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Y'all keep telling yourselves that and patting each other on your backs. I think it is funny how it is those with "Southern Hospitality" are the ones knocking how "rude and obnoxious" Northerners are and how they would NEVER live anywhere in the North.
I've lived all over the Country and the ONLY place I have encountered totally uncalled for rudeness is the South. Total strangers making rude, condescending comments as soon as they heard my accent. I didn't find that level of stupidity anywhere else except for Texas. So keep patting yourselves on your collective backs and please do stay in the South, we don't need that rude behavior up here.
Go ahead and rip into me and my first hand experiences, tell me I was the one who brought it on myself. I went to Texas as a kid and was excited to be moving there. I really, really wanted to be there and live there for good... until I met the rudeness. Never in my life had I seen anything like it in my life. Rude and nasty to someone just because of where they were born. I have family that fought in the Confederacy during the Civil War, My relatives are scattered throughout the South, both living and generations of dead. So the short answer to the question is: YES some people are extremely fake-friendly in the South and you will probably see more of it there than anywhere else in the Country.
That rant over though, I also met some incredible people down there and still keep in touch with them and their families. There are places I absolutely love down there, even in Texas (where the bad experiences out number the good for me personally). Some of the most loyal friends I have are through-and-through southerners and would rather have their eyes gouged out than move North. I have no problem with that because I would rather have my eyes gouged out than live in the South again. As long as they are decent, good people; that is what counts in the long run, not where you were born or where you live. Don't sugar coat it though, the South is NOT as friendly and warm as its people try to make out; and it sure is NOT friendlier than the North.
When I lived up North, I saw people from the south, namely Texas, get ripped for their style and accents. So I don't think rudeness and stupidity is exclusive to Texas. Neither does it negate that there is southern hospitality down here. Stupidity is everywhere. People period just need to learn to deal with diversity, plain and simple.
Curious to know what part of Texas had you moved to, at that time?
Every time I go to a Southern State I am impressed with how friendly most of the people are. When I go back home and tell people about it, the common statement is that the friendliness down South is not real. I am told the friendliness is actually a form of passive aggressive behavior and instead the people really do not like me but were told by their parents to act polite and friendly to everyone. In reality, they are talking nasty about me behind my back as soon as I leave.
Can this be true? Is southern hospitality a fake?
having lived in south carolina now some 9 years it's a little of both IMO. I've met folks who are very real and some who are doing it simply out of expectation and tradition. in my experience the southern hospitality thing comes from folks being more social than their northern counterparts, not necessarily more polite. my own mother, a home grown midwesterner was known and still is for being polite and putting on a smile even in the company of someone she disliked. I've witnessed the same behavior from many of the home grown southern women i work with. they will smile and greet you and as soon as you walk away the guns unload gossip wise. southern gas station attendants are never short on pointless convo and will speak with you well after having completed the sale about god knows what. northern gas station attendant not so much.
word to the wise. if you move to a small southern town and want to get to know the community befriend a woman in her 50s who is probably married to one of the local southern baptist preachers (so far in my experience 1 out of 5 adult men in a small southern town is a preacher of some kind). you will end up knowing more about the people in the community you now live in then they even know about themselves.
When I lived up North, I saw people from the south, namely Texas, get ripped for their style and accents. So I don't think rudeness and stupidity is exclusive to Texas. Neither does it negate that there is southern hospitality down here. Stupidity is everywhere. People period just need to learn to deal with diversity, plain and simple.
Curious to know what part of Texas had you moved to, at that time?
Just to the Southeast of Dallas. I have traveled all over the State though and ran into the same attitude in just about every corner of the State I was in. Major exception was Abilene for some reason that still remains a mystery to me. I will concede it was MUCH better in subsequent visits throughout the passing years all over the State, with the Abilene area still a stand-out.
I've lived all over the Country and the ONLY place I have encountered totally uncalled for rudeness is the South. Total strangers making rude, condescending comments as soon as they heard my accent. I didn't find that level of stupidity anywhere else except for Texas. So keep patting yourselves on your collective backs and please do stay in the South, we don't need that rude behavior up here.
That's odd. Most of the southerners I've known would never make a rude comment about your accent to your face. They'd wait until you were out of ear-shot.
That's odd. Most of the southerners I've known would never make a rude comment about your accent to your face. They'd wait until you were out of ear-shot.
It is easy for an adult (like a teacher, Principal, School Supervisor, Minister, Store Owner, etc...)to tell a 14-15 year old kid that he needs to "Haul his G-D yankee ass back North where he belongs and not come back!" I heard that over and over the entire time I lived there. Being a skinny teenager and the ones spewing their hatred being authority figures, you don't have much recourse, and they don't have any compulsion to wait until you are out of earshot.
