"southern hospitality" myth or no?

Until expansion, if there was an SEC team in that state it was "The South". :laugh:

Technically, below the Mason-Dixon Line is "the south, meaning Virginia and Maryland are included. Culturally, though, they are no longer "southern" except maybe parts of Virginia.

By my definition, culturally speaking, "Down South"..."The South" is AL, LA, MS, GA, Northern FL, AR, TN, SC, NC.

I would agree with this list.

I'm sure this isn't true for all of the south, but I don't really fit in with southern girls. They're so put together all the time, and it's what they've been taught from their mothers. Never leave the house without makeup, make sure your hair is nice, ect. Which I never do and subsequently I feel judged. Which is probably all me and not them.

<-- I'm not the typical southerner I suppose. Born and raised in Biloxi, MS. I leave the house without makeup fairly often (like... every day? LOL) I don't make it a habit of brushing my hair (in fact, the "before" pictures are the only pictures where I actually did more than ran my fingers through my hair and pinned it back out of my face... LOL). I have no accent. I don't use the word "ya'll" or "ain't" and I call soft drinks "soda" rather than calling everything "coke". However, when we moved to Kentucky (which btw is NOT the south.... it is a southern state, but I don't consider this the south... no offense to Kentuckians... I do like it here! LOL), I was made fun of by some people for my children saying "yes ma'am/no ma'am" and "yes sir/no sir" to everyone and also calling people "Mr." and "Ms." rather than just blurting out their first names as if they were their friends (My children call my friends Ms. Chrissy or Mr. Noah... not Chrissy and Noah).

Now, I will say my mom hates that I don't wear make up and my brother likes that I don't wear it. He says I'm naturally beautiful and don't need it while my mom just says "Marie doesn't care how she looks". Actually, I DO care how I look, I just don't feel like I have to be done up all the time to be presentable.

I am generally polite, but if I don't like someone, I don't talk to them. If I see them in public, I will smile, but I will not stop to hold a conversation and I kind of let it be known I don't intend to either.

Looks like some Texans need geography lessons too. The South or Down South is the Southeast. Look it up. Down South existed before Texas was a state. And the War is over comment was a joke, but seriously I never heard Damn Yankees anywhere other than Texas. Hell, you say a pledge of allegiance to the state flag of Texas.

A great portion of Texas falls in the Southwest geographically, though there is debate about the Eastern portion of the state. I think its safe to say Texas is just Texas, neither South nor West.

Again, the labels of region are highly fluid... and I don't even know the pledge to the Texas flag... I don't know anyone that does, nor do I know any teacher that has their kids say it. And no, we fall into the South Central area of the country (unless you divide the continental United States up into quadrants then it would also include California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma and Colorado)... cultural geographically speaking (which is what we are talking about.. the cultural geography of the South.. not the literal map based geography of the South)... trust me, I have my degree in Geography... But again, historically Texas is considered the South because it fought with the Confederacy in the Civil war...

Oh and by the way the US Census Bureau defines Texas as the South.

Try this story:
My Dad was a Methodist minister, so when we went on a family vacation, we'd always stop somewhere on Sunday morning to attend worship services. The denomination didn't matter much, just whichever 'brand' was nearby at church time.
In Oxford, Mississippi, we went to the Methodist Church. We sat down, and a gentleman introduced himself, Clyde Call-thop, with a heavy southern accent. (Later found out his surname was Colthorpe.)
He and his wife insisted that we visit their home after church for Sunday dinner. (That means lunch to y'all yankees.)
We went.
Fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, mashed taters, blackeyed peas, iced tea, and pecan pie for dessert -- all home made.
Never seen us before, but we were invited into their home to eat!
Now, THAT'S southern hospitality.

I work at a call center too. I would say you are dead-on. Folks in the NE are too impatient and loud and they are always the ones that think everyone but them is an idiot.

My experience from a call center perspective is that people everywhere can be really, really rude, especially if it involves money. I've had a couple people who clearly don't understand how credit cards work tell me that I "clearly" didn't know what I was talking about.

When in reality they were just too stupid to know that pending charges are not processed charges.

But this happens with people from all over; I think the rudest, most entitled person I spoke to was an English woman calling from Vancouver, BC (where I once lived and found everyone I interacted with to be exceptionally polite) who wasn't smart enough to get her device working and then exclaimed "I want a -neeewww- one!" (With "new" being emphasized and in that high-pitched, spoiled brat tone.)

