How a Parasitic Disease Created the “Lazy Southerner” Stereotype

Do you know what that came from? Do you know what that's from? What? Hookworm. Hookworm. Yeah, it's really crazy. The stereotype of the lazy mouth breathing Southerner came from massive amounts of people that were infected with parasites. And these parasites were extremely common, particularly when people walk around barefoot and they would get these worms. These worms would get into their system and one of the side effects of these worms was a decreased brain function. So that's a real stereotype that came from a real thing. So yeah, pull up a hookworm in the south and then stereotypes because yeah, I forget who told me this. Then I wound up going on a deep dive one night and just reading article upon article about this where they didn't even find out that this was a thing. So I think it was like the 1960s. They found out about this hookworm parasite and this parasite that was extremely prevalent in the south. This thing is many of like how hookworm gave the south a bad name. Hookworms once sapped the American south of its health, yet few realize they continue to affect millions. So this worm would infect people that make that a little larger place. For more than three centuries, a plague of unshakable lethargy blanketed the American south. It began with ground itch in quotes, a prickly tingling in the tender webs between the toes, which was soon followed by a dry cough. Weeks later, victims succumbed to an insatiable exhaustion and an impenetrable haziness of the mind that some called stupidity. Adults neglected their fields and children grew pale and listless. Victims developed grossly distended bellies and angel wings, emaciated shoulder blades accentuated by the hunching. All gazed out dully from sunken sockets with a telltale fish eye stare. The culprit behind the germ of laziness as a south affliction was sometimes called was nectar americanus. The American murderer, better known today as the hookworm. Millions of these blood sucking parasites lived, fed, multiplied and died within the guts of up to 40% of the population stretching from southeastern Texas to West Virginia. Hookworms stymied development throughout the region and bred stereotypes about lazy, moronic southerners. Well, there you go. There you go. Are you tall, Goliath? That's why you do it. That's why we all do it. We do it because it was a real thing. And it was a real thing because these poor people were sick with parasites. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I learned some shit today, Joe. And then a nutty one? That's a nutty one. I'm from Texas. That's when you go, oh, okay. Well, that shit, that makes sense. I always used to think it was just hot there and it's hard to think. Like you know. Well, now when people say, you don't sound like you're from Texas, I'm like, thank you. You do a little bit. I could hear a little bit. Yeah, there's a touch. I say y'all still. There's a touch. It's a touch. You know. No, you didn't know that. There's no touch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, you have a touch of southern Texan in there. Just a touch. Yeah. But you're definitely not from New York. No. Yeah, I mean, you're not from Boston. It's like you have something, something going on there.