Southern Customs

[procris]

When we were on our tour of the county on Saturday we jaunted across the river for lunch. As we were entering the restraunt, I was kind of surprised when the county historian practically jumped to hold the door open. He later took me aside and mentioned that he noticed that I sometimes let him or other guys go ahead of me into buildings. He

Comments

[preservationgal]

lol! He doesn't want to be thought a cad just because you're a feminist. That's a riot!

[nviiibrown]

Meg, you spent eighteen years of your life below the Mason-Dixon. The only thing that's changed is that you're old now, deferring to elders has lost its weight.

[procris]

I don't think home was ever as rule-bound as this. This is Deep South, full ceremonial culture. We went to our guide's house for dinner the night of the tour, and he offered us after-dinner cordials. Home-made cherry cordials. And he had the proper glassware to do it.

This town is an entire cultural experience.

[coffeewurm]

It still hasn't quite sunk in that they don't do that everywhere. I used to be more obsessive about it (though not quite like the aforementioned fellow), but started to ease back when I realized it made people uncomfortable.

Although I guess it was never purely about gender...

[pboyd04]

You've been hanging out with me for how long now? And you still find this behavior odd?

[procris]

It's one thing when one guy tries to do it. It's a different feeling entirely when three of them do it at once.