At a recent party, the subject came up of Southern gregariousness. Here's an example: You are in a room full of people and you start asking questions of someone you don't know. Such as: "Where are you from?" A Southern translation: "Who are your people?" (Full disclosure: I am affected by this. I'm naturally curious about folks. That is either my DNA inherited by two outgoing parents or geographic. Or both. As Fox News says, You decide.)
The couple who prompted this party conversation recently took their daughter to college in New York. The state, not the city. This teen is VERY outgoing. And a new friend of the teen, who is not from the South, said some Northerners take Southern friendliness as aggression. An example: If you are in a major city north of the Mason-Dixon Line, it's advised you don't make eye contact with people, much less engage them in conversation.
This is all such a complete puzzle to me. Can you, Internet, explain?
I'd be "much obliged," which is another Southernism.
2 comments:
I don't know about "agression", but Northerners don't take too kindly to the easy way Southerners start and continue conversations. I'm not an extrovert by any means, but up here I'm considered such just by being friendly. Having recently moved from Columbus to the North I can say from experience that people here are very tight-lipped and come across down right rude after spending time in the South. There's a friendliness that is lacking up here. Basic manners are overlooked like saying thank you, saying hello, holding a door, calling grown-ups by their first names, etc. The only thing I can do is hopefully instill manners into my children and send them down South for long visits.
Good suggestions. ... Why do you think that friendliness gets misinterpreted? Is there more of a feeling of privacy where you are? A friend of mine, who's not from the South, once made that distinction when he said, I'm not shy; I'm private. And in a recent show here, Garrison Keillor had this funny skit where these next-door neighbors (in Lake Wobegon, Minn.) finally met and one guy said he was moving and the other guy said, Where? And the first guy said, Hospice. Down here, not only would most neighbors know that but would arrange transportation, etc.
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