A topic was brought up in another thread that I wanted to discuss in a broader depth than that thread would have allowed. Therefore, to preclude a major threadjack, I have started this thread to further that discussion.
In the "Trends you hate" thread, one of the trends brought up was illiteracy. Now, I took that to mean intentional illiteracy. You know, those idiots that think that it's so cool to be, look and act stupid. Which, reminded me of the marked lack of basic manners.
Warrrreagl responded:
Quote:
Originally Posted by warrrreagl
Bill, I've been telling you that you need to come down South, where we are one of the last outposts of good manners. People (children included) actually say "please," "thank you," "sir," and "ma'am." Those words aren't just ornamentation - they're an obligation.
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Warrrreagl is not wrong. My own Floridian born and bred mother still says "Yes Ma'am" and "No Ma'am", when conversing with my grandmother. I have also seen it, to a somewhat lesser extent, with my cousins, that still reside in Florida. Now, I joke around with my friend, Warrreagl, all the time about his southern heritage. (Sorry, warrrreagl...southron. Didn't want to lose you there.) I do this, and he knows this, in good natured fun. But, one thing that I have never joked about, and he'll back this up, I'm sure, is southern manners. I have always been impressed by southern manners.
Back in the Neolithic, I was a Boy Scout. We always refered to our leaders as Mr. This, or Mr. That. Flash forward 40 years. My own son is a Cub Scout. Early on, I pulled his Den Leader aside, after a meeting, and inquired as to why he had the boys call him by his first name. He was taken aback as it had not occurred to him to have the boys refer to him in a respectful manner. I volunteered to serve a uniformed position in my son's Cub Scout Pack. I was giving a demonstration on flag etiquette. All of the boys refer to me as Mr. O'Rights, as this was what they were now being taught. My son's best friend, Henry, is also in the Cub Scouts. He also happens to be our neighbor. He is always over at my house. He refers to me as "Bill", when he is playing at my house. When he started to do this in a Cub Scout meeting, I had to pull him aside and inform him to call me Mr. O'Rights at Cub Scouts. He had to be taught.
When, exactly, did we, as a society, lose the basic skill set of manners? Why is it considered cool to be rude and disrespectful? If anything good has ever come out of the south, it is proper manners. Why can't we emulate some of that? Maybe if we could do that, they wouldn't be so damned pissy about Appomattox. (Yeah, that was directed at you, Warrrreagl.
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