jfkheat
01-23-2005, 10:21 PM
In an effort to help outsiders understand the rules of the Southerner's
mind, the following list should be handed to each person as they enter a
Southern State. (These actually should be the rules in all states.)
1. That farm boy you see at the gas station did more work before
breakfast than you do all week at the gym.
2. It's called a "gravel road." No matter how slow you drive, you're
going to get dust on your Lincoln Navigator. Drive it or get it out of
the way!
3. The red dirt -- it's called clay. Red clay. If you like the color,
don't wash your car for a couple weeks -- it'll be permanent.
4. We all started hunting and fishing when we were seven years old.
Yeah, we saw that Bambi movie, too. We got over it.
5. Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis fly rod. Don't cry to us if a
flathead breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little
13-inch trout you fish for: bait.
6. Pull your pants up! You look like an idiot.
7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their
final approach, we will shoot it. You might want to ensure it's not up
to your ear at the time.
8. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order
it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two
pounds of ham and turkey.
9. Tea -- yeah, we have tea. It comes in a glass over ice and it's
sweet. You want it hot? Set it in the sun. You want it unsweetened?
Add a lot of water.
10. You bring Coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served
over ice!
11. You have a sixty-thousand-dollar car. We're real impressed. We
have a quarter of a million-dollar combine that we only use two weeks a
year.
12. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop
when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow.
13. We eat dinner together with our families. We pray before we
eat--yeah, even breakfast. We go to church on Wednesdays and Sundays,
and we go to high school football games on Friday nights. We still
address our seniors with "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am," and we sometimes
still take Sunday drives around town to see friends and neighbors.
14. We don't do "hurry up" well.
15. Greens -- yeah, we have greens, but you don't putt on them. You
boil them with salty fatback, bacon or a smoked hog jowl.
16. Yeah, we eat catfish, bass, bream, and carp. You really want sushi
and caviar? It's available down at the bait shop.
17. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't
like it? Interstate 75 goes two ways. Interstate 40 goes the other
two. Pick one.
18. Grits are corn. You put butter, salt, and maybe even some pepper
on them. If you want to put milk and sugar on them, then you want cream
of wheat -- go to Kansas. That would be I-40 West.
19. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season or dove season.
Both are holidays. You can get pancakes, cane syrup, and sausage
before daylight at the church on either day.
20. So every person in every pickup truck waves? Yeah, it's called
being friendly. Understand the concept?
21. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazards. It
spooks the fish and bothers the gators--and, if you hit it in the rough,
we have these things called diamondbacks, and they're not baseball
players.
22. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving
like an idiot --his name is "Sir," no matter how young he is.
23. We have lots of pine trees. They have sap. It drips from them.
You park your darn Navigator under them, and they'll leave a souvenir on
your hood.
24. You burn an American flag in our state, you get beat up. No
questions. The liberal contingent of our state legislature -- all four
of them -- enacted a measure to stop this. There is now a $2.50 fine
for beating up the flag burner.
American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God.
mind, the following list should be handed to each person as they enter a
Southern State. (These actually should be the rules in all states.)
1. That farm boy you see at the gas station did more work before
breakfast than you do all week at the gym.
2. It's called a "gravel road." No matter how slow you drive, you're
going to get dust on your Lincoln Navigator. Drive it or get it out of
the way!
3. The red dirt -- it's called clay. Red clay. If you like the color,
don't wash your car for a couple weeks -- it'll be permanent.
4. We all started hunting and fishing when we were seven years old.
Yeah, we saw that Bambi movie, too. We got over it.
5. Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis fly rod. Don't cry to us if a
flathead breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little
13-inch trout you fish for: bait.
6. Pull your pants up! You look like an idiot.
7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their
final approach, we will shoot it. You might want to ensure it's not up
to your ear at the time.
8. No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order
it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two
pounds of ham and turkey.
9. Tea -- yeah, we have tea. It comes in a glass over ice and it's
sweet. You want it hot? Set it in the sun. You want it unsweetened?
Add a lot of water.
10. You bring Coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served
over ice!
11. You have a sixty-thousand-dollar car. We're real impressed. We
have a quarter of a million-dollar combine that we only use two weeks a
year.
12. Let's get this straight. We have one stoplight in town. We stop
when it's red. We may even stop when it's yellow.
13. We eat dinner together with our families. We pray before we
eat--yeah, even breakfast. We go to church on Wednesdays and Sundays,
and we go to high school football games on Friday nights. We still
address our seniors with "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am," and we sometimes
still take Sunday drives around town to see friends and neighbors.
14. We don't do "hurry up" well.
15. Greens -- yeah, we have greens, but you don't putt on them. You
boil them with salty fatback, bacon or a smoked hog jowl.
16. Yeah, we eat catfish, bass, bream, and carp. You really want sushi
and caviar? It's available down at the bait shop.
17. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it. Don't
like it? Interstate 75 goes two ways. Interstate 40 goes the other
two. Pick one.
18. Grits are corn. You put butter, salt, and maybe even some pepper
on them. If you want to put milk and sugar on them, then you want cream
of wheat -- go to Kansas. That would be I-40 West.
19. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season or dove season.
Both are holidays. You can get pancakes, cane syrup, and sausage
before daylight at the church on either day.
20. So every person in every pickup truck waves? Yeah, it's called
being friendly. Understand the concept?
21. Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazards. It
spooks the fish and bothers the gators--and, if you hit it in the rough,
we have these things called diamondbacks, and they're not baseball
players.
22. That Highway Patrol Officer that just pulled you over for driving
like an idiot --his name is "Sir," no matter how young he is.
23. We have lots of pine trees. They have sap. It drips from them.
You park your darn Navigator under them, and they'll leave a souvenir on
your hood.
24. You burn an American flag in our state, you get beat up. No
questions. The liberal contingent of our state legislature -- all four
of them -- enacted a measure to stop this. There is now a $2.50 fine
for beating up the flag burner.
American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God.