When comparing things, like Texas and New York, or Alabama and New Hampshire, there are differences in food, accents, common saying and many other things.
I once spent a week in Massachusetts and stayed with a family who were very “New England.” Although we shared many things, I was taken with the little things that they never even thought about.
I once spent a week in Massachusetts and stayed with a family who were very “New England.” Although we shared many things, I was taken with the little things that they never even thought about.
For example, they are were attuned to ocean tides. They lived only a few blocks from the ocean and were constantly referring to “it’ll be high tide at 2 p.m.” or “we need to do so-and-so before the tide goes out.”
They did this several times each day and didn’t even think about it, but I found it fascinating and didn’t always know what they meant. I had never in my life thought about the rise and fall of ocean tides as having anything to do with my domestic life.
My most personal interaction with diversity was when I, born and raised in Oklahoma, married a man born and raised in Minnesota. It didn’t take long to discover that my husband had never eaten okra or black-eyed peas. Certain words he used were “foreign” to me and, of course, he spoke what sounded to me like a Swedish immigrant. I’m sure he thought I spoke “Okie.”
After a time in Oklahoma and Germany, we settled in Minnesota. That is where I got my real lessons in diversity. I found such things as different card games, different foods (lefse and lutefisk, for example) and even somewhat different holiday celebrations. And winters in Minnesota were certainly different than the ones I had known in Oklahoma.
Diversity has always been common in the United States. After all, we are called a “melting pot” because so many peoples came early to America seeking freedom, opportunity, adventure and a million other dreams. These early people brought their language, culture and daily life habits. English people were the most common among the new settlers. And even though English was the dominate language, you can find many other languages that had an influence on our forefathers and are still in use, even Greek and Latin words.
Just think of all the non-English group that have influenced the language. We have embraced Jewish, Italian, Irish, Scottish, German, Spanish and, of course, we even have a few words that are homegrown such as from the Native Americans.
In recent times, we have grown to include more languages. The immigrants from China, Mexico, Canada, and other places added their own oral expressions to the melting pot.
And just between you and me, I love being a melting pot.
(Kay Hively is a historian, author and former editor, reporter and columnist for the Neosho Daily News and Neosho Post.)
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