<p>Region had quite a bit to do with my selection...</p>
<p>My major criteria (aside from academics and band) were </p>
<p>NOT in VA (ignoring the quality of the schools, I was not pleased with the prospect of High School 2.0)</p>
<p>NOT in the South in general. I may have been born and raised in Va, but I'm a Yankee at heart. It's nice not being in a place where one of my friend's nicknames was "Jewy" (2000 student public HS, about 20 Jews)</p>
<p>Amusing anecdote BTW- my mom is from Hixville NY- she hasn't lived there in over 30 years... We were in a cab headed to my Grandparents' apt in Manhattan and the cabbie asked if she was from Levittown, based on talking to her for about 5 minutes. Old accents die hard. (She always says people from the south can tell she's from the north, people from the north can tell she's from NY and people from NY can pinpoint the exact neighborhood)</p>
<p>Sybbie: that was great! I am definitely sending that list to my S in phillie who altho loves phillie knows it could NEVER replace the real CITY. There is no place like it in the world~!</p>
<p>I do not know from where "Who are your people?" came, but if they ever asked that of my kids!!! I would think they would have a heck of a long pregnant pause before they spoke. Their grandmother on their father's side emigrated from Ireland by way of the Bronx, their grandfather on the same side was a first born Mafioso by way of Sicily via Brooklyn, New York..their grandmother on their mother's side was a first born Pole by way of Conshohocken, PA and their grandfather on the same side was first born Neopolitan Italian by way of Argrentina via the Bronx....I think they would have ALOT of explaining to do! But all in all..they did okay. Two IVY LEAGUE graduates....PENN AND HARVARD...GOD BLESS AMERICA!</p>
<p>Like Cangel stated, the "Who's your People ?" is a southern thing where everybody knows someone who is related to somebody.</p>
<p>ex: Well my mother is Erica Kane of the Pine Valley kanes, and my Father Jolly Ol St. Nick of the North Pole St Nicks. Miss Janey Smith is my mother's first cousin on her father's side.</p>
<ol>
<li>You know the differences between all the different Ray's Pizzas. </li>
</ol>
<br>
<p>yum ... there is nothing like Ray's Pizza at about 1-2 am after coming out of a Jazz Club ... "the city" is terrific place to be a 20-something!</p>
<p>Sybbie, that's puts a whole new spin on "I Caught Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Yes, "Who's your people?" is one of the stock interrogation points when the boy comes to the door. Family is not as important as it used to be, but when everyone knows everyone else, your background means a lot (and not just that you might be second cousins;)). Down here though, it doesn't have as much to do with wealth, "trashiness" knows no socio-economic limits, it is more about manners and behavior (the very fact that you care about such things demonstrates a degree of "trashiness") - respect and recognizing your obligations.
OK Sybbie set the bar high, and Curmudgeon will have to help me, because Texas can be a whole other thing but here goes,
You Know you are From the South When:
1) You started driving when you were 12 -what's a license?
2) You know the correct pronounciation of any number of words, beginning with "pe-kahn"
3) Your parents slipped a stuffed elephant, tiger or bulldog or longhorn into your crib.
4) Depending on your stratum of society, you add or subtract "ers", as in "tomaters" vs "nev-ah"
5) You can identify a person's background based on accent and type of barbecue preferred.
6) Fruitcake is an artform, not something you try to give away to someone else.
7) Ditto for bourbon
8) You like your tea sweet and your cornbread NOT (notice all the food things)
9) You can remember what it was like before air conditioning.
10) You know what your great great grandaddy did during the Civil War
11) MOre words to pronounce - Arab (if it is a place) is Aay-rab, "Eutaw" is U-tah
12) Water and hunting are two very important recreational aids</p>
<p>Sybbie -- Great list! Gotta send it to my transplanted son in NYC. I did notice when we rode the subway with him during parents weekend that I embarrassed him by actually listening to the announcer, then going: "What did he say? What did he say? Did you get that?"
