NOTE: The following is a list of GROSSLY GENERALIZED thoughts. I am FROM the south. I have lived in the north for 1/5th of my life. These thoughts are from personal experiences amassed traveling the country with musical groups and college/working experience north of the mason dixon line. Don't be offended by my thoughts, they are just thoughts and things I find endearing about the south. They are not true everywhere, just as any time you generalize you are liable to upset people, I ask ahead, you do not. It is kind of embarassing to have to give a disclaimer to the politically correct, but I figure it will save some flaming in the long run.
Holding the door open for women-- A staple of the south lacking in other areas. In 2005, in Rockford, Illinois, I held the door open for a woman at a gas station. She just looked at me and said, "Why don't you just go back to the south where you belong." Definitely made me want to.
Drinking Iced Tea-- Sure, people drink tons of Iced Tea all over this great nation. Think about the south, and every type of iced tea imaginable. Sweet Tea, unsweet tea, sun tea, arnold palmers. Go to a restaurant in the south and it is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 tea choices. You are lucky to get Nestea out of the soda spicket at some restaurants in other areas.
Moonpies-- Tons of people in areas other than south have no idea what a moonpie even is. Let alone how good it is with an RC Cola out of a glass bottle.
Learning how to shake hands properly-- One of the very first "sit down" conversations I had with my father was about how to "shake hands with people at church". He told me how one of the measures of a man was how he shook hands. We worked on it for days.
Calling strangers sir and ma'am until they ask you to do so otherwise (even then not always doing it)-- Self explanatory. When I call younger women "ma'am" out of respect at places of business in Minnesota I get stares and comments like, "don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel old." In the south, the respect that comes with it is widely respected and understood.
Cornbread-- Seriously, white cornbread? Sure, you can call that cornbread all you want, but it isn't "cornbread". Cornbread is yellow and comes from a cast iron skillet or grammas favorite pan. Jiffy is not cornbread. Sugar, some cornmeal, and bleached white flour is NOT cornbread.
the term of endearment "honey/hon"-- When an older woman in the south looks at me and sticks her hand out and puts it on my shoulder and addresses me as "hun" or "honey", I know I am back to the south. It is comforting and reminds me of small towns where all of the mothers watched out for all of us kids.
The ability to fix and keep your things in working order-- When I tell people I do my own car repairs, oil changes, home repairs, etc in the north, most are surprised. It is a lot easier to throw it away and start new, or pay someone an arm and a leg to do it. When I talk about fixing my car and working on home repairs to southerners, they give me advice.
Glass coke bottles with peanuts-- Maybe a very specific regional thing, but when I was a little kid the old timers would sit on chairs in front of the gas station/country store, listening to baseball on the radio, drinking coke out of glass bottles that they had poured a packet of peanuts in. Sip, sip, crunch, crunch, and just rambling about whatever was on their minds.
