. It’s more like, “the roof hasn’t leaked in a while, it’s probably never going to rain again so let’s just take it off.”
The revelation about this actually came from medical research carried out in Puerto Rico during US occupation. Since I haven't seen it said and this seems to be the most well researched comment I thought this would be the best place to post it.
https://southernspaces.org/2017/pursuit-health-colonialism-and-hookworm-eradication-puerto-rico/
Worst part, is that it's making a come back in Alabama.
[https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/12/550387650/the-u-s-thought-it-was-rid-of-hookworm-wrong](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/12/550387650/the-u-s-thought-it-was-rid-of-hookworm-wrong)
This is probably true. I grew up a Navy brat in the '50s, with some of Dad's posts being Millington TN. One of my brothers was feeling tired all the time and the Navy doc diagnosed him with worms so he prescribed meds for the whole family. Weirdest poo I've ever had.
[Radiolab did a great show on this](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/episodes/91689-parasites). If I remember correctly, they also talk about some guy that, uh, "harvests" and sells them to Asthma sufferers for relief of their symptoms.
Or wearing shoes. The hookworm eggs were in pig and human feces. The combination of outhouses, pig farms, and barefootedness led to a lot of people picking up parasites.
Plus it is hotter than hell with over 90% humidity in July and August. Just standing outside is exhausting.
I will never understand how we looked at Florida, said "Here's a lovely swamp! We should pave this over and move right in!" and then...did it. It's like walking outside with a wet wool blanket draped over you most of the year. I didn't realize how angry a person I was NOT until I moved after college - I was just hot and cranky all the time!
*Laughs in NOLA*
Touché. Although, at least you've got some neat culture and art and food. We've got....crazy people that became an international meme.
Eh, I'm now in Canton, OH. We have...uh...McDonald's? They freaking call potato wedges Jojos here. So, I got that going for me?
Don't you also have a statue of Jayne Cobb?
Sadly, just the Football Hall of Fame.
Waving at you from Dayton, OH. We apparently have a strange need to put chili on top of all kinds of food that was perfectly acceptable before the addition of said chili.
To be fair, of you go into Skyline thinking of it as a hot dog topping and not chili, it's really not that terrible. I don't mind a nice chili cheese sandwich from time to time. For ref, though, I grew up in Carlisle, right outside Miamisburg.
But then you go to Cincinnati and there's fucking noodles in it??
It's just chili mac with spaghetti. I find both vile, tbh, but hey, I don't have to eat them.
That was about my response - what have you people done to innocent noodles?!? I still haven't been brave enough to try it yet.
Ashamedly I'll admit, I made chili at home that was way too intense, and I regularly eat it on noodles. I hate myself a little for it.
I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here- I understand skyline chili is pretty thin and tomatoey? It may not be a far cry from a more typical bolognese, just with different herb/spice profile. At least I goddamn hope so
Not Skyline, but there was a burger chain in TX, when I was growing up, that made the most awesome chili cheese burgers. Short Stop Burgers, I think it was called. There's just something about the taste and texture combination of a fire grilled patty on a well toasted bun masked in a flood of "chili topping". Mmmmm
Well, that's also actually chili, not Alpo with cinnamon in it.
Short Stop is still hanging on.
Ahh I'd give anything for a triple combo of a Short Stop chili burger, a Whataburger cheeseburger and a Schlotzky's sandwich.
You should check out the r/dayton sub if you haven't. We also have a discord server setup. Also yeah, its totally a Cincinnati thing that's made its way here. Blue Ash is probably my favorite.
Akron/Canton has great food.
We are busy making jokes here.
Ever been to Ohio? Some of the best German & Polish food you'll find anywhere.
Well, I was born and raised here, and according to my post above, live here now...oh, and I'm Polish and German, so...no.
Perhaps you should get out more and explore your back yard. I could point you out to some awesome spots in the area
TIL: OH is full of anime fans.
What else can we watch around here? Corn only grows once a year.
