Southern Manners

[Pirate Wench]

In restaurants in Houston, when you order iced tea...it is Not already sweetened.
In some of the small towns, however, they may ask if you want sweetened or unsweetened.

I don't think the south has the market cornered on discrimination or it's share of rednecks.
There are many examples, but this one has always stood out.
In the 1985 we spent Thanksgiving with a friend and his family in a suburb of Chicago.
The next day when the Texas A&M/UT football game was on national tv live....we were sitting there watching it saying we lived just 10 minutes from the football stadium.....
Our friend's little brother, who was 12, was watching them introduce the players.....and he suddenly exclaimed "They let Ni**ers in TEXAS ?!!"

We ignored him....then he said it Again (looking clearly alarmed) and he got an ugly look from his older brother.
The little bastard was serious !!......
I wanted to snap his fucking neck.
But he wasn't worth the energy.
Hopefully, since then, he has mouthed off around the wrong person and gotten his ass kicked.

As far as anyone saying New Yorkers aren't friendly.....
In the summer of 1969, I was 16 and with my parents....we were coming back from Italy thru NY....and only had a certain length of time to get from one terminal at the airport to the other for the flight to Houston.
I was green at the gills from circling for 30 minutes before we landed.
So there was no time to rest anywhere until the flight home.
Thank God I only had water in my stomach by this time......cause I tossed my cookies right there on the sidewalk while we waited for the bus to the Delta terminal.
(daytime)
A few minutes later this woman approached us with a paper cup and said to my mom "I work in that building over there and couldn't help notice your daughter is sick. I thought you'd like to have this ice water for her..."
And she handed it to my mom, who was dumbfounded by the gesture of kindness.
She thanked her and the lady went back to her building.

I slowly got better after that......but it certainly knocked a big dent in the stereotype that NY people aren't friendly.


I know a few people who, after visiting the south for whatever reason, have told me that they found people in the south generally more friendly also.

 

[Pecker]

Where's Pecker? Ain't he from the South?

Mah, mah, earllogjam, mah friend, git a load offn' yo feet and have a seat next to me raht heah in the shade of my verandah. It's a maht hot today, ain't it? Magnolia! Magnolia, honey! How about bringin' ahr friend heah a nahs cool mint julep? Yessah, earllogjam, it shuh is a hot one, ya ask me....

 

[D_Aston Asstonne]

well...that all depends on the situation&the occasion.ive lived in the south all of my 41 years.most around savannah are very nice.as are the residents in most of the surrounding cities.BUT travel to atlanta,those folks put the a in ASSHOLE!then again,atlanta is the NEW YORK of the south.nuff said.

 

[earllogjam]

no there is no animosity, im just tired of they way people view the south. its all over the movies. the fake southern accents, the way people think racism still exists here, and just lack of respect for the south in general. despite what people think were not all backwoods with no teeth.

I like the South - short time I was there it seemed nice. Very friendly people. I love all that food too - collard greens, black eyed peas, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, hush puppies, grits, peach cobbler, fried okra, oh and sticky finger messy BBQ. You need teeth to eat that good Pushed.

About fake southern accents- can you really tell what part of the South a person comes from by his accent or if he is just a poser? It all sounds Greek to me.

 

[dong20]

Sounds ideal, and not just south of the M-D line. Speaking as a Connecticut Yankee who drinks so much tea that I fully expect the major teabag manufacturers to send wreaths to my funeral, tea should have so much sugar in it that there's no room left for the tea leaves. If you can chew it, then that's just slightly too much. I consider a shovel to be the ideal teaspoon. Humm-umm good.

I'm with aristarchus on this, sugar should come nowhere with sight of tea.

To be honest I'm not even sure I still possess any sugar, none that won't require blunt force trauma with a heavy object to re-granularise it anyway. If ever you come to tea at mine, I'll pour it straight in the bag for you and provide a straw.:smile:

Now, herbal tea with honey, another matter entirely.

 

[witchway]

I've been living here in Germany for the last 11 Years, but I still haven't lost my Southern voice! I love it, it's part of who I am. Being nice to people just come natural to ya! Wenn ya folks raze ya rite!:biggrin1:

 

[earllogjam]

Mah, mah, earllogjam, mah friend, git a load offn' yo feet and have a seat next to me raht heah in the shade of my verandah. It's a maht hot today, ain't it? Magnolia! Magnolia, honey! How about bringin' ahr friend heah a nahs cool mint julep? Yessah, earllogjam, it shuh is a hot one, ya ask me....

I think I just peed a little laughing.