As a Notherner, I agree. The few Texans I've know were saavy and quick and still hospitable and gracious. I loved Texas the first time that my feet hit the ground in the airport. Really. All that sky expands the soul and at the same time makes you feel that you are a very small part of a really big world.
Thank you!
On your post where southerners invited you to their homes, I can relate to that.
A couple of years ago, my husband and I were traveling through the Hill Country and we stopped at a local watering hole in a small town. We struck up a conversation with a fun couple sitting next to us. Turns out they were having a big party at their ranch the following weekend, and they invited us - I mean, got our email address, sent us directions, the whole nine yards. We didn't go but we probably would have if we'd been in town that weekend.
Come to think of it, that happens fairly regularly around here.
I guess most Texans figure that everyone's "packing" so if things get out of hand, someone's likely to get shot. And we wouldn't want that now, would we?
Y'all keep telling yourselves that and patting each other on your backs. I think it is funny how it is those with "Southern Hospitality" are the ones knocking how "rude and obnoxious" Northerners are and how they would NEVER live anywhere in the North.
I've lived all over the Country and the ONLY place I have encountered totally uncalled for rudeness is the South. Total strangers making rude, condescending comments as soon as they heard my accent. I didn't find that level of stupidity anywhere else except for Texas. So keep patting yourselves on your collective backs and please do stay in the South, we don't need that rude behavior up here.
Go ahead and rip into me and my first hand experiences, tell me I was the one who brought it on myself. I went to Texas as a kid and was excited to be moving there. I really, really wanted to be there and live there for good... until I met the rudeness. Never in my life had I seen anything like it in my life. Rude and nasty to someone just because of where they were born. I have family that fought in the Confederacy during the Civil War, My relatives are scattered throughout the South, both living and generations of dead. So the short answer to the question is: YES some people are extremely fake-friendly in the South and you will probably see more of it there than anywhere else in the Country.
That rant over though, I also met some incredible people down there and still keep in touch with them and their families. There are places I absolutely love down there, even in Texas (where the bad experiences out number the good for me personally). Some of the most loyal friends I have are through-and-through southerners and would rather have their eyes gouged out than move North. I have no problem with that because I would rather have my eyes gouged out than live in the South again. As long as they are decent, good people; that is what counts in the long run, not where you were born or where you live. Don't sugar coat it though, the South is NOT as friendly and warm as its people try to make out; and it sure is NOT friendlier than the North.
Oh good grief, for every personal anecdote you can hurl about the South, I can hurl one back atcha about the North.
Like others have said, it's not that southerners can't be RUDE at times - it's that people in the North are GENERALLY not as friendly as those in the South. Good and bad people are everywhere, but southerners do TEND to be, IN GENERAL, more friendly. At least that's been my personal experience. (Did we just "cancel each other out?" LOL)
In general, Southerners are more gregarious. That means they'll speak more openly with strangers. That means that they are more likely to ask someone about their accent, or to JOKE about "yankees." Maybe it's a bit unsettling, but it's not usually done in a mean spirited manner.
It is easy for an adult (like a teacher, Principal, School Supervisor, Minister, Store Owner, etc...)to tell a 14-15 year old kid that he needs to "Haul his G-D yankee ass back North where he belongs and not come back!" I heard that over and over the entire time I lived there. Being a skinny teenager and the ones spewing their hatred being authority figures, you don't have much recourse, and they don't have any compulsion to wait until you are out of earshot.
Do you honestly expect us to believe that you were subjected to this sort of verbal abuse on a regular basis? By teachers, school administrators, store owners and ministers? Damn, boy, what sort of hellraiser were you as a teen?
Do you honestly expect us to believe that you were subjected to this sort of verbal abuse on a regular basis? By teachers, school administrators, store owners and ministers? Damn, boy, what sort of hellraiser were you as a teen?
I don't give a rats ass if you personally don't believe me or not. Thank you for providing a perfect example of how rude and ignorant Texans can and WILL be.
I was quiet, shy and very respectful, like I had been taught, unlike those around me when I got to the Dallas area.
I don't give a rats ass if you personally don't believe me or not. Thank you for providing a perfect example of how rude and ignorant Texans can and WILL be.
I was quiet, shy and very respectful, like I had been taught, unlike those around me when I got to the Dallas area.
No, thank YOU for showcasing how easily offended you are! Wow, you've really got a chip on your shoulder there, buddy.
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They'd wait until you were out of ear-shot.
