Manners

The south has been at the bottom of all lists in years past. Income, jobs, literacy rates, infant mortality, obesity and countless other lists. Looking in from outside there were those who felt the south was a foreign land to be avoided at all costs. But something has changed and a lot of people are finding out that if they can withstand the heat and humidity of July and August, the rest of the year the weather is quite agreeable. We play a pretty good game of college football and we'll Bar-B-Que anything that ever walked on four feet. There is still a lot of land and as Alan Jackson sings his hit "Gone Country", we're not as backwards as we used to be.
So this is for the folks who do move south. Even though we talk slow, that doesn't mean we are slow witted. The quickest way to get on the bad side of a southerner is to talk down to us, or tell us how good it was back where you come from. Most folks here would suggest that if it was better where you came from, why didn't you stay? You still hear yes sir and no sir quite often. We don't call our soft drinks pop or soda - we call them CoCola's as God intended.
Even today when I'm driving and a funeral procession approaches, I pull my car to the side of the road and stop while the cars pass. Having been in those processions often, I am humbled by this tradition which is observed by those young and old throughout the south. If you are from the south and you don't do this, shame on you - if I catch you not stopping, I'll tell your mama.
After I started writing about this, I realized that I there are about a million other small courtesies that we do here. So I reserve the right to continue this line of thought in future entries. If you're from the south and have something you'd like to add, please send me a comment.