| Thirteen Things that are interesting about living in the South again
After more than 20 years of living in DC, Europe, and Hawaii, I've finally moved back to the South. It's an adjustment for sure, but there are some things in the South that you just don't get anywhere else. Some I like, some I don't. 1. Grits (properly pronounced, in Alabama anyway, as gri-yuts); nobody cooks 'em like a Southerner (see My Cousin Vinny) 2. Barbecue. Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue in Decatur, Al, has something like 9 world championships. Believe me, you know it too. Awesome stuff! 3. Southern hospitality. Yep, they'll start talking to you at the gas station for no apparent reason other than just being friendly. It's sort of startling, but kind of cool really. 4. Biscuits and gravy. 5. Fried green tomatoes. Tony's Country Cooking makes the best fried green tomatoes! 6. Sweet tea. Dear Lord in heaven, this stuff will crack your teeth it's so sweet. In Hawaii, McDonald's regional specialty was spam, eggs, and rice. Here, it's sweet tea for a buck. 7. One syllable words become two syllables. Love it! (see gri-yuts above) 8. At any given time, there are about 10 bass boats you can count on the Tennessee River as you drive over the bridge (if you drove up and down the banks, you'd no doubt get a ton more). I wonder where (and if) these guys have jobs because nothing stops those boats from going out. 9. Grown men named Junior. 10. No liquor sales on Sunday (at least in Decatur; Huntsville is more progressive thank goodness). In some places, no liquor sales ever. 11. Smoking allowed in restaurants. I hate that. Huntsville, fortunately, doesn't allow it. Decatur does. (And, I should note, Europe allows smoking and doesn't even segregate the sections. At least there are sections here, even if the smoke drifts into the non-smoking area in smaller restaurants.) 12. Alabama versus Auburn. I just don't get it, but I'm sure I'll learn. And, holy cow, how the firing of Mike Shula dominated the headlines for a few days! But that's no different than living in DC and having to put up with non-stop Redskins reports. 🙂 13. Sixty-degree winter days. We've had a few cold ones, but far more tolerable ones. It isn't Hawaii, but I'm not complaining. At least I get to wear my jackets now. 🙂 Links to other Thursday Thirteens! |
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11 would drive me crazy.
I hate hate hate cigarette smoke. Here, smoking indoors is banned, and I think it should be like this everywwhere.
It’s banned in the MD/DC/VA area, and Hawaii just enacted one of the toughest non-smoking laws in the nation. I try not to go out to eat in this town much. I save it for Huntsville. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, May! Hope the writing is going good for you. 🙂
I hope the writing’s going good for you too!
Great list lol! Lessee.
We call my son Bubba. Bad huh? But it’s so common in the South, I don’t feel too bad about it lol.
The Bama/Auburn thing I just don’t get. I’m from Ga lol. But my son is allll about Auburn and football. Since my husband is Irish, I have no idea where this comes from lol!
You can’t smoke in restaurants here in Dothan.
And hospitality. Years ago the Army sent us to Vegas and since we’re legal residents here, we didn’t have to change our car tags. One day a guy chased me down in the parking lot cuz he’s from the same county lol. It was weird, but so cool to hear another Southern accent lol and to talk to someone who had time to just chat. 😉
Oooh, I love sweet tea! Happy TT!
I knew I was in the south when I heard “bus” turned into a 4 syllable word >G<.
http://ksteele2.authorsabode.com/2007/01/11/13-foods-i-cant-say-no-to/
Loribelle, that’s too cute about the guy chasing you down! I can believe it. People are so friendly here, which is nice. 🙂 And I think Bubba is cute. 🙂 He probably won’t put Bubba on his business cards when he’s 45, but I did get a business card from a Junior the other day. I thought that was so Southern.
I’m a Southerner myself, but I’ve been away so long that it’s an adjustment for sure. 🙂
I believe it, Karen! Sometimes, I find myself running over the word in my head because it didn’t make any sense. Takes me a minute to figure out it’s only supposed to be one syllable. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
May, the writing is slow, but it’s beginning to pick up again. 🙂
Lol, I don’t know. He finally told his teacher (he’s in kindergarten!) and his speach teacher a few weeks ago to please just call him Bubba! We were all impressed with this for a couple reasons. Seriously, he wants to be called Bubba lol. But also, everyone understood it lol!
I was thinking about the Junior on the card and that just cracks me up. It shouldn’t though. I mean, I’m Lori Belle. No room for laughing at anyone else there lol. I come from a long line of Belle’s actually. It’s a little scary lol. Anyway I was thinking about Junior and Bubba (and Billy Bob and Brother which is what I tend to call my brother lol) and I think it’s one of the few classless things in the South. My mom is a lawyer and 2 of the judges she deals with on a regular basis have Bubba on their nameplate. We’ve had govenors called Bubba. I walk into Walmart, call my son Bubba, and 15 people turn around from the ages of 90 to 2 lol. One day I’m gonna write a story about a Sheriff named Bubba lol.
Have fun readjusting! If there’s one thing you can say about the South, it has character. 😉
I had a good laugh at your list. It reminds me of living in Florida (18 months)…
I like Lori Belle! It’s unique. 🙂 That’s cute about your son telling them to call him Bubba. LOL, yep, it’s a Southern thing. Isn’t Bubba supposed to mean Brother? I can’t remember. In Hawaii, they call folks Auntie and Uncle (extended family, or friends). Brah for brother. Sistah for sister.
Hey, Cyn! Really, Florida is Southern like that? I always thought of FL as a hybrid… 🙂
Well.. it depends on what area you are in. We would drive to the beaches and stop at the small restaurants… and yes, we would get dirty looks because Otto had two girls. We had one group of guys tell him it wasn’t fair. LOL