Why the South?

[Miss 1929]

Judith Martin said in Star Spangled Manners, I think it was, that southern manners came from Africa, not England.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Lamplight]

I know a woman who went to college in Tennessee, and her take on the whole southern thing is that they'll be syrupy sweet to your face while they stab you in the back.

This is fairly accurate, though I think the whole Southern friendliness thing is greatly exaggerated at times. Almost everyone I know talks about everyone else behind their backs almost constantly. And they very rarely say good things!

...and even slower driving...

The problem with Southerners is that we either drive waaaay too fast or waaaay too slow, and you'll have both of those drivers on the road at the same time, which is a recipe for disaster. Last time I was in NYC or Washington D.C., the drivers were insanely fast, but at least they were all insanely fast. lol


I've lived in Middle Tennessee my entire life, and from my personal experience it sounds like many of you are describing the Old South, not the current South. I encounter just as many rude people as friendly, and most people here seem to be in a terrible hurry much of the time. No patience at all! Almost always, the nicest folks I meet in day to day life tend to have Northern accents. You won't find graceful old Southern aristocrats lounging on the front porch on Sunday afternoon wearing seersuckers and lightly fanning themselves with the church bulletin. Instead you'll find Bubba wearing a UT Tshirt with the sleeves torn off circling an endless parking lot in his lifted F350, looking for the parking spot closest to the front door of Lowes.

To sum up, the truly nice people here are wonderful, but we have just as many jerks as anywhere else, unfortunately.

 

[guellimus]

I've lived in Middle Tennessee my entire life, and from my personal experience it sounds like many of you are describing the Old South, not the current South. I encounter just as many rude people as friendly, and most people here seem to be in a terrible hurry much of the time. No patience at all! Almost always, the nicest folks I meet in day to day life tend to have Northern accents. You won't find graceful old Southern aristocrats lounging on the front porch on Sunday afternoon wearing seersuckers and lightly fanning themselves with the church bulletin. Instead you'll find Bubba wearing a UT Tshirt with the sleeves torn off circling an endless parking lot in his lifted F350, looking for the parking spot closest to the front door of Lowes.

To sum up, the truly nice people here are wonderful, but we have just as many jerks as anywhere else, unfortunately.

I'm inclined to agree with Lamplight. I was born and raised in Nashville, just like my father, his father, his father, etc (set me down with a bottle of scotch and you'll hear my whole family story back to 1634). The South has equally as many jerks as the North or any other place. However, I spent the summer up in NYC, and I noticed some fundamental differences in the culture of the two places.

While people were generally pretty friendly and helpful when approached, it was much more difficult to approach your average person there than it is back in Nashville, or here in Greenville.

Furthermore, I've found that that the cultures are especially different in terms of relationships between men and women.

I was the only Southerner in my department where I interned this summer, and every girl that worked there was amazed at the fact that I held doors for folks, or offered to help others. I helped an elderly lady carry her groceries through the turnstyle in a subway station and I was immediately approached by someone and asked if I was single.

I was also amazed that one girl in my office, though she'd had several boyfriends, had never been on an honest-to-goodness date. I guess it's just a big cultural difference in the way people from up North and people from down South were raised, but it definitely made me feel like a fish out of water.

... that and the fact that nobody up there but me wore a bowtie and seersucker on a regular basis.

 

[jwalls]

guellimus

You are right about jerks being everywhere. However I think social pressures in the south make them much more obvious in most situations. Since leaving the south sometime ago, I find that most people in other parts of the country just don't know they are crude and obnocious. Folks in the south are at least aware they have no manners. I'd enjoy sharing that bottle of scotch with you and exchanging stories about family. When I tell people that my family arrived in Georgia before it was a colony they look like I said I was from Mars.

 

[guellimus]

I'd enjoy sharing that bottle of scotch with you and exchanging stories about family. When I tell people that my family arrived in Georgia before it was a colony they look like I said I was from Mars.

Sharing family stories always makes for a good time.

 

[Mid-fogey]

THAT'S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE SOUTH
(Andy Razaf)

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys - 1942
Phil Harris - 1947

Also recorded by: Nolan Bruce Allen; Buddy Blue;
Cliff Bruner; Moon Mullican; Red Stick Ramblers;
Rollin' In The Hay.


