>I've been trying hard to stay out of these threads, but ...

Understood.... I had pretty much quit but I relapsed! < vbg >
Oh Well... back to my 12 step program.

>Washington, DC is a southern city. Has been for a long time, not just by >geography (south of the Mason-Dixon line), but also by culture.

Got me on the technical point but.....

I was pretty much raised there and the culture there and the culture I moved into are like night and day. I admit that a lot of that was due to moving from a urban area to a rural area. I would say, however, that my personal experience was one of two vastly different cultures. My older brother remained in the area, Ft. Washington Md and I bet he would not think of himself as a from the south. I'll ask him and get back to you.

And....

1)The south did it's best to "get" D.C. in the war and did not. Not to mention that horrible yankee president that lived there. < vbg >

2) I doubt anyone in D.C. would say that they are from the south. With the exception of the new pres. < s >

Not that any of these points "proves" anything. < g >