Other ways you can tell your kid is turning into a New Yorker:
1. He tells you he had to buy a different pair of shoes so the doormen will let him into the clubs.
2. He knows where to find designer knockoffs.
3. He's more concerned about his bartending exam than his physics midterm.
4. When his mother suggests he go buy a winter jacket at some place like R.E.I. (camping store), he says: "Mom, this is New York. I can get warm clothes in ANY store," in a tone of voice that she hasn't heard since she used it on her own mother in response to questions about whether rock and roll was really music.
5. He spends a weekend afternoon with a friend at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and neither of them are there for an assignment or because there is a visiting parent who dragged them. Also, he calls it the Met and says it was fun.
6. He informs you he will be spending Spring break in NYC with a friend from Calfornia, going to musicals, after years of rolling his eyes at the stupidity of people bursting into song in movies.
7. He answers his cell phone and he's in a shoe store in Harlem buying a different color of running shoes, even though he came to college with a brand new pair of running shoes. He's spending his own money because they look better with his pants.
8. Asked to come up with one or two details describing one or two new friends he volunteers -- not who their people are -- but what states they come from and that they are Republicans. This last detail is offered as if he's sampling a forbidden culture.
9. He's discovered a place where the Peking Duck is better than in San Francisco, and he lives off of it for two days while the campus dining room is closed.
10. He leaves home as a jazz musician and then announces he's also joined a klezmer band.
11. He tells you how many REALLY smart kids there are in his honors math class, and he's not talking about Asians, but Hungarians. Also Russians and one Ukranian. When you suggest he join a study group, he insists they all study in Hungarian.
12. He thinks he's failed his bartending exam because he put too much vodka in a drink you've never heard of. (It was a kamikaze, and my question was how you could put too much vodka into a drink named after people who were suicidal.)<br>
13. He calls for his birth certificate because he did so well on his bartending exam that he's been hired by the bartending agency. The agency, apparently, is run by students under the auspices of the university career center. Who ever said an Ivy League education wasn't worthwhile?</p>
<p>He's been there two months. Can't wait to see what four years will do!</p>
<p>Sybbie, Re: number 12: it's been 20 years since I left NY and I still long for real pizza and real bagels. And I won't tell you who I'd kill for a "real" pastrami on rye. </p>
<p>Sac, Sounds like your son has found a true home in the city. We may never see him back on this coast again. But aren't you happy at how happy he is?</p>
<p>I can picture it: "My son, the Ivy-educated bartender." I actually know someonewho put himself through college by bartending. He is now a tenured prof.</p>
<p>One more from NYC: You know the difference between a bagel and a bialy. I miss hot bialys from the place on 14th street slathered in chopped liver--mit schmaltz-- from 2nd Ave deli!!</p>
<p>Carolyn -- Yes, he seems happy. But I don't know about never seeing him back on this coast. He started saying it was freezing in October. Wait till January. He's NEVER been in really cold weather in his life, not even skiing.</p>
<p>Ummm, chopped liver with shmaltz. Now, if my son ever starts liking chopped liver, I'll know he's undergone a major life transformation. Actually, probably more like a tongue transplant.</p>
<p>I love your list. Your son probably never pays full price for a ticket. Forget the TKTS booth -the secret is to be at the box office of the theater you want to at 5 p.m. where you can sign up for orchestra seats for the same night for $25 a seat (limit 2)cash only. At 6 p.m they start drawing names for tickets. By him being at school he probably gets some great 2-fers.</p>