Won't you come with me to Alabamy
Let's go see my dear old Mammy
She's fryin' eggs and boiling hammy
That's what I like about the South

Now there you can make no mistakey
Where those nerves are never shaky
Ought to taste her layer cakey
That's what I like about the South

She's got baked ribs and candied yams
Those sugar-cured Virginia hams
Basement full of those berry jams
An' that's what I like about the South

Hot corn bread, black-eyed peas
You can eat as much as you please
'Cause it's never out of season
That's what I like about the South

Aahhh, don't take one, have two
There's dark brown and chocolate too
Suits me, they must suit you
'Cause that's what I like about the South

Well it's way, way down where the cane grows tall
Down where they say "Y'all"
Walk on in with that Southern drawl
'Cause that's what I like about the South

Down where they have those pretty queens
Keep a-dreamin' those dreamy dreams
Well let's sip that absinthe in New Orleans
That's what I like about the South

Here come old Bob with all the news
Got the boxback coat with button shoes
But he's all caught up with his union dues
An' that's what I like about the South

Here come old Roy down the street
Ho, can't you hear those tappin' feet
He would rather sleep than eat
An' that's what I like about the South

Now every time I pass your door
You act like you don't want me no more
Why don't you shake that head and sigh
And I'll go walkin' by

On, on, on and on and on
Honey, when you tell me that you love me
Then how come you close your eyes

Did I tell you 'bout the place called Doo-wah-diddy
It ain't no town and it ain't no city
It's just awful small, but awful pretty
That's Doo-wah-diddy

Well I didn't come here to criticise
I'm not here to sympathise
But don't tell me those no-good lies
That a lyin' gal like you can devise

You love me like I love you
Send me fifty P-D-Q
Roses are red and violets are pink
If I don't get all fifty, I don't show

She's got backbones and turnip greens
Ham hocks and butter beans
You, me and New Orleans
An' that's what I like about the South

 

[Foofoogal]

Ham hocks and butter beans

oh yeah. one of my fav eating. I can cook a mean pot of butter beans.

 

[Lenore]

oh yeah. one of my fav eating. I can cook a mean pot of butter beans.

mmmmm butter beans.....*drool*

 

[jwalls]

Southern Food

Hot home cooked biscuits and red eye gravy. Mother could cook them in her sleep better than any chef living or dead.

 

[Foofoogal]

cooked biscuits and red eye gravy.

the only thing my dad liked better than above was cornbread in milk. Now you are talking southern darlin...lol

 

[jwalls]

Dad loved cornbread and buttermilk with green onions. I just never could do buttermilk.

 

[Foofoogal]

lol lol it is an acquired taste. he loved sardines also and me never ever ever.

 

[Lamplight]

Dad loved cornbread and buttermilk with green onions. I just never could do buttermilk.

Yeah, I cannot stomach buttermilk either, but my dad loves it. However, I do love cornbread...as long as it's not too sweet. It's hard to beat fresh, hot cornbread with lots of butter...

 

[jwalls]

Dad would have filed for divorce if mother had put sugar in her cornbread.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Sorry...

...didn't mean to hijack the thread with southern cooking.

I guess I'd agree with the general notion that the persistently rural and warm nature of the South is responsible for a certain level of friendliness. But there really isn't one South, there are several.

If you are want an interesting analysis of why parts of the South are the way they are, get a copy of Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer.

I'd say that Judith Martin's take is not substantiated by fact.

BTW go on You Tube and listen to That's What I Like About the South. It's a hoot.

 

[Foofoogal]

fftopic: http://pewsocialtrends.org/maps/migration/

I ran across this today. Seems quite a few folks are heading South. Chart is a few years old I guess so may of changed.
I know about half of California seems to be moving to Arkansas where I am at.

 

[GallatinHatMan]

Cornbread with a dab of molasses. Now that's good eatin'.

 

[zombi]

I think there's also still a pretty big difference between larger cities in the southern USA and small towns. The small town where I grew up is TOTALLY different than, say, Dallas. They're only about three hours apart by car, but they are worlds apart otherwise. [huh]

 

[Alexi]

Just wanted to add that early on much of the south was settled by upper class Royalists and the the North was settled by well "anti-establishment merchant class religious types". Don't call us puritans, for we don't want to purify the church, but tear it down to the ground and build anew.

 

[guellimus]

the only thing my dad liked better than above was cornbread in milk. Now you are talking southern darlin...lol

My dad got me hooked on cornbread and buttermilk when I was about three years old. I ask for a side of buttermilk whenever my friends and I go to a place that'll serve cornbread; they think I'm crazy.

I'm also quite a fan of pinto beans and chow chow.