Month: January 2017

There was a “listicle” (ugh) on BuzzFeed recently: “26 Questions People from the South Need to Answer”.

Here are some of them:

“Why do people from the south always feel compelled to talk to everyone they see? WE’RE STRANGERS. Leave me alone.”

Definitely true.  People are just generally friendlier here.  As someone with introvertish tendencies, this occasionally makes me uncomfortable, especially if stuck in an elevator.  But actually, after the miserable gits who generally inhabit public transport in London, it’s rather refreshing.

 

“People from the South… Why do you guys monogram EVERYTHING????”

Definitely true.  All the blokes I see seem to have embroidered belts.  I have a South Carolina key chain, and South Carolina koozies.  (There’s another one: a koozie, apart from being a nightmare in autocorrect, is something you put around a beer can/bottle to keep it cold in the hot sun.)

 

“Why do people from the south call large roaches water bugs?”

Or, around here, Palmetto bugs.  This one should be obvious: “oh damn, there’s a Palmetto bug in the kitchen again” sounds so much nicer than “holy fuck, get that fucking cockroach out of my fridge”.

 

“Why do white people from the South always have weird names for their grandmas?”

This one merited a pop quiz in the office – and it’s partly true.  There are some Grannys and Grandads, but also more unique names: Grancy, PapPap, Dota and even Budge.

 

“Why do Southerners dress for college football games like they’re going to church?”

I don’t know, and I don’t even know if it’s true, not having been to a college football game.    Maybe because college football is a religion for Southerners?  Anyone want to weigh in?

 

PS. in case anyone is worried, there has NEVER been a palmetto bug in our fridge.

It’s official: since moving to the Deep South, I’ve gone soft.  In fact, I think the process started when I left North Yorkshire in the 1990s and headed south in the UK – though Cambridge always had its share of freezing winds direct from the Urals.  But here in Charleston, things are a little different.

Let’s just say that the south doesn’t deal very well with cold weather.  For example: the other week was a bit of a cold one; the temperatures dropped below freezing for a couple of nights.  This extreme of temperature had the weather stations putting out a wind chill warning, and local radio \ suggesting everyone should wrap up and stay inside.  Meanwhile up in Colorado, several feet of snow had fallen and everyone was getting outside!

The average low temperature in January here is 6 celsius , or 43 in old money. (And there’s another thing: I am totally not used to using Fahrenheit.  Frankly I have no idea what it means.  When people talk about temperatures in the 70s I just smile politely and look slightly blank).  So generally, when winter weather hits, no-one is ready for it.

And now, nor am I.  Weather that, when I was in London, I would have remarked was “a little parky” (or brass monkey) is now eye-wateringly cold.  Heated seats in the car are a must, every morning.  Brrrrr, it ain’t half cold here.  But this is good.  I don’t miss the cold weather in the slightest.  Move north again?  No ta.