<p>Don't worry your son will be fine this winter. He will go to some flea market and purchase a "vintage" coat which you will think is junk and wear an ugly hat to fit right in (but hey, my daughter is calling 40 degrees a warm day now that she is in Hanover). I hope he checks out the MOMA which recently reopened in the city. But he should go on Friday evening when it is free (I know, museum on friday night but he can do it before he tends bar). Also when you come back to NY he willbe able to tell you allof the places where you can eat cheap (You can get a nice lunch special at Ollies or at the Japanese resturant down the street).</p>
<p>Carolyn, we will pick up you pastrami on rye at the 2nd ave deli when we get SBmom's hot bialys from the place on 14th street slathered in chopped liver.</p>
<p>Thanks, sybbie, for the ticket suggestions. I don't know if he's done that yet. As for MOMA, I think Columbia students get into it for free, just like the Met. </p>
<p>I'd be delighted if he'd go to a flea market and buy vintage. Can't believe this Berkeley kid is suddenly into fashion... Unintended consequence of letting him head off to the big city. On the other hand, personal expenses come from his money... hence, the
bartending.</p>
<p>So, where are the stories about the kids who headed from the East to the Left Coast? Come on, let's hear it about California. We can take it...</p>
<p>Sorry I'm late to the fun. Let's see . I have to post quickly or everyone will be asleep. O.K. Mine is rural south. Way rural.</p>
<p>1)Your mother let you watch your uncle clear land with dynamite when you were ten, help when you were eleven.</p>
<p>2) You and everyone you know has almost been "bit" by at least two species of poisonous snake.</p>
<p>3) You know better than to eat a vine ripened tomato with a mouth ulcer.</p>
<p>4) You have lost at least one toenail by dropping a 45 pound Jubilee watermelon on your bare foot.</p>
<p>5) You know beef is what you sell for dollars, pork is what you eat.</p>
<p>6)You know leftovers will continue to appear in ever smaller bowls at every meal until they are completely eaten.</p>
<p>7) you know cornbread is the generic food group . Within that food group are cornbread itself, and the fritter, hoecake, and hushpuppy familys with at least 3 subsets under each. </p>
<p>8)You know that the hatch of the mayfly means everybody's eating fish.</p>
<p>9) You know all the important southern measurements-peck,bushel, and "just a mouthful" </p>
<p>10) You know that when you come to an agreement with a man and you shake on it , you never ask for a contract to be signed . It's one or the other.</p>
<p>Wow!!! I LOVE those lists!
I echo Driver that rubbing elbows with the rich is amusing, fun and useful!
Speaking of snootiness. How can anyone stand the old guard Main Line Philadelphia?How are the California transplants at Haverford adjusting here? How do you like it? There isn't much old guard left- just old guard wannabes. It's not like it was 50 years ago. But it is there. I wonder if they send their kids to Haverford and Swarthmore like they used to. You know, I even considered urging son to apply to Haverford or Swarthmore because son would fit in so well in this environment, he knows it.He won't consider them. But he would fit in . Maybe next son..........</p>
<p>Curmudgeon, You neglected to write about the best ways to eat cornbread. (1) smashed up with pinto beans in a bowl with a dollop of chow-chow, served with fried okra, and (2) crumbled up in buttermilk. </p>
<p>You missed a couple of others related to yours: </p>
<p>(4) you've won at least one watermelon seed spitting contest.</p>
<p>(6) the alternative is to mix all the leftovers together and call it hash or stew.</p>
<p>(9) there's the all important southern measurement of "some"</p>
<p>You haven't lived until:
- You've run barefoot through a lawn full of goatheads; the pain is indescribable.
- You've had a cotton-mouth drop out of a tree into your boat while fishing. (note: you have to grab it and throw it in the lake)</p>
<p>Over30
Cornbread is best eaten with pot liquor from either turnip greens or (my favorite) collards.
10) Conversations begin "So, How's yer Mama'an'nem?"
11) You can identify a coondog
12) You pulled peanuts, or picked cotton or know the type of weather best for watermelons
13) After #10, the conversation immediately goes to the unreliability of the rain - it is always either too much or too little, never appropriate
14) You are familiar with "sawrgum syrp" "cathead biscuits", and know that coffee is and ham grease are important constituents of red-eye gravy</p>