stevedidWHATJul 22, 2023

Social differences even between coasts are massive

https://lemmy.world/post/1978708

Social differences even between coasts are massive - Lemmy.world

Buddy of mine and I were chatting on Discord and we ended up having a conversation about this topic. Namely imagine you just put two people in a room. One from New Jersey and one from LA and observe Wild how different cultures can be even inside a country. What do y’all think? Is it due to the size of the US (geographically)?

Show threadCheeseAndCrepes
Born in the south and moved to Philadelphia in my early twenties. It was more culture shock than some other countries I’ve been to. Folks in Philly don’t hold back. If they don’t like you they tell you, to your face. They also don’t feel the need to add all the extra and often unnecessary pleasantries to every social interaction. Honestly for a “well mannered” southern kid it was pretty liberating to get to drop all that.
Jul 22, 2023 at 12:39pmWeb
Show threadlamentforicarusJul 22, 2023
Growing up in the South is learning to be mean by way of looking nice.
Show threadCheeseAndCrepesJul 22, 2023
That’s a really good way to put it that I’ve never heard before.
Show threadlamentforicarusJul 22, 2023
It took me a while to figure out. Like I knew Southerners can be mean and judgy, but I didn’t think about how until I traveled to other places and saw how much more straightforward people are. It’s nice when kindness is kindness and there’s no underlying meaning.
Show threadSpacegrassJul 22, 2023
Bless your heart!
Show threadlamentforicarusJul 22, 2023
Proudly have never had that said to me lol
Show threadKaladin_StormblessedJul 22, 2023
I can never tell when people are doing this, and it’s really confusing to me. I wish more people would just say things outright!
Show threadlamentforicarusJul 22, 2023
It’s a subtly, yeah. There’s a lot of reading between the lines along, which is annoying if you’re not used to it.
Show threadVery_Bad_JanetJul 22, 2023

One big difference I've noticed: Well mannered Northerners do not often say Ma'am or Sir, unless they're being snarky. I have yet to meet a Northern child that ends a sentence addressed to an adult with Ma'am or Sir. It would sound completely sarcastic, lol. They are way more likely to call an adult by their first name, even. If a Southern kid tried that, whew.

As you mentioned, there's no direct insulting to the face, at least none that I've encountered. But there sure are a lot of faux kind comments like "Bless his heart."