Southern insults disguised as compliments that you've probably heard

[dalton99a]

https://www.chron.com/life/article/Southern-insults-disguised-as-compliments-13147865.php

Southern insults disguised as compliments that you've probably heard
By Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli
Updated 3:21 pm CDT, Friday, July 5, 2019

You walk in the door to grandma's house filled with the aroma of some freshly baked dessert, but instead of the usual greeting, she cups your face in her hands and says "my, well don't you look healthy."

In the South, we are trained from a young age to be as polite as possible, so it's no surprise we'd find a way to work that well-mannered nature into every aspect of our lives — including insults and gossip.

When your grandma tells you that you look "healthy" she probably doesn't mean you have a radiant glow about you. It's just a nice way of saying you've put on some weight since last time she saw you.

The same goes for other common Southern phrases like "bless your heart" and "God love 'em," which are thinly veiled ways to insult someone's intelligence.

Even "I'll pray for you," which may be true in some cases, can be used as an insult to imply there is no way to salvage someone's mistake so praying is the only thing left.

[Aussie105]

1. Best accompanied with a gentle head shake, I'd say.

Grandma: 'You did what? Your future sure looks bright!' accompanied by the tell-all gentle head shake.

[marble falls]

2. My grandmother used to refer to my mother as "poor Jean, she don't mean no ...

harm ... ", sometimes when my mom was right there in the room.

They were both amazing dynamic women who got things done but granma was opposite side of the tracks from my mother. It was all over style.

[SHRED]

3. Condescension is ugly and arrogant

No matter how veiled.

No one likes to be talked down to.

[DashOneBravo]

8. Sir, so is being rude

[SHRED]

12. Guilty as charged

😂😂

[DashOneBravo]

13. Have a great nite!

[gordianot]

4. Calling a younger adult male "son" is NOT positive.

The deeper meaning is I am better than you and damn it you better listen to me.

[klook]

10. Neither is calling an old guy "young man"!

Last edited Fri Jul 5, 2019, 11:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Happened to me a few times!

[nolabear]

14. God, and "Young Lady." I have to restrain myself!

That’s not Southern though. Just creepy.

[emmaverybo]

18. The "young lady" thing is said to older ladies now. Awful. When I waitressed in my youth I got

called “ the girl” a few times.

[Midnight Writer]

22. My Dad loved the "young man" thing. He took it seriously and would proudly tell the story.

I guess I'm not old enough to be called "young man".

[keithbvadu2]

5. British Parliament is famous for their flowery insults.

British Parliament is famous for their flowery insults.

[DeminPennswoods]

6. If Alexa was Southern

Link:

[customerserviceguy]

9. I've seen it before

but I never get tired of watching it!

[spooky3]

17. Hey, why doesn't Alexa demand that the man use "please" and "thank you"?

[cwydro]

36. My friends laugh at me because I always say please and thank you to Siri.

It’s just too ingrained lol.

[Drahthaardogs]

7. I was in Montana once with a man from Louisiana

He kept saying "Damned Yankees this and Damned Yankees that", finally I stopped the truck, looked over at him and said "Look Bill, you are out west. No one gives a fuck about the Mason Dixon Line or that your great great uncle fought in that ancient war. Out here there are only two types of people, Westerners and Easterers, and You 're an Easterner. You might want to remember that going forward!"

[misanthrope]

27. Bravo!

I still hear comments about "Yankees," including from my mother. In the world wars, we were ALL Yanks and proud to be so.

[msongs]

11. southern gentility is smile in your face while stabbing you in the back. and I lived many yrs

in texas which is part of the new south

[underpants]

15. 👀

Oh this looks good

[nolabear]

16. There's an old joke about young Southern ladies

sitting on the veranda, chatting. Miss Audrey says “My daddy loves me so much he bought me a brand new Mercedes.” Miss Ashley says “Why that’s wonderful!” Miss Amanda says”My, my!”

Miss Ashley says “My daddy loves ME so much he bought me a brand new condo to live in.” Miss Audrey says “A new condo! That’s wonderful!” And Miss Amanda says “My, my!”

After a few minutes Miss Audrey says “Amanda, what has your daddy done for you?” Miss Amanda thinks a minute and says “Well, My daddy loves me so much he sent me to finishing school.”

“Well what did you learn that was so wonderful there?”

“I learned to say ‘My, my!’ instead of ‘Fuck you!’”

[emmaverybo]

20. Good one! NT

[uriel1972]

30. I immeadiatly thought of this as I read the title.

[Raine]

19. I think that's probably harder to take then

an outright face to face insult because it's harder to answer back to an insult that's so politely phrased.

[appalachiablue]

21. Look, an op on regional stereotypes. The 'Kalfornian Amazon Echo'

is a real trip I hear. A new one's coming out- for 'lovers of angels and crystals.' So cool. They wanted to call it the 'Marianne' but couldn't get the ok. It's alright, chill dude. Lol.

