A few summers ago some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles went on a road trip. We traveled to California, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado in the span a month. While all these states are in the same country, they all have different social norms. When we went to most places people new almost right away we were from the south. One lady told us she knew we were from the south, because of the jewelry we were wearing. Another lady said she could tell, because we all smiled and nodded at people when we walked past someone. In Texas it is very common to smile, nod, or wave at someone when you make eye contact. It’s a social norm that we have, but in some cultures this could be seen as impolite, threatening, or even unacceptable. Luckily for us most of …show more content…
In the south most people know that it is poliet and some places expected for young people to address people older than them by Ma'am, and Sir. While that is true in Texas it is NOT true in California. One day one while I was checking out at a store I made the mistake of calling a middle age woman ma'am. It didn't even phase me, because that's what I am so use to doing in Texas. In Texas if I did not call her ma'am I could be seen as rude and impolite. Well this lady did not see it that way. I could tell immediately that she was not pleased by my statement. However, I was very confused as to why she would be offended. In my eyes I didn't do anything wrong. I looked again to make sure that she was a woman and she did in fact appear to be. So at that point I was very confused as to how I managed to offend this lady. Her friend behind the counter was laughing at her, but the lady checking me out was not at all amused. So instinctively I began to apologize ,and I told her that I did not mean to offend her in any way. “ I was just trying to be respectful”, I reassured her. Unfortunately nothing I said seemed to help the situation. Then the lady noticed the Texas outline on my credit card. She seemed very relieved by it which confused me even more. “What the heck is wrong with this lady?”, I wondered to myself. She then asked me if I was from Texas and when I said yes she smiled at me. “ In California we only call very old people Ma'am and Sir. I’m not that old”, she said. I then immediately apologized again and told her how it is common to call everyone by ma’am and sir no matter the age. “ Sometimes people even call little girls Ma'am,” I said. She kept telling me that it was okay, but to be careful because some people may take it as an insult. At that point I was so embarrassed. I had no intention of upsetting anyone, but
Barbeque, fried chicken, trucks and farms. What comes to the minds of many after hearing such words is the southern portion of the United States. According to Judge Paul Health Till of Sidney, Texas other words that bring to his attention the culture of the South are manners, morals, customs and public opinions. Why so? In his essay Manners, Morals, Customs, and Public Perception (July 2001), Judge Till states “Manners and morals and customs make up the public perception of any culture” (paragraph two) and how these four key ideas relate to each other.
I was kind of surprise and feeling a bit awkward since I was being disrespectful to her before. In the meantime, of eating, I was trying to find a suitable time to apologize to her. But she was so busy that there’s really no time for us to
The Nashville Way Racial Etiquette and the Struggle for Social Justice in a Southern City. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012. Johnson Reagon, Bernice. " Message From The Founder.
In the book, Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South, historian Grady McWhiney interestingly submits that “fundamental and lasting divisions between Southerners and Northerners began in colonial America when migrants from the Celtic regions of the British Isles – Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall – and from the English uplands managed to implant their traditional customs in the Old South.” In this respect, McWhiney essentially argues that the origin points for both the north and the south differed because of the culture that was implanted there. The Celts, who were the culture originators of the Old South, “brought with them to the Old South leisurely ways that fostered idleness and gaiety, a society in which people favored the spoken word over the written and enjoyed such sensual pleasures as drinking, smoking, fighting, gambling, fishing, hunting, and loafing.” In addition, southerners held stronger familial ties compared to England and in the antebellum North and spent more time consuming liquor and tobacco. Northerners, on the other hand who drew from Englishmen, “favored urban villages and nuclear families…imbued with a work ethic and commercial values, they were neater, cleaner, read and wrote more, worked harder, and considered themselves more progressive and advanced
Texas has seen many changes since the first constitution of Coahuila y Tejas was drafted in 1827. During this time Texas was still a part of Mexico, as it sought it's independence from Spain in 1821. The first constitution was built for a unicameral congress which consisted of 12 deputies. Texas was at that time considered a buffer for Mexico against many of the Native American tribes.
Young people as the primary consideration is to ensure you are not worried about what the outdoor education worker or the two volunteers are thinking. This does not mean to disregard their understanding of the matter but to know that your best interest are for the young people whereas the outdoor education workers may not be, this practice should always be considered when making a decision. As one of the youth workers on that trip you have a duty of care to both the young people and your two volunteers this goes hand in hand with the principle of the safety of young people. The context is vital in this scenario because the volunteer youth workers seem to think the remark wasn’t offensive and it may be a joke between friends, if this is the case it is important not to blow the situation out of proportion and maybe a quiet word with the two young people and then the workers is a suitable course of action. Cooperation and collaboration will be used in this context when talking to the other youth workers to decide on a course of action and then likely be used again when talking to the young people to try and come to a
The south is not made up of farmers, hunters and flyers of the confederate flag. The south is a group of states that are typically simpler than the northern states. Southerners are portrayed as dumb, dirty, fat, gun-loving Republicans. Movies, TV shows and news broadcastings have given people that live in southern states a bad rap.
Third, in Japan, to show respect towards older people or people whose rank is higher, we use Keigo. (respectful language) Do you think using Keigo has some negative aspects in terms of relationship between younger and older
The results showed that students from the south of America let the insult impact them much more than the students from northern America (173). Gladwell explains that southern Americans are faster to anger because in the early times of establishing America the families in the south had to fight for their land and livestock, which resulted in them to use their fists before their words to assert dominance (168). The area where families are from lead to the different cultural stories or their experiences that they might tell their children which influence the family’s morals and the reasoning of their decisions. Gladwell explains the concept of cultural legacies, the stories, and behaviors that passed down from generations to generations, with a study of the culture of honor in America to show how vitally important these legacies are in people’s lives and their opportunities with contributions to their path to
Everyone has their different beliefs about being an American. But how do one know about being American if they are not accustomed to being an American? In a story, read by Quebalea Green called Fish Cheeks wrote by a young girl at the time named Amy Tan. In this story, Amy’s whose family including her was Chinese had a dinner for Christmas with Chinese traditional food. Amy thought it was a bad idea. Her family invited over their minister and his son that Amy had a crush on who were American.
Kids and young adults must honor our parents and elders, because that is the respectful thing to do. We also love our friends like how
After having the opportunity to meet people from all over, in my line of work I am given the pleasure of holding a conversation with people and actually getting the chance to know more about where they are from and why they chose to come here. Generally they talk about how the people are so nice and they didn’t expect to meet good people here. I have heard many people from northern states like New York, Maryland, or Massachusetts say “We heard that people around here just aren’t the brightest.” I have also been asked if there are a lot of “rednecks” here. This would be another stereotype that small, countryside towns are represented by.
“Let’s go through Georgia fast so we won’t have to look at it much,” says John Wesley. The grandmother said, “children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else.” The
As an American we believe that continuously staring at someone is rude and can come off as threatening (Changing Minds). In caribbean culture, it is common to have others stare someone without the thought of it being disrespectful. In both Haitian and Montserratian culture staring at someone shows interest in whatever they may be doing (Culture Crossing Guide). Even though each culture has their differences, some share similarities. America and Montserrat have similar social expectations when greeting someone.
Although my intentions were harmless, I disrespected that girl and as a result of her clearly being pissed off with me, she told the principal on