Holiday Charities

We see the Salvation Army volunteers ringing the bells every year and sometimes we put a few coins in or maybe some cash and that may be most of the charitable giving we do for the season.  I'd like to know what you are volunteering for or what you are donating and to whom this holiday season.

Personally my band is doing a toy drive for Jesse's Place. You can read about the show here.

So let me know in the comments or email me at drew [at] Okra Cola (dot) com to let me know about how you are giving back.  Even if it was last month at Thanksgiving it would still be good information for people.  Thanks and Happy Advent, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Southern Hospitality - Opening Doors

My cousin brought a girl originally from New Hampshire down to a wedding at our church.  While chatting with my wife she said something to the effect of, "Why is everyone opening doors for me?  I can get my own door."  It seems that she missed the point.  Down here gentleman open doors for women.  Heck, we open doors and hold doors open for just about everybody.

I'm sure the South isn't the only place we open doors and hold doors open, but there are a lot of people that come down here that mention how nice everyone is and that somebody always hold doors open for others.

I just wish people had that kind of hospitality in the parking lot.  I hate getting a spot I've staked out for a while stolen out from under me, but that's a different post all together.

Do you hold doors for people?  Do you not like having people help you with doors?  Let us know in the comments.

Southern Hospitality - Sir and Ma'am

Yes or no sir and yes or no ma'am is taught from the time a child is able to speak.  You just don't say yes, no, uh-huh, nuh-huh, most of those are not excepted in the house, or your Paw-Paw's house.  It's just what is done down here.

I have another friend that did some growing up here, then moved up to Ohio.  She actually got in trouble for saying "no ma'am" to her teacher because her teacher thought she was getting smart or sassy.  Are you kidding me!  I just don't know if I could comfortably living in a world where kids didn't say yes and no ma'am.

Cultures have things like this built into the language to honor elders and people of a certain stature.  They are called honorifics and I feel it puts us and our dialect into a different category and it could be a reason we see things differently down here (see the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).

Have a yes and no ma'am/sir story?  Tell us about them in the comments.