Well Pecker I see you have wonderful life in the armpit of the South. Do you charm bees too?

 

[kalipygian]

Yes, but Maryland didn't secede in the Rebellion, and some Marylanders and Virginians will tell you that the South begins instead at the Byrd Line--the southern border of Virginia. Truth is, Maryland doesn't know what kind of a state it is, which in fact provides some of its charm. A bit o' Southern gentility, but sped up to a pace where you don't want to slap it with a cattle prod.



Right you are! I had the same experience the first time I was in Georgia. I clearly ordered "a cup of tea" (it was after all, breakfast) and got a tumbler of iced syrup with coloring in it. All of my explanations of what tea actually was and how it was correctly prepared were met with deer-in-the-headlights looks--the concept of starting with "tea leaves" was a big part of the problem. (Any readers of Hitchhiker's Guide will recall Arthur Dent trying to explain the same thing to an intelligent beverage machine--he got rather farther than I). I got back in the car and sped northwards.

Maryland not seceeding in the 'rebellion' might have had someting to do with Lincoln (bless his heart) placing federal artillery around Baltimore, and arresting the pro Confederate legislators, illegally and unconstitutionally without benefit of habeas corpus.

 

[bluekarma]

Hmm, that's the second time I've seen Maryland characterised as a "Northern" state. Keep in mind, ladies and gents, most of the state line between Maryland and Pennsylvania IS the Mason and Dixon line... with Maryland being on the southern side.

Oh, and prepstud (and anyone else), I personally think that sweetened tea is disgusting. This is coming from an Arkansas boy. I almost blew technicolor chunks the first time I ordered tea in a restaurant, and it came to the table sickeningly sweet.

Okay, okay...but I've always considered MD north. My mother was born and raised there, and my grandmother. They all have "yankee" accents...as in saying "yous guys", instead of "you all, or ya'll...isn't "yous guys" yankee slang?? Anyway, thanks DC..at least I won't look like an idiot at the next dinner party I attend when I blurt out "Yeah, my greandparents are northern, from MD"...haha!!

CG, this is exactly what I have experienced! Where do you think that no hurry attitude came from? I mean there are sticky hot summers everywhere in America - I don't think it's the weather. It's learned behavior but where is it coming from?

I wonder if Southerners loose all that genteel niceness when they move to New York City.

I think the "no hurry" attitude is in part because in order to get anywhere in the country, you have to allow 20-30 minutes worth of travel time. So if you want to be anywhere on time, you'd better give yourself plenty of time. This in turn means, no hurrying. Then I guess I think about things southerners do for entertainment. Growing up as a country girl, there was lots of playing in the corn fields, exploring up and down creek beds, fishing in ponds, swimming in rivers, lazing on the front porch drinking..YES..sweet tea. These sort of activities, as you can imagine, lead to a very laid back existence. This is opposed to the hustle and bustle of a city kid (based on speculation, of course). Unless someone from the city can prove me wrong, this is the theory that I'm going with...and it makes perfect sense to me :smile:

Perhaps it is the hustle and bustle that make northerners less, erm, kind. It's stressful being in the city, everyone's in a hurry, there are people everywhere pushing and shoving, yelling, cursing, gawking...trying to sell something. In the country, the most annoying thing you're dealing with is that overly-friendly neighbor who wants to chit chat at inopportune times. When I visited NYC, I loved it! But I don't think I could live there. Just walking down the street was enough to wear me out. I felt as if I couldn't relax the entire time. I had to be on guard for someone running me down, or running in to someone, watch for intersections, hold on to my purse, all the visual stimuli. In a nutshell it's just TOO MUCH. Hah, that in and of itself would put me in a bad mood...if I had to deal with it every single day. I love being able to sit on my deck at night, listen to the crickets chirp, and clear my mind...I can't imagine city folks get much of that sort of therapy in their lives.

Mah, mah, earllogjam, mah friend, git a load offn' yo feet and have a seat next to me raht heah in the shade of my verandah. It's a maht hot today, ain't it? Magnolia! Magnolia, honey! How about bringin' ahr friend heah a nahs cool mint julep? Yessah, earllogjam, it shuh is a hot one, ya ask me....