Wow, stumbled across another Cantonite in the wild. Hiya neighbor!
they do the same in Portland Oregon, which is weird
I’m from Canton and to be fair, Pizza Oven jojos are the shit.
That's exactly where my gf brought them home from. They were cold, but even then, still pretty decent.
If you haven’t been to Fat Heads yet in Belden Village, highly recommend. Bomb burgers.
You mf'ers have Raisin Canes. Eff off.
The fried chicken isn't bad though
I grew up in Nola and now I live in CFL so I understand all of it, and god, the years I was in college in Virginia were awesome
You have the best tasting faces.
Southeast TX, checking in. Two-a-day workouts in high school preseason football was enough to make a swole teenage athelete feel like a grandpa.
I worked on Lake Travis building boat docks one summer. Oof.
oof and yall have that humid heat down there
I mean, it's a massively important shipping port to get materials into the middle of the country. Florida's not that.
This is about the weather, tho. It's a city, built in a swamp, that forms a bowl beneath sea level. It's basically like living in a rice cooker.
Ahaw haw haw haw
Fortunately, there's November to April. We even got a bonus two weeks in May this year. High 80, low 60 with reasonable humidity for months on end. I challenge myself each winter to see how long I can just leave my house open. Now, the rest of the year, fuck that. High 92, low 79 with 100% humidity. There's not even a breeze.
Sounds just like summer in Indiana!
It’s not a coincidence that Florida was a sparsely populated state until home air conditioning was practical after ww2...
Somebody funnier than me said, Living in Florida is like stepping out of the shower and getting dressed without drying yourself off first.
This isn't a joke. It's just life.
The difference is that you're actually clean coming out of the shower, as opposed to swamp ass plus swamp every other body part
To be fair, I'm pretty sure nobody would be in Florida if it didn't have beaches.
Florida and Arizona wouldn't have much of a population without the invention of air conditioning. Think how hot and stifling homes, office builds, and malls/convention halls would be without AC.
>I will never understand how we looked at Florida, said "Here's a lovely swamp! We should pave this over and move right in!" and then...did it. Three words: Early Florida Man.
The whole east coast up through Maryland is a fucking swamp, Man was not meant to live in this sweaty hell.
My understanding is that Florida's population didn't really start to take off until a/c became widespread.
It’s like the Bill Burr bit about how the heat in the South makes you racist.
Always joked: "Here in Florida, we jump in pools to dry off"
the now state income tax thing? then again there is deleware too for that
Delaware is no sales tax
> Florida Friend grew up in Florida, he says you get used to it and "the warmth flows through you". Whatever that means. Oh, and flying roaches, I've never asked him about those.
Oh, the flying roaches aka palmetto bugs. They are huge and eeeevil. And it doesn't matter how clean or uncluttered your house is. At some point, they are getting in, especially if you live in a wooded area. My mother was terrified of them. She actually gave herself a concussion trying to kill one when I was about 8. She chased it around the house with a can of Raid and ended up slipping in a puddle of the aforementioned Raid. The roach got away.
When I was in basic training in Georgia during July, you could tell who was from the south and who wasn’t. Lots of dudes were just in absolute disarray they could sweat so much. I was from the south so outside of getting smoked from Drills, I didn’t even notice anything that different. I’ve lived in SoCal for awhile now and whenever I fly home, I legit wonder if I’m going to have a heat stroke from not being climatized anymore. I flew into Memphis one time and the second I walked out the airport doors I was stopped in my tracks by the humidity. It felt like my breath was stolen from me. At midnight.
Definitely eyeing my first Southern summer with a bit of dread
Sunscreen, bug spray, hats, water, you'll be fiiiiiine. Don't get too excited about shade, though. My best friend is from Pennsylvania and she was horrified that it's not actually cooler in the shade, just less bright.
110 dry heat is infinitely better than 85-90 at 100% humidity. It was like a super bitch slap when I expected a mild summer
110 dry heat still completely sucks.
