North vs South

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

What's wrong with answering "what?" I never heard of this.

Same here. If my mother calls me or something am I supposed to respond with "oh yes, mother dearest?"

[lilbay77]

Originally Posted by tunatartare

If my mother calls me or something am I supposed to respond with "oh yes, mother dearest?"

Sure, if your mom is Joan Crawford.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by lilbay77

Sure, if your mom is Joan Crawford.

NO...WIRE...HANGERS!!!!!!!!

[lilbay77]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

NO...WIRE...HANGERS!!!!!!!!

LOL!

[JeffersonStKKG]

hahaha!

[tunatartare]

No that would be Mommie Dearest.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by tunatartare

No that would be Mommie Dearest.

We know.

[SororChic6]

I live in Brooklyn. I was raised to be polite but as a child, I answered "what" to adults. It does not seem like such a big deal to me. Also, if you take the train every morning at 8AM, you tend to see people forgetting their manners. I've seen everything on the train, from people burping to letting out body fluids. (Not too fun!) Aside from train horror stories, we are not all without manners.

[macallan25]

I've been to New York several times.......and I can't think of one trip when I was not floored at how rude and dickheadish those people are. Its almost comical.

[SororChic6]

We're tough, it may be mistaken as rude.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by SororChic6

We're tough, it may be mistaken as rude.

No, it was just rude.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by macallan25

I've been to New York several times.......and I can't think of one trip when I was not floored at how rude and dickheadish those people are. Its almost comical.

New York does not equal the entire North.

[UGAalum94]

My personal pet theory about this it that in big cities we come to treat other people as invisible because we'd be driven a little crazy by having to interact with everyone.

So I tend to think rural and suburban people are more casually affectionate and careful about being polite, and urban people have to be a little tougher and guarded.

New York is a great city, but you have to accept that what's normal for New York is unlikely to be normal anywhere else. That can be both good and bad.

Weirdly, I think Ms. Manners ruled that "what" is the correct response when you need something repeated because you didn't hear it. "Excuse me" didn't apply, if I remember correctly. I'd probably say, "will you repeat that; I didn't hear you." But as you can tell, I use a lot of words.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

New York does not equal the entire North.

Thanks.

There are rude people everywhere, I know this, even down here. I do think though that manners and hospitality are more widespread down here, especially when it comes to strangers.

[shinerbock]

Just because there are rude people everywhere doesn't mean there isn't a regional difference.