Monday, March 21, 2011

No room for southern manners in the west...

So after living in TX for some time I picked up just a few phrases that have become every day conversation. There are some I refuse to use. Fixin...as in 'I'm fixin to go the the store.' Why do you need to fix anything? And even though I throw a 'y'all' in there every once in awhile, you'll never hear me say 'all y'all' isn't that why your saying y'all. To imply that you're referring to everyone?
However I did like everyone saying 'yes ma'am and yes sir.' I don't know when I started saying it out there but it's stuck. I say it all the time. Even to people younger than me. I don't mean it to imply I think you're an old man or woman. It's just now what goes along with yes when I answer a question. I guess females aren't offended by this because they haven't said anything. But yesterday after church this mid-twenties single male asked me a question and I, through habit responded, "yes, sir." He said, "Okay. And don't ever call me sir again." I was a bit taken back. I don't mean to offend at all. But for some reason he didn't like it. I said, "Sorry, it's a Texas thing. It just comes out." The same thing happened about a month and a half ago. I was asked a question at rehearsal and I replied "yes, sir" to a 50 something male and he said "thank you and don't ever call me sir again."
Both instances I've just been in shock. Thinking, "I'm trying to be polite. I'm sorry you don't like that."
So one day when you ask me a question and I reply with a 'yes, ma'am' or 'yes, sir' please know that I mean to only show you respect, not imply that you're old.

2 comments:

Sweet J said...

Cami...your blog is way fancy....

DearGeorge said...

I've been told that calling someone sir or ma'am is actually offensive to people from parts of the Midwest. For some reason it's seen as insulting there...instead of a sign of respect. Go figure.