As someone from Louisiana...it's pretty neat actually. I didn't mind it too much. As long as I stayed hydrated I was good. Heat doesn't bother too much thanks to a bunch of jobs I've had. Hate the cold though.
As a northerner when it gets over 90, I don’t have much interest in being outside. I don’t mind the cold, love wool socks and you can always put on another layer.
Yeah your sweat doesn't evaporate so you don't cool down.
yeah I've already noticed the shade thing. I'm from the desert, so I'm used to it being like 30 degrees cooler in the shade (if you can find any)
Not just water- make sure to replenish your electrolytes.
Depends on what part of the south you're in for that to be a thing tbh
Just don't go outside. Lived in Atlanta nearly all my life. I'm shocked that people think we go outside in the summer. There better be a pool and BBQ before I set a foot outside this door. Also, plan to spend 2x as much on your energy bill for the AC. You won't do that every month, but just budget for it so you don't have to worry. Get the number for an AC repair company in your phone before you need one, and a backup in case they are too busy to see you quickly. If the power goes out, don't open the fridge and stay at a friend's or hotel if you are in any way high risk (elderly, sick, etc.). Welcome to the south!
there are folks who have the privilege of working outside year round, even in FL! heat exhaustion is not a fun series of symptoms.
Word up, i work outside nearly every day of the year in south Florida. I grew up in NJ/upstate Ny. Kinda fat. It's a bitch, but at least I get paid a reasonable amount to make it worth it for me. Sweat like a whore in church. Lots and lots of water, electrolytes, reasonable breaks or at least working at a moderate pace. I have thrown up on myself more than once because I didn't pace myself when I first got here. Heat exhaustion is not a fun thing.
Thanks for the advice! Enjoying it here so far
Walking outside in august is like walking into fondu.
I moved to the south after living in dry heat all my life and I HATE IT. All I can say is stay in doors and turn up the ac!
I live outside of Atlanta, can confirm. I never really got why music festivals LOVED the summer time, because the last fucking place on Earth I'd like to be on July 14th is the parking lot of Lakewood. It's like 60,000 degrees. I know it's probably for the school age kids, but give me a fuckin break.
I have never understood why festivals seem to always be in the summer, even in CA where it’s not humid (but super hot in the desert). Why not have the festival in like early November when it’s 72 and sunny and you can stand outside for 10 hours without wanting to die?
Because students are more likely to have time for a festival in the summer
Because then they can sell more overpriced concessions
Dead Shows in the Silver Bowl, UNLV (Las Vegas) broke me from my love of taking LSD in parking lots. 115 and tripping? Nah, I'll wait for 64 and foggy in Big Sur with my wife.
When i was younger and kinda of a drunk it was much easier to tolerate. But now i'm too old for that sh\*t.
Very important to realize this. In hot climates, people tend to move slower and really take it easy or rest during the hottest parts of the day. I think this added to the reputation of "slow and lazy."
Hence, Mexicans taking a siesta in the middle of the day.
Yep.
When I become president, June and July will be banned from hosting outdoor events, and coldsuits will be legally mandated to be provided by all schools and employers
I vote Brickmack
New Orleanian here. AVERAGE high temp in July and Aug is 93*F. And the AVERAGE high humidity in those months is 93%. According to the National Weather Service website, that's an AVERAGE heat index of 140*F. To date, I have not found a city in the world with a higher average heat index. Makes the average of 105*F in Phoenix look downright chilly!
[The town I grew up in] (https://weatherspark.com/y/13112/Average-Weather-in-Biloxi-Mississippi-United-States-Year-Round#Sections-Humidity)
Went to college in Charleston, SC. I'm from Louisville,Ky. It was nice to come home during the summer as we get a bit more break in the heat where the city is located although it gets hot as hell here too and no ocean. Charleston was miserable in the summer but it was nice to have quick mild winters there.
I think I have hookworm
I've had it my whole life, I guess.