[ismnotwasm]

23. Southern Women's Channnel on YouTube highlights many of these in a hilarious way

&list=PLa01a94rYJbAw6Wa_3r2HsjZbXPctE2Nv

It was started by a group of Southern women and is not only funny, but Informative in places

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Southerners are supposed to be friendly and gracious,

and quite frankly in my experience they are usually anything but. They are actually rude, condescending, and downright mean. They disguise this with the famous Southern Accent which is misunderstood as friendly and gracious. It's not. It is, at the risk of repeating myself, a cover for rudeness, condescension, and meanness.

Their supposed friendliness is a mile wide and a half inch deep. I am sure that with real friends they are quite nice and wonderful, but to those they consider outsiders, not so much.

[misanthrope]

28. Been in the Deep South for 55 years

and my description is that Southerners are adept at politesse and politics. That shouldn't be confused with genuine friendliness.

[SouthernIrish]

33. I am sorry you feel that way

I lived in the south my entire life and I usually hear the opposite from people not from the south. Where I live, most people are friendly and gracious to others. Where I work we get people from all over the U.S. and almost everyone comments on how nice people are around here. I don't know where you were in the south, but please don't put us all in the same box. Southern hospitality is truly a real thing in most areas.

[cwydro]

37. Same here. You can't come to an intersection without everyone waving the others through first.

That particular thing annoys me lol, but it comes from a good place.

Everyone says hey when you walk by; people stop to offer help whenever they see someone who needs it. There’s not a store you can walk into without hearing, “How y’all doing today?” People wave from their front porches...I could go on.

[GulfCoast66]

35. Lived here all my life, but 4 different states. They vary.

Louisiana and Arkansas are friendly states with Louisiana being more welcoming to outsiders maybe due to their mixed heritage and large catholic population which make it the outlier in the traditional south. In Arkansas you are never really accepted if not from there. And if you aren’t baptist, Pentecostal or a mainline Protestant denomination you might have a hard time.

Kentucky is a mixed bag. But the mountain folks are very clannish and not really like the other parts of the south I have been. Florida is only about half southern to start with.

My favorite part of the south and most friendly by far is the gulf coast areas. Hence my DU name. The history of commerce, he introduced of new people and ideas make almost gulf coast city or town much more friendly and open than a similar sized town 20 miles inland. Of course, they generally have less native southerns, so there is that.

Funny, but I found the rural people in the Midwest to be very chilly to strangers. I guess it’s what your used to.

[appalachiablue]

38. Vary you say? Not according to some, I read here that Va.,

Fla. and Texas are 'all the same,' by somebody who claimed to have lived there. Sure, like Portugal, Italy and Romania are 'all the same.' Or Rhode Island, Illinois and Oregon. Lol.

A favorite area used to be the Gulf of Mexico side of FL- the Keyes, Key West. and Naples area. The parts of the South I've seen the most are the coastal cities and lovely barrier islands, Nags Head, Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans. All terrific, esp. NOLA which far exceeded expectations.

The diversity of people and the culture, the rich cuisine and music, natural beauty, architecture, vibes and charm are exceptional. People are missing out!



Morris Island, South Carolina

[GulfCoast66]

39. Right! Every state varies in different places, but Florida May take the cake!

Miami is the gateway to South America. The Keys are, well, the keys. Tampa an old city for here with a unique history.

North of Tampa 200 miles of empty counties with no beaches. And few people. But great fishing and wildlife viewing.

North Florida is like Georgia and Alabama till you reach the coast.

The only thing keeping us from being Blue are all the old, white, wealthy retirees moving into places like the villages. They are coming faster than they die.

[appalachiablue]

40. Fla is a very large state with a long heritage of cultural diversity

from the earlier era of New France and New Spain which saw settlements around St. Augustine of French Huguenots in the 1600s and Greek immigrants in New Myrna in the mid 1700s.

The diversity of land and sea, and peoples brings a richness and variation to life; New Orleans for example, with its interesting mixture of French, Spanish, African American and Ango cultures, as well as Santa Fe with its three cultures.

Remaining insular is often so detrimental to commerce, culture and life but many inward communities from rural to urban areas exist here, in Europe and elsewhere. My POV anyway.

[BamaRefugee]

25. Old Fave of mine: He's just a handful of "gimme" and a mouthful of "much obliged".

[Tikki]

26. If I call you.."Well there Punkin'"...you have a World of Hurt coming your way.

I haven't used it but a few times...


Tikki

[dchill]

29. "I'll pray for you,"

Please do. What could it hurt?

[Zipgun]

32. Sometimes, but not always. A lot of nuance in how you say these things. And that't that point

The article doesn't do a good job of explaining that. If these things were always insults, it wouldn't work. Then they would just be insults. But if they are only sometimes insults, then they work perfectly. Tone and context matter a lot, they can be sincere, empty banter OR insults. Even when they are used as insults, only sometimes they are meant to go over your head. Sometimes they're NOT.

[quickesst]

34. Hahaha

If you are from the south and they are directed at you, they are not thinly veiled insults. We know it's a full-on insult....... done politely. On the other hand, if a child is injured and mom or grandma come to their aid, you very may well here "bless your heart" or "God love it" In those cases, they are sincere and meant to comfort the child.