Mercy its a hot one out cheer...supposin we go up yonder and cool down in that niiice cool muddy pond out the road? Yessah, this righ cheer is tha life, ain't it dahlin? :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1:

As far as anyone saying New Yorkers aren't friendly.....
In the summer of 1969, I was 16 and with my parents....we were coming back from Italy thru NY....and only had a certain length of time to get from one terminal at the airport to the other for the flight to Houston.
I was green at the gills from circling for 30 minutes before we landed.
So there was no time to rest anywhere until the flight home.
Thank God I only had water in my stomach by this time......cause I tossed my cookies right there on the sidewalk while we waited for the bus to the Delta terminal.
(daytime)
A few minutes later this woman approached us with a paper cup and said to my mom "I work in that building over there and couldn't help notice your daughter is sick. I thought you'd like to have this ice water for her..."
And she handed it to my mom, who was dumbfounded by the gesture of kindness.
She thanked her and the lady went back to her building.

I slowly got better after that......but it certainly knocked a big dent in the stereotype that NY people aren't friendly.


I know a few people who, after visiting the south for whatever reason, have told me that they found people in the south generally more friendly also.

That is a nice story...but people as a whole were nicer in 1969, keep that in mind as well. That even rings true for the little out of the way town I live in.

 

[pushedback]

I like the South - short time I was there it seemed nice. Very friendly people. I love all that food too - collard greens, black eyed peas, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, hush puppies, grits, peach cobbler, fried okra, oh and sticky finger messy BBQ. You need teeth to eat that good Pushed.

About fake southern accents- can you really tell what part of the South a person comes from by his accent or if he is just a poser? It all sounds Greek to me.

did i mention once that i didnt have fucking teeth. and yes you can tell a fake accent when you hear it no matter what it is

 

[basque9]

Mason Dixon line don't make the South so sublime it's the sun do when it shine! Sun bring smiles and we all nice an happy like pig in slime! Sun do shine..that what make the South so fine....and we all nice an happy like pig in slime! God give the South ever what make it nice and we all God's chillun make that suffice..sun do shine...that what make the South so fine...sun do shine...that what make the South so fine...that what make the South so fine!

 

[kalipygian]

I have seldom gotten decent ice tea in any restaurant, it is usually that horrible instant stuff (liked it when I was a teenager).
In my family, sugar is added to ice tea pitcher if it is made for a meal, not if it is going in the refrigerator, it ferments a bit in a few hours. I usually brew it with sassafrass or mint, I don't buy sodas.
There is definately prejudice against southerners elsewhere in the country, when I began college here in Alaska, I had some friends that were from California, who were looking for someone to vent on, dissapproved of everything, even magnolia trees. My brother (this was in Seattle) had for a few years a band with a redneck theme, ('the Drunks of Hazzard')no one got the joke, they were not allowed to put up a confederate flag as a prop, gave up on it, and chose another theme and name.

 

[fortiesfun]

When I moved to New York I was told that the difference between Southern manners and Northern manners is that in the South they "love you first and hate you later." In the North it is just the opposite. So far, that is pretty much my experience.

 

[kalipygian]

Okay, okay...but I've always considered MD north. My mother was born and raised there, and my grandmother. They all have "yankee" accents...as in saying "yous guys", instead of "you all, or ya'll...isn't "yous guys" yankee slang?? Anyway, thanks DC..at least I won't look like an idiot at the next dinner party I attend when I blurt out "Yeah, my greandparents are northern, from MD"...haha!!



I think the "no hurry" attitude is in part because in order to get anywhere in the country, you have to allow 20-30 minutes worth of travel time. So if you want to be anywhere on time, you'd better give yourself plenty of time. This in turn means, no hurrying. Then I guess I think about things southerners do for entertainment. Growing up as a country girl, there was lots of playing in the corn fields, exploring up and down creek beds, fishing in ponds, swimming in rivers, lazing on the front porch drinking..YES..sweet tea. These sort of activities, as you can imagine, lead to a very laid back existence. This is opposed to the hustle and bustle of a city kid (based on speculation, of course). Unless someone from the city can prove me wrong, this is the theory that I'm going with...and it makes perfect sense to me :smile:

Perhaps it is the hustle and bustle that make northerners less, erm, kind. It's stressful being in the city, everyone's in a hurry, there are people everywhere pushing and shoving, yelling, cursing, gawking...trying to sell something. In the country, the most annoying thing you're dealing with is that overly-friendly neighbor who wants to chit chat at inopportune times. When I visited NYC, I loved it! But I don't think I could live there. Just walking down the street was enough to wear me out. I felt as if I couldn't relax the entire time. I had to be on guard for someone running me down, or running in to someone, watch for intersections, hold on to my purse, all the visual stimuli. In a nutshell it's just TOO MUCH. Hah, that in and of itself would put me in a bad mood...if I had to deal with it every single day. I love being able to sit on my deck at night, listen to the crickets chirp, and clear my mind...I can't imagine city folks get much of that sort of therapy in their lives.



