25 RULES FOR LIVING IN THE SOUTH

25 RULES FOR LIVING IN THE SOUTH

If you visit the South, please keep the following in mind... If you
are going to live, or visit in the South, you need to know the rules.

In an effort to help outsiders understand the rules of the
Southerner's mind, the following list will be handed to each person as
they enter a Southern State.

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 Navigator. Drive it or get the hell 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 Bambi. 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 is
sweet. You want it hot -- sit 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. So 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 ham hock.

16. Yeah, we eat catfish, bass, bream and carp. You really want
sushi and caviar? It's available at the bait shop.

17. They are pigs. That's what they smell like. Get over it.
Don't like it? Interstate 85 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 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 Navigator under them, and they'll leave a logo 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.

25. No, we don't care how you do things up North. If it is so great
up there why not visit a Northern state or stay there. And no, down
here, we don't have an accent, you do.


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We need to focus more on the use of 85N and 40W. We made it so easy in North Carolina for visitors to go home... But yet they still can not seem to find there way back to their home.

Hey Doc, Just want to add a few to the list!

26. I-75 runs North and South and its easy to find so if you don't like it here feel free to use it.

27. If you cannot adjust to southern hospiltality and laid back society then "Delta is ready when you are!"

28. In the south, Coke is King always has and always will be. EVERYTHING is referred to as a Coke. Not Soda,Not Pop, Not Soft Drink, If want anything other than that then you be asked.... "What kind of Coke do you want?"

29. We say ya'll to everything. Not You'se guy's, don't like it then see rule 27.

30. We are taught from day one to be polite and to be kind to others. We say yes ma'm, yes sir', no ma'm, and no sir', It's a sign of respect for others and to show them that we heard em' and understand ( Would you say Yeah to your boss or even the President of the USA). We also open doors for others out of kindness,(especially for our Southern bells) you northerners ought to try it sometime and see the reaction. Ya'll will be amazed.

My friends in western NC complain about people from FLA the same way Mainers do about people from NY or MASS.