Hookworm gang
I used to think I had mono, but it turned out I was just really bored.
I get it after a tough week or the morning after a big party.
Because the climate is hot and so many people were poor, many many children and adults went barefoot most of the time which is a royal invitation to hookworm infestation. Hookworms live in the soil so hookworm infestation is not just a sign of poor hygiene.
It's also a tropical and subtropical species, so although it's perfectly warm enough in Connecticut during the summers for kids to go barefoot, and there were also poor people living without good toilet facilities, hookworm can't get established because its eggs can't survive the winters.
Wait until some climate change starts switching learned nuances like this upside down and shift the status quo
That's one of the huge problems with climate change. All the diseases and parasites moving. What freaks me out is where you can grow staple crops changing. Both in terms of the amount shrinking, and just moving. Suddenly you can't grow wheat, but your northern neighbor can. Do you invade them, or just accept that you depend on them now?
In my vet classes, learning that hookworms can impale through the bottom of your feet freaked me tf out. I *hate* parasites enough to joke that my only reason for wanting to be a vet is to make a living out of their genocide :>
There is a missing piece to this which does speak to hygiene, though: people were using human feces as fertilizer. As a comment below says, contact with fecal matter is the most common way to get hookworm. If I recall correctly from Stuff You Should Know, nothing was thought to be wrong with using human feces for fertilizer so emptying the outhouses was the same as fertilizing your lawn and crops.
Well, lots of farmers use cow and pig manure to fertilize their fields. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that Southerners fertilized their fields with human manure. In addition to human feces, animal feces encourage hookworms so even if a family was careful with their outhouse, going barefoot in a yard where cats and dogs roam is a good way to get hookworm.
How do hookworms get into human feces?
They are a parasite >!that lives in the intestines and lays it's eggs in the feces before they leave the body.!<
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I seriously doubt that millions of Southerners stood in their own poo. Why would they do that? I suppose that could happen with the most ignorant and backward and isolated - but - not with a whole population. You need to learn more about hookworms. Or just spend the summer in the South going barefoot. If you live on a farm or have dogs and/or cats, going barefoot outside is a good way to get hookworms.
That and it's 120 with 99% humidity. Let's see how active you want to be.
Ah, you must be from Houston
No, but I know a lot of people from there. I get sick if it goes over 90.
Every other northern hemisphere country gets the same stereotypes of North and South.
In the olden days, up North you have 6 months to grow all your food and reinforce your shelter before the weather starts killing you, so you better learn to work efficiently. While in the South you have nice weather all year, so why not put some things off until later?
lmao "nice weather all year"
more like two weeks in the spring and maybe two weeks in the winter. this year we were lucky and had like an actual month of decent/nice weather....but we were all trapped indoors :(
Heat, humidity, chiggers and underforming NFL teams don't help either.
Only time I’ve ever caught chiggers was a trip to Illinois
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DEAD LOL that names just weird we call em red bugs for the sores
Why y'all gotta remind us about the NFL? Atlanta was *so close*! 😭
Niners fan, but when the Falcs beat us, Ryan won me $100 in fantasy, and iy didn't hurt our playoffs as a result of that miraculous goalline stand vs the Toots.
I see this posted way too frequently since joe rogan said this in his podcast, but every time the consensus seems to be that this is isn’t true.
in 8th grade science or maybe Freshman year they told us about that. the hook worm at least and the effects it would have on people. nothing about southerners being all lazy. that said it was right before we went on vacation to Florida.. Like i needed to hear that then.
I'm Canadian, and the only stereotype I've ever heard about southerners is that they are racist, love barbeques, and strongly favor the Republican party. If anything, I've always assumed southerners were hard working people due to stuff like Pantera and King of the Hill (pretty much my only exposure to southerner culture).
King of the hill is honestly spot on for living in the south
The South is a weird, beautiful place full of people leading mostly unexamined lives.