Southern women have been quite rude to me, and many a New Yorker has been ridiculously, exceptionally rude—but some have been really nice and great conversation, too.

Every time I've been in the south I've not met anyone who was nicer than anywhere else ...

Try this story:
My Dad was a Methodist minister, so when we went on a family vacation, we'd always stop somewhere on Sunday morning to attend worship services. The denomination didn't matter much, just whichever 'brand' was nearby at church time.
In Oxford, Mississippi, we went to the Methodist Church. We sat down, and a gentleman introduced himself, Clyde Call-thop, with a heavy southern accent. (Later found out his surname was Colthorpe.)
He and his wife insisted that we visit their home after church for Sunday dinner. (That means lunch to y'all yankees.)
We went.
Fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, mashed taters, blackeyed peas, iced tea, and pecan pie for dessert -- all home made.
Never seen us before, but we were invited into their home to eat!
Now, THAT'S southern hospitality.

That's awesome, and true Christian hospitality.

I work at a call center too. I would say you are dead-on. Folks in the NE are too impatient and loud and they are always the ones that think everyone but them is an idiot.

My experience from a call center perspective is that people everywhere can be really, really rude, especially if it involves money. I've had a couple people who clearly don't understand how credit cards work tell me that I "clearly" didn't know what I was talking about.

When in reality they were just too stupid to know that pending charges are not processed charges.

But this happens with people from all over; I think the rudest, most entitled person I spoke to was an English woman calling from Vancouver, BC (where I once lived and found everyone I interacted with to be exceptionally polite) who wasn't smart enough to get her device working and then exclaimed "I want a -neeewww- one!" (With "new" being emphasized and in that high-pitched, spoiled brat tone.)

Southern women have been quite rude to me, and many a New Yorker has been ridiculously, exceptionally rude—but some have been really nice and great conversation, too.

Every time I've been in the south I've not met anyone who was nicer than anywhere else ...

Are you sure you don't work for the same company as me?

Yes, people can be rude from anywhere, but it seems like people from the NE area are rude when they are simply asking for a branch office phone number or something as simple as that. They don't even have to be mad necessarily.

But yeah, when it comes to money, they are all *kitten* and idiots. :laugh:

NO ONE ever reads the cardholder agreement! EVER! :grumble:

Why do people insist on calling Texas the South, Southwest yes, Down South no.

Southern Hospitality is about making you feel welcome and yes I do think Southerners welcome strangers. I have seen my family in South Carolina do it, while my family in NY always looks at outsiders with a degree of skepticism. But I'm right there with them. I'm not going to act like I'm your best friend if I don't know you. Not to say that some Southerners aren't genuine, I like the what you see is what you get approach.

We are actually more "South Central" as we aren't in the West either... But I do believe it has something to do with us siding with the Confederates in the Civil War.

And you beat me to it.

Actually Texans are considered both Southeastern and Southwestern...just because we can be!

Texas is quite large. Texas has been called the South, the Midwest, the Southwest, the Southeast. The only thing it's definately not is the North.

I think it depends. Where I am in North Texas is not "southern" I consider this more Midwest (I am near the Oklahoma border).
When I go to South Texas or even East Texas that feels 'South' to me. I think that is where the debate comes in because of the sheer size of Texas. Then you get to places like El Paso and it is feels more "west" than South.

I'm born and raised in Alabama. Never lived anywhere else. Yes there's nice people everywhere. "Southern Hospitality" doesn't mean everyone in the South (Southeastern U.S.) is nice. There's azzholes everywhere. But we are culturally different about manners, treating women like ladies, chivalry, etc. I think it's a good thing.

Totally agree!

Try this story:
My Dad was a Methodist minister, so when we went on a family vacation, we'd always stop somewhere on Sunday morning to attend worship services. The denomination didn't matter much, just whichever 'brand' was nearby at church time.
In Oxford, Mississippi, we went to the Methodist Church. We sat down, and a gentleman introduced himself, Clyde Call-thop, with a heavy southern accent. (Later found out his surname was Colthorpe.)
He and his wife insisted that we visit their home after church for Sunday dinner. (That means lunch to y'all yankees.)
We went.
Fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, mashed taters, blackeyed peas, iced tea, and pecan pie for dessert -- all home made.
Never seen us before, but we were invited into their home to eat!
Now, THAT'S southern hospitality.

Love this!