grits line

grits line
 n.— «Alexandria still has its Jefferson Davis Highway and Springfield its Robert E. Lee High School, but if last week’s election showed anything, it’s that Northern Virginia is not only different than the rest of the state, it is a different state. And it’s no longer in the South. That line now starts at the Rappahannock River, where things change—the accents, the attitudes, the pace and a comfort with the way things are. It’s what some historians call the new “grits line.” To them, it’s no surprise that the state’s northernmost welcome center on Interstate 95 is in Fredericksburg.» —“So Close, Yet So Far Apart” by Brigid Schulte, Chris L. Jenkins Washington Post Nov. 16, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Join the discussion

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Alligator Mouth (episode #1620)

Kinbank is a new database that illustrates the global diversity of family terms. English, for example, specifies sibling relationships with just one of two terms: sister or brother. But most other languages have even more specific terms. In...

Folding Money (episode #1616)

Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...