Mercy its a hot one out cheer...supposin we go up yonder and cool down in that niiice cool muddy pond out the road? Yessah, this righ cheer is tha life, ain't it dahlin? :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1:



That is a nice story...but people as a whole were nicer in 1969, keep that in mind as well. That even rings true for the little out of the way town I live in.

The 'youse guys' way of talking is not pecular to New York City area, it is urban working class people mostly descended from late 19th and early 20thc immigrants from europe. People in Philadelphia, Chicago and even some in New Orleans sound similar.

 

[basque9]

Interesting how the sentiment lines were drawn which characterized North from South at the time of the War Between The States! Southern sentiment ran north into Pennsylvania above the Mason-Dixon Line and families in Hanover and York were split apart as their sons headed in both directions! Southern sentiment was particularly strong among those Pennsylvania Deutsch counties which had been considered Maryland territory , before the Line was drawn, when large portions of Maryland were ceded to Pennsylvania!

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Mah, mah, earllogjam, mah friend, git a load offn' yo feet and have a seat next to me raht heah in the shade of my verandah. It's a maht hot today, ain't it? Magnolia! Magnolia, honey! How about bringin' ahr friend heah a nahs cool mint julep? Yessah, earllogjam, it shuh is a hot one, ya ask me....

Charming as always, Peckuh.

 

[naughty]

Well,

As for MD being a Southern state I would say that it and Delaware are the farthest reaches of the Upper South and South Carolina and below and to the west are the lower and what is refered to as the Deep South. I have always thought of MD as a middling state geographically, but When we put on a Civil War Days in tandem with one that was going on that weekend in Gettysburg, I had a visual shock. I kept seeing reineactors swarming in dressed in Butternut and Grey to no abaiting with only one poor Union regiment represented and they were the famed colored unit the 54th Massachussetts brought to fame in "Glory". I will have you know all day my ears were filled with the strains of "Maryland, my Maryland", "Carry me Back to Old Virginny", "Dixie" and the "Bonnie Blue Flag" So as the lone contraband female in the crowd you can imagine I stuck pretty close to the 54th before I might be asked to serve! LOL! THat day my life went from being dressed as Mammy Pleasants a free woman of color who they say made 35 million in the 1850's under the table during the Gold Rush in San Franciso as a reported Madame and alleged Voodienne. Between those presentation s I changed into the much cooler costume of a female contraband complete with tignon (head wrap), Bodice skirt, petticoat and apron. Though not as hot or heavy as Madame Pleasants (12 garments) IT was mighty hot in the July heat! Prep and Pecker have both seem pics of me in costume. As usual, they were both absolutely silly! LOL!

 

[D_Aston Asstonne]

Mason Dixon line don't make the South so sublime it's the sun do when it shine! Sun bring smiles and we all nice an happy like pig in slime! Sun do shine..that what make the South so fine....and we all nice an happy like pig in slime! God give the South ever what make it nice and we all God's chillun make that suffice..sun do shine...that what make the South so fine...sun do shine...that what make the South so fine...that what make the South so fine!

to us southern bred men,the mason dixon line is simply....a place for southern people to go take a shit and for northerners to get something to eat.NOTHING MORE!

 

[naughty]

to us southern bred men,the mason dixon line is simply....a place for southern people to go take a shit and for northerners to get something to eat.NOTHING MORE!

I dont believe you just said that! Sir, If I werent a lady I would demand satisfaction! :biggrin1:

 

[B_cigarbabe]

no there is no animosity, im just tired of they way people view the south. its all over the movies. the fake southern accents, the way people think racism still exists here, and just lack of respect for the south in general. despite what people think were not all backwoods with no teeth.

You must be joking?! "The way people THINK racism still exist here"
I have lived in the south,born in Boston,raised down south and up here
and anybody who say's racism does'nt exist,must be white and oblivious.
Racism is an ugly fact of life EVERYWHERE you go. It is there,whether or not you acknowledge it, or choose to ignore it. Racism is never going to go away in my lifetime.
I don't believe that whites have experienced racism in the same way that we do. Your'e not followed around the stores when you enter,or
looked at suspiciously enough to make white women cross the street,holding on tight to their purses. Granted this is only one part of being "southern",but for me it will always be one of the things I remember fervently, and frequently.Next to having fun with my cousins, throwing rocks at the "crackers",who threw rocks at us "niggers".
I am also racist.
I don't like anyone, regardless of their race, who doesn't like me!
cigarbabe:saevilw: