On My Southern Belle Qualifications

So yesterday I was posting something on Facebook that made me find a picture of the Cowardly Lion for my friend, Nasr. 

I'll leave it to your imagination why I thought of cowardly lions.

Somehow that lead me to showing Samer a clip from The Wizard of Oz since he'd never seen this movie before.

This lead to our speaking of Gone with the Wind. Oh yes, I think we were talking about how people in old-timey movies had odd accents.  Samer showed me this clip from Citizen Kane and we discussed whether Americans still talked this way.

We decided no.

So that's what lead to Gone with the Wind.  Because Samer is enamoured with southern accents and I was trying to find a movie displaying this most charming characteristic of genuine Southernness.

I think he started reading more about this movie because soon he asked me what a Southern belle was. 

"Look it up and tell me what you find," says bossy Susie (who was on the floor recording some donations for work.)

Samer obeys.  (Who says men aren't trainable?)

"Susie, let me see if this describes you."  So he started reading the Wikipedia article out loud.

A southern belle (derived from the French word belle, 'beautiful') is an archetype for a young woman of the American Old South's upper class.

A southern belle had a lot of rules in order to behave. Pants/trousers were not allowed on girls; they always had to wear a dress that covered their ankles and their wrists. Not doing so would result in accusations of being a tomboy, a prostitute and in some cases a lesbian. These rules became more relaxed in the 1940's when most of the men were fighting in the war, and companies began to hire women to do the work in the men's absence.

Speaking to someone who was not white, rich, or properly dressed was taboo for young girls, as well as talking about bodily functions and sexual themes. Even the word "pregnant" was banned for little girls to say, considering the word vulgar.

Women could never raise their voices at all. [Here Samer inserted, "This stuff sounds like the Middle East!" and then, "Nope, Susie, this isn't you. You yell sometimes!"]  They always had to be kind and polite to everyone they meet. When talking to others, women had to use proper grammar at all times and to never say swear words. Getting into rough, physical fights was only permitted for young boys and never girls.

We concluded that I didn't fit the description and Samer was glad.  According to this article, I would not be allowed to talk to him since he's not "white."

My sweet Arab friend in Switzerland - March 2010

Amber did a cute post about Southern Culture for outsiders. It is a compilation of things she and her friends came up with one night as they were discussing the subject.

I just wanted to record this because I found the whole conversation rather cute. Especially when Samer reminded me that I sometimes yell.

Who meeee?

Bless his heart.