Interesting Facts on America - I need your help please!

Well I hope your Aunt doesn't like ketchup chips too much, they don't have those in the states nor do they have smarties or aero(the chocolate bar)

Yeah we do, at least a version of them. I won't try 'em though, because the idea of a ketchup chip makes me gag. The dill pickle ones do the same. Blech!

No, we don't have Smarties but we do have M&Ms, and we have plenty of chocolate bar versions. I don't think she'll wither away and die from snack deprivation.

Honestly OP, the US is so big, populated and diverse depending on regions, that it's hard to pick any one thing and call it generic American. Except for Walmart. That really is an American institution, but even it has regional differences.

Okay.....so, I'm a true Tennessean....born and raised....

There's a lot of stereotyping related to the state so let me point out a few things.

Tennessee is the birth place of nuclear energy....the Manhattan project and the first atomic bomb was built in Oak Ridge TN.

Tennessee was first settled mainly by soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. As Revolutionary soldiers were not paid, many got land grants in the new territorys.......with large land holdings small towns evolved and grew to support the large farms. The land owner decided who worked and who didn't....thus the basis for what is today known as the "good ole boy" network. Still here in many places, going back 8 to 10 generations.

As the War of Northern Aggression, who some call the civil war, nears and passes its 150th anniversary, the south suffered harshly during radical reconstruction....and Tennessee played a large role and many huge battles were fought here in the state....

Nathan Bedford Forrest is the most celebrated man in the state. Over 40 monuments, a bust in the capital, and many roads, schools etc named after him.

The name volunteers came from the band of men who volunteered to fight for Texas independence. Sam Houston was a Tennessean and Davy Crockett died at the Alamo. T for Texas.....T for Tennessee.

The trail of tears, shameful as it is, started here.

We've had three presidents and a vice president from the state.....Polk, Jackson, Andrew Johnson and "I invented the internet" Al Gore.

Tennesseans are proud of there heritage.

Tennessee has no state income tax and has some of the lowest tax rates in the country.

Tennessee has three distinct parts, East Tennessee is mountainous, Middle Tennessee, beautiful rolling hills, and West Tennessee is flat.

Memphis is the home of the blues and the birth place of rock and roll.

We know what a pair of shoes is....but some don't like wearing them.

A Tennessee tuxedo.......is a pair of bib overalls.....usually liberties....which were manufactured in Tennessee for many years.

A garden hose is called a "hose pipe".

These days the population has grown as many move to the state because the tax rates are low and many businesses are relocating here. The pace is somewhat laid back, the weather has four distinct seasons and the scenery is wonderful.

I think your friend is going to like it here.

Bless her heart! She's not just moving to the US, she's moving to the SOUTH!

It's a state of mind as well as a place and I hope she'll love it as much as I do.

Yep, the South (you must capitalize it) has its own history and culture. I'm not really in the South, although we Virginians like to claim being Southern. We're only Faux-Southerners, even though the Capital of the Confederacy was in Richmond.

Virginians are Southerners. Are you casting aspersions on R.E.Lee? The only Virginians that might not qualify live so close to Washington that they've been polluted.

When saying Smarties...are you talking about the sweetarts or something different? Because we have a candy called Smarties, looks like this:

I dunno, I worked with someone from Mississippi and she said that 'her people' don't consider Virginians Southern. Hurt my pea pickin' little heart, it did.

We Virginians definitely consider ourselves Suthunuhs, even though some snobby Mississippians believe otherwise! Oh, and we don't claim Northern Virginia. May as well be Yankee Central!

Mtngrl, Canadian Smarties are chocolate, not those sweet-tart things we have here in the States.

"I dunno, I worked with someone from Mississippi and she said that 'her people' don't consider Virginians Southern. Hurt my pea pickin' little heart, it did.

We Virginians definitely consider ourselves Suthunuhs, even though some snobby Mississippians believe otherwise! "

<<<Patting Speed Racer's hand>>>> Now don't you fret yourself. No real Southern lady would hurt your feelings on purpose. Sometimes you just have to consider the source. That poor woman's people didn't give her any proper home training. It reflects badly on Mississippi, but I'm sure you were kind to her. She can't help coming from trashy people.

*peeps quietly* I've never considered Virginia "real" south :) I live in south MS now, but I'm originally from Memphis. As a whole, Southerners are so prideful and our roots are deep. Where I'm originally from, it's considered the mid-south. I'm in the deep south now and some of the people here don't consider me a "real" southerner and call me a yankee. I laugh it off, but inside it does bother me. I love the South, but I definitely have a square, so to speak, that is more South to me than another and I would never move outside of it. Whoever said it above, the US is just so vast and even in a smaller area (i.e. The South) even the people here vary vastly from state to state and even between communities.