Offended

It started innocently enough.

I was explaining to my students that the word "vosotros" in Spanish, which none of them had studied before, meant, more or less "y'all" in English. At which point one of my students said, "My English teacher says that northerners find the word "y'all" offensive."

This declaration gave me pause.

Rushing to defend the north against unfair accusation, I said, "That's not true. I mean they recognize it as different. Cute, maybe. But not offensive. I think your English teacher just ran into a jerk from the north. Please know that it's not normal for someone to make a big deal out of it."

Distressed that my kids were being indoctrinated against northerners, I spoke with a coworker after school to share how ridiculous it was that this teacher would share such an unfounded opinion with the malleable minds of our high school.

Northerners do NOT find the word "y'all" offensive. They just don't.

Her response surprised me: "Oh yes they do."

What?

She told me that while she was studying in France, she spoke with people from all around the world in French with no problem, but that as soon as she spoke English, people disregarded her as stupid and uneducated, and she knew that it was because of her accent.

While I maintain that the word offensive might be used incorrectly here, I have to admit that she has a point.

With roots as deep as the Civil War, we have accepted, and deemed it socially acceptable to belittle the southern accent. The stereotype is perpetuated by Hollywood, and we, as a nation allow it.

Whenever a television or movie wants to ensure that the audience understands that a character is especially uneducated, that character is given a deep southern accent. While deep accents are fun to listen to, I am surprised that we don't more often use a chowder-slinging Boston accent, or a New Jersey intonation. After all, there are plenty of under educated folks in these areas as well.

Case in point: Lisa Simpson, the smartest person in the town of Springfield has a fantasy/daydream in which she ends up married to Ralph Wiggum and she has lost interest in her academic pursuits, which up until then has been the great joy of her life.

In her dream she is obese, in a hammock with a slew of children, and has a deep southern accent.

                                             "The Simpsons" Courtesy of Fox Network.


No better are the memes we find on the internet every day:
                                          

I have never thought that southerners as a group were any more stupid than any other inhabitants of the earth, but you would think that all of North America does, because the stereotypes continue to be perpetuated.

As a teacher, this frustrates me. How can I tell my southern kids that northerners do not look down at them for their accent, when I really can't be sure that what I am saying is true? How can I make a difference in their perception of all northerners being rude,  judgmental and unforgiving?

I guess I can only do my part by representing my home region the best I can. I will do my best to stay open minded, friendly, and kind; just like I always have. Although now there is a sense of urgency to it that I don't appreciate.

"Y'all" isn't offensive. Prejudging someone based on their accent: that's offensive.

Franchise

During our first few weeks in the Midlands, Bill and I were ensconced in a lovely Comfort Inn and Suites for about a month. Being that we had no kitchen, we ate in nearly every restaurant in town.

One day, Bill had a craving for a good steak. So I went to my smart phone and Googled "Best steak in town". Number one steak in our town? According to Trip Advisor it was at Ruby Tuesday. Second best steak? At Fatz Cafe.

Let's just say that independently owned restaurants are not really, as my students would say, "a thing" down here. Oh, they exist. But they are less visible than that to which I am accustomed.

I remember seeing comedian Henry Cho on the "Half Hour Comedy Hour" on Comedy Central talking about his in-laws and their recent experience at a highly rated Italian restaurant in town. Their reaction? "It ain't no Olive Garden." This punch line has become my catch phrase when describing the restaurants in the area.

It seems that in the south, they love their franchises.

In fact, when my students heard that there was only one chicken franchise in the area where I lived before, they couldn't even fathom it.  There were shouts of absolute disbelief, and exclamations of "What?!"

But the reaction is understandable when you look at the stats:

New Hampshire chicken franchises (that I know of): KFC

South Carolina Chicken Franchises: Popeye's
                                                          Church's
                                                          Chester's
                                                          Chik-Fil-A
                                                          Zaxby's
                                                          Bojangles
                                                          KFC

And there is never just one of these franchises in town. In the state capital, Columbia (population 133,000)  there are 7 Zaxby's,  10 Chik-Fil-A, 7 KFC, 3 Popeye's, 14 Bojangles, 6 Church's Chicken, and then, of course there are the various other restaurants that offer chicken sandwiches.

Thus started the daily morning quiz by my students before school started, which eventually led to the grand comparison of franchises available in South Carolina, and those I knew to exist in NH. I started with the Waffle House, which I compare to Dunkin' Donuts; not because it sells donuts, but because there are several of them in the same town, no matter how small.

Here are restaurant franchises I had never heard of until I arrived:
Captain D's (seafood, much like Long John Silvers)
Fatz Cafe (Ruby Tuesday's type)
Zaxby's, Chester's Chicken, and Bojangles (Chicken places)
Lizard's Thicket ( an ice cream-less Friendly's)
Ryan's (a buffet steak house)
Cookout (a take out burger place)
San Jose (Mexican food)

All of the restaurants listed above are in the town of roughly 13,000 people in which we live, along with Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesday, Chik-Fil-A, McDonald's (2), Burger King (2), Wendy's, Sonic,  Waffle House, Subway, Applebee's, Hardee's (2), Arby's (2), Popeye's Church's, IHOP, Pizza Hut (2), Papa John's, Taco Bell, Domino's, Blimpie, Shoney's and Little Ceasar's.

There are independent restaurants as well, and some of them are pretty decent. But it astonishes me that a town the size of Hooksett, NH can sustain this many franchised eateries.

And nobody calls them "chain" restaurants. They are franchises.

During that first month, we ate at a lot of these restaurants and at the end of it all we were very excited to move into a place with a kitchen.

And as for Dunkin' Donuts, wrap your northern New England brains around this: I see only one on my entire forty-minute commute to work.