Please explain Southern-style communication to a clueless Yankee

[Anonymous]

Is anyone watching The Bachelorette? It's Southern gal Emily Maynard. She's commented a few times to some of the guy contestant in similar ways as ya'll (hehe) are mentioning, including:

"Ahh, bless your heart"
"You're just the sweetest thing!" ... some seem sincere, though

[Anonymous]

... (Sorry, "contestants")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think one of my favorite long-standing southernisms that I employ often, is when I hate/am annoyed by/want to ignore something, I refer to it as "nice."

"She's really nice."
"Isn't that so nice!"
"What a nice new house!"
"Thanks for having us for lunch. It was so nice."

But what would you say if your really did like the lunch, house etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think one of my favorite long-standing southernisms that I employ often, is when I hate/am annoyed by/want to ignore something, I refer to it as "nice."

"She's really nice."
"Isn't that so nice!"
"What a nice new house!"
"Thanks for having us for lunch. It was so nice."

But what would you say if your really did like the lunch, house etc.?

I'd be saying similar things, but my body tone, body language, the tone and repetition in which I am saying it would be more natural, less wooden and less repetitive, more spontaneous-sounding. I would be mixing up the word choices more, soudning more natual and not forced, not just repeating the same frozen 1-2 adjectives over and over.

[Anonymous]

Here's something that's an anathema to southerners asking for help when you are perfectly able bodied. For example, neighbor of mine, mid-westerner, just sent on the neighborhood listserv that since her friends with older children had just moved away, she needs to find some suppliers of hand me down clothing.

Bless her heart, isn't she just so bold to put that out there? And so eco-conscious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's something that's an anathema to southerners asking for help when you are perfectly able bodied. For example, neighbor of mine, mid-westerner, just sent on the neighborhood listserv that since her friends with older children had just moved away, she needs to find some suppliers of hand me down clothing.

Bless her heart, isn't she just so bold to put that out there? And so eco-conscious!

True. Maybe this is why we're usually so eager to help- because by the time some hard-ass Southerner gets around to asking for help, you figure they're in pretty dire straits.

And does it even need to be said- if you are the one who receives the help, you better be sending a Thank You card out ASAP!

[Anonymous]

Haha, 12:52. Yes.

[Anonymous]

Life is to short to be friends with people who are intentionally miscommunicating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's something that's an anathema to southerners asking for help when you are perfectly able bodied. For example, neighbor of mine, mid-westerner, just sent on the neighborhood listserv that since her friends with older children had just moved away, she needs to find some suppliers of hand me down clothing.

Bless her heart, isn't she just so bold to put that out there? And so eco-conscious!

Is this why America doesn't have nice things, like a social safety net? (Forgive me. I'm foreign. But I just had a big "click" moment.)

[Anonymous]

I never understand why mid-atlantic folk think they are Southern.....

[Anonymous]

Georgia boy here.

Most southern people (excluding the yourger generations) were taught manners.
When we want to cuss we say shit or fuck just like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand why mid-atlantic folk think they are Southern.....

See, that's what I am saying! The north won't claim us either. The fact is that we're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. In fact, many of us have ancestors who migrated here from both directions. I am a product of Virginia stock. Is Virginia (not NoVa) not Southern?

[Anonymous]

I guess I am a Southerner?? Texan here, and when referring to the geographic area, I prefer to say Texan vs South or Southerner, etc.

Anyways, I don't hear much of 'bless your heat' - maybe not the right crowd? But I do say 'how nice' or 'that's great' when someone is 'bragging' or I don't know what else to say.

And I do agree on the saying hi to strangers, holding doors open, respect to elders, etc which I see commonly, but then again, this is also common in my Asian family as well, so maybe it's not such a Southern only stereotype

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I am a Southerner?? Texan here, and when referring to the geographic area, I prefer to say Texan vs South or Southerner, etc.

Anyways, I don't hear much of 'bless your heat' - maybe not the right crowd? But I do say 'how nice' or 'that's great' when someone is 'bragging' or I don't know what else to say.

As one born in North Carolina, raised in Virginia, by parents that were the first in their families to move out of Northern Pennsylvania since their great-grandparents immigrated to the US, I say Texas is a different kind of Southern and should/deserves their own label as "Texan"

My mother always says, "I didn't realize raising children in the south would mean I would have Southerners."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never understand why mid-atlantic folk think they are Southern.....

See, that's what I am saying! The north won't claim us either. The fact is that we're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. In fact, many of us have ancestors who migrated here from both directions. I am a product of Virginia stock. Is Virginia (not NoVa) not Southern?

Good lord. You mean everyone in the Mid-Atlantic is an Osmond? That could explain a lot.