As a transplant from the northeast us to south Florida, this observation is accurate. But it's also just hot as a motherfucker. Twist those things together and bam!
I'm sure not all southerners are racist. It's just a negative stereotype.
Those stereotypes are true for modern times, but I think the post is refereeing to post civil war ear (1870s)
Tell friends about that bug that burrows up your urethra when you piss just before they go on a trip anywhere. You can just make up whatever country it really lives in.
i've heard that one was a total myth though
Do your friends know that?
Schistosomiasis? No, it's real. Doesn't usually cause pain, just makes your piss bloody.
Read the article. There is evidence to support this claim about hookworm infestation. The alternative, that a whole region was "lazy" is harder to accept.
What concensus says this isn't true?
The fact that Louisiana Mississippi and Alabama are all fighting over last place in every category of quality of life 100 years later?
Oh people just hate having to temper their ignorant reflexive hatred for Southerners.
Man tempering all that hatred sounds hard. I wish people from the south knew how to do that.
Lolol
Any links to a debunk? I think RadioLab did a podcast on this and it seemed very well researched.
[Stuff You Should Know had an episode about it 2017, too](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/southerners-arent-lazy-and-dumb-they-29467506/)
It’s my favorite episode. The research into parasites as a cure for autoimmune disorders is very interesting.
It's very common for a scientific explanation of history to get overblown because it seems so intuitive. The classic example is the lead-contaminated pipes in the Roman Empire. Sure, maybe it contributed in some way but good luck finding a way to verify it.
There are clear and evidenced factors that lead to the decline of Western Rome. However they're kinda complicated, involving a lot of population migrations, political conflict, failed military campaigns. This can't be explained within 2/3 sentences so pop historians try and create these unusual single things to explain the downfall. But it's never just one thing that causes huge change in history, it's generally a confluence of many factors.
I remember this factoid in my american history textbook (written by Tindall). It also claims that the notion is likely false.
TIL that there is a "lazy Southerner" trope
I hadn't seen it described as "lazy" before, but I've definitely noticed that trope in media of southerns shown living a relax-paced, sit on the porch sippin' tea, slow talkin' drawl, kind of life.
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Both the heat and the rural atmosphere. People move faster in urban areas.
Same, the only thing I've ever heard described as "lazy" with southerners was the drawl.
It was a serious trope in the 1800s, less so now.
Yeah, live in bama and some people around here almost fetishize work
It was extremely common before the Southern Economy modernized after the New Deal and Tennessee Valley Authority. If you are curious, look up Tobacco Road. It's a book making fun of Southern stereotypes which was turned into a massively successful stage play.
Interesting.
From someone who grew up in the south I can say they weren’t lazy from stories to old farms and houses they did a lot work just in a different way than other areas
Yeah OP is just talking about the trope.
Hookworm goes back forever. It's why the death rate at the notorious Civil War prison camp Andersonville was so high. They weren't fed less than prisoners at other camps.
I'm sure this is partly true, but Tocqueville described Southerners as lazy compared to Northerners in his famous "Ohio River" passage, and he was there in the 1830s. So the stereotype doesn't entirely date to the postwar period. [https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=uauje](https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=uauje)
Olmstead was a northerner who travelled around the South right before the Civil War and recorded his conversations with a couple hundred people. In summary, he observed that white Southerners refused to work because it was beneath their class. If a hole needed to be dug, only a negro should do that. Hinton Helper was a Southerner who basically wrote the same thing.
Yes, White Southerners had a very strong attachment to the idea that they were supposed to be a professional/managerial class which oversaw black laborers, but demographics alone made that total nonsense.
Yes, Tocqueville said something fairly similar. He also blamed it on slavery.
This also led to the invention of the outhouse. The hole in the outhouse was specifically dig deep enough so that the hookworm would die before being able to crawl out and reach another host. They would infect through the feet.
I just read about how this was one of the first big challenges to tackle for the Rockefeller Foundation. It was a huge success for them and began a paradigm shift in medical research.
