Hi Everyone!
Map of Alabama, from the Texas Public Library Collection of maps
An email encounter with someone from out West started me thinking about what it really means to be from Alabama, and so I compiled this list.
You know you’re from Alabama if:
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1) Your first reaction upon meeting someone from any city with a population of over 1,000,000 people is to ask them if they know your sister’s neighbor’s daughter, Betty Sue, who moved to that city five years ago.
Lynyrd Skynyrd in Concert in 2010. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, by Andrew King.
2) The opening riffs to “Sweet Home Alabama” raise your heart beat and give you the uncontrollable urge to sing along with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
3) You think Jimmy Buffett’s rendition of “Stars Fell On Alabama” should be the state song.
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4) You are surprised to find out that neither “Sweet Home Alabama” nor “Stars Fell On Alabama'” are the state song.
5) Your definition of a “mixed marriage” means that one spouse is an Auburn fan and the other is an Alabama fan.
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6) You wonder why in a state with a large NASA facility in the north of the State, state of the art automotive manufacturers sprinkled across the center of the state, a state of the art steel plant and Airbus plant in the south of the state and several major universities, the national news media can only find the least educated and articulate of us to interview on television.
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7) Air conditioning is a necessity, not a luxury.
8) You do not think running the heat at night and the air conditioner during the day in the spring and fall is odd.
9) You get your coat and car keys, not a tool box, when your husband tells you he is fixing to go somewhere.
10) You know perfectly well that there are three second person pronouns:
“You” – second person singular, as in “why don’t you come with me?”
“Y’all” – second person plural, as in “Why don’t y’all come over to dinner?”
“All y’all” – second person plural heightened, to be used when you are inviting large groups of people to do something instead of groups of five or less.
Picture by Torsten Bolten, on Wikimedia Commons.
11) You think that basketball and baseball are just something they do to kill time until football season rolls back again.
12) You have ever considered the date of the Iron Bowl as something to be avoided when scheduling important family functions such as weddings, births and funerals.
13) You don’t have to ask what the term “Iron Bowl” refers to.
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14) You are astounded that the man who invented air conditioning does not have a national holiday named after him.
Have a great day everyone!
Nancy
Tales from the Mom-Side 
Nice one! Re #12, our family was beside themselves when we scheduled our wedding for the evening of Iron Bowl day! Luckily, Alabama won that year (with guests watching the last moments in the lobby just before the ceremony) or we would have had a pitiful reception. 😉
Were you getting married in Alabama? Someone I know in Birmingham a few years ago was told that there was no way she could get someone to either do flowers or cater the reception on an Iron Bowl day.
Dana, I am surprised you could even find a church, florist etc to do a wedding that day. When one of my girls was planning a November wedding we were “told” there is no one who would “cater” etc.
Had to explain to a friend of mine that “Planning Grandma’s funeral for that day was not a good idea”. Her family are devouted Alabama fans. It took a lot of explaining that they were not being disrespectful.
You know you are from Alabama when you are deployed or stationed anywhere overseas, north of Richmond, VA or west of the Mississippi, and anyone else from Alabama (Alabama or Auburn fan) is greeted like a long-lost cousin (and responds in kind!). At least they know good football!
Yes, we Alabamanians do know good football, even if we differ as to which team we believe in!
Love it! My human’s (The Geezer) great, great, great grands are from the MS area from back in War Between the States times. By the way if you don’t call it the Civil War you could be from Alabama.
No, if you don’t call it the Civil War, you could be from the Deep South.