My Life On The DD List

Holiday time is rolling around again.  I can’t even believe a year has gone since I last ate turkey.  I’m sure though, the turkey’s in my area are relieved to hear that.  Being from the North East….ok….New York City….it was quite an adjustment after I moved to Florida.  The first year or two of 80 degree weather for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years was a novelty.  I gotta say that the novelty has worn off a LONG time ago.  I miss that BONE chilling cold weather running from store to store Christmas shopping.  I mean, who feels festive when it’s 80 degrees outside?  Santa was on a sled not a surf board, am I right?  The song “Let It Snow” just seems so…..unnecessary here.  So, while having to adjust to the warmer weather, I also had to adjust to the slower pace of the shoppers.  My area has had a population explosion and there are many people from New York who are living here now, but even still……that “hustle and bustle” that is New York eludes us here in Florida.  No matter what anyone tells you, there IS a slower pace in the south.  With all of that comes a new etiquette to learn.  A new way of doing things.  A new way of speaking with people.

I was in the grocery store(when I first moved here), when someone came up to me and asked, “Is that your buggy?”  I was puzzled.  I looked around and didn’t notice a buggy anywhere near me.  Yanno, being a city girl, I’m lookin’ for a horse attached to a buggy.   I said, “Excuse me?”   The woman replied, “That buggy.  Is it yours?” motioning her head in the direction of my shopping cart.  I finally realized what she was asking of me and answered, “OH! The cart.  Yes this cart is mine.” and I smiled at her.  Yanno, as if by smiling I could assume that “southern charm” and combine it with my VERY pronounced New Yawk accent.  The woman walked away in a huff.  I couldn’t understand why the woman was angry with me.  I thought I was being nice, but perhaps she assumed that I was correcting her on the cart vs. buggy thing.  As she walked away from me she muttered something back to me….”yankee” something or another. 

I think, when people from the North East move south, they should be given a etiquette book.  The same should go for someone moving from the South to the North.   Emily Post did books for wedding or party host etiquette, so why not have books pertaining to the differences in North and South? (East and West too, for that matter)  I mean, this way, when you move, you can be more prepared and perhaps blend in a bit better.  (Right here, my thoughts go to that section of My Cousin Vinny “Oh yeah, you blend.” -Mona-Lisa Vito).  I have gotten more patient when it comes to certain things.  However my road rage has elevated since moving here.  Go figure, right?  I can also say that a slower pace, depending on the situation, isn’t always a bad thing.  Now I’m not saying that I’d be able to fit back in with the pace in New York anymore however I have to admit that, being in Florida for as long as I have, I still have not conformed 100%.  I definitely still have a New York accent.  Most who visit the restaurant ask me what part of New York I’m from after I speak with them for a few minutes.  I gotta say, that makes me feel good.  Like I’m still attached.  I think I also have a bit of New York edge;  ie:  nothing really surprises me.   I mean, it would really have to be something monumental but even then, I doubt I’d be shocked or surprised.  Although I admit that we humans can be cruel and unusual toward one another and every once in a while, something pops up on the news that does shock me.  I’m so NOT the “southern belle” type.  No matter what happens, I suppose you can take the girl out of New York, but not the New York outta this girl.

So no, I don’t call a shopping cart a buggy.  Hey, I just don’t.  But that’s me.  However, the woman who has lived here her whole life calls it a buggy.  So, I’m left to wonder….is it a cart or a buggy?  Perhaps the translation depends on whether you’re north or south of the Mason-Dixon.  But even then you may have to learn to speak the language, huh?