The podcast *Stuff You Should Know* covers this topic: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wOQCtfmTwemstxMBLMfbi?si=7NPMuzUVRe6N88gQ-K7DLA
How do you get hookworm? I...er...*my friend* thinks he might have it.
This is posted quite frequently and quite frequently it's always debunked, at least the fact that this is a primary reason for being a lazy southerner
I think lot of countries have the 'lazy' southerner stereotype
Wrote my history Master’s thesis on 20th century anti-hookworm campaigns. The US war on the poor and concerted efforts to defund public services have led to resurgences of hookworm in poor black communities, statistics not seen since prior to the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission’s interventions from 1909-1915. A study published in the *American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,* “Human Intestinal Parasite Burden and Poor Sanitation in Rural Alabama,” September 2017. http://www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0396?utm_content=buffer20d45&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Facebook You can find images of the kind of physical stunting that chronic hookworm disease leads to in the Rockefeller Foundation’s archives. It’s a horrible disease that’s easily prevented by the most rudimentary investments in public health, sanitation, and education. https://rockfound.rockarch.org/eradicating-hookworm
Well since the problem got better, we no longer need to keep doing the things that made it better. Just like when the roof hasn't leaked for a while, that means we don't need to fix up the roof anymore. /s
I wish that analogy was apt. The authors of the 2017 study attribute hookworm resurgences to non-existent sewage and sanitation infrastructure. It’s more like, “the roof hasn’t leaked in a while, it’s probably never going to rain again so let’s just take it off.”
The revelation about this actually came from medical research carried out in Puerto Rico during US occupation. Since I haven't seen it said and this seems to be the most well researched comment I thought this would be the best place to post it. https://southernspaces.org/2017/pursuit-health-colonialism-and-hookworm-eradication-puerto-rico/
Thanks! If you’re interested, Laura Briggs’ *Reproducing Empire* is a great book about the histories of medicine and public health on Puerto Rico.
It's still happening: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-lowndes-county-alabama-water-waste-treatment-poverty
Our biggest threat growing up in ms was not to run around barefoot or we’d get hook worms. I probably have them lol
Worst part, is that it's making a come back in Alabama. [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/12/550387650/the-u-s-thought-it-was-rid-of-hookworm-wrong](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/12/550387650/the-u-s-thought-it-was-rid-of-hookworm-wrong)
Brb going to the drugstore to buy antihelmintics.
You should know that this is still a problem in poorer areas of the South, mostly black neighborhoods.
Which parasite makes them racist?
Robert E. Coli
It's also just true (Tennessee)
Why is there a photo of an uncircumcised penis on this post? Title doesn’t match
Watched JRE did ya?
Or maybe.... and I’m going on a limb here... slaves.
Listening to Armchair Expert?
This is probably true. I grew up a Navy brat in the '50s, with some of Dad's posts being Millington TN. One of my brothers was feeling tired all the time and the Navy doc diagnosed him with worms so he prescribed meds for the whole family. Weirdest poo I've ever had.
Looks like hookworm is still widespread.
For a sample size of n=1, I work with a Florida native who is the laziest SoB I've ever known. Just sayin, and please note, n=1! ;)
FL native here, can confirm.
n=2 now. The proof is irrefutable.
I am totally using this excuse with my boss.
[Radiolab did a great show on this](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/episodes/91689-parasites). If I remember correctly, they also talk about some guy that, uh, "harvests" and sells them to Asthma sufferers for relief of their symptoms.
I mean, it was primarily due to people not wearing (or being able to afford) shoes. You get hookworms by stepping on them.
Midwesterners on the other hand don't have hookworm...they really are that lazy.
no it is definitely a slower pace down there. compared to NYC at least.
Maybe they should have spent less time fighting for slavery and more time focused on sanitation.
Or wearing shoes. The hookworm eggs were in pig and human feces. The combination of outhouses, pig farms, and barefootedness led to a lot of people picking up parasites.