On Thu, 1 Aug 1996 donmathis@lucent.com wrote:
> At 06:48 PM 7/31/96 -0700, David Deutsch wrote:
> >Someone recently said something about my being rude upon meeting me in
> >Bowie at the Original British Car Day. The gentleman was from N.
> >Carolina. I think it was because when he asked "Is this your car?" I
> >said "Yes, you gotta problem with that?" which I think can be
> >translated to in N. Carolinaees as " Why yes kind sir,it is.Is there
> >any thing further you'd like to know about it?"
>
>
> David,
>
> Occasionally, Northerners might be thought of as somewhat rude here in the
> South. Historically, this comes from The War of Northern Aggression when
> Sherman came down here and built really big bonfires. Here in the South you
> just don't build a big fire unless you put a pig over it and he didn't!
> This is considered really, really tacky. I'm sure you're not rude.
I live about as far north as you can get and still be in the US. And, I
will admit (only to establish my credentials as a northerner) that my
great-grandfather marched through Georgia with Sherman (sorry, Don). If I
asked someone at a car show, "Is this your car?" and he answered by
saying "Yes, you got a problem with that?" I would certainly consider him
to be rude. So one should not generalize from New Yorkers to all
northerners (my great-grandfather excepted; he was doubtless rude to
southerners and roasted their pigs).
It is fine with Vermonters if New Yorkers are rude and difficult, as long
as they never leave home. Once they venture out, they should try to
accomodate to local customs and be reasonably civil.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
|