Thursday, October 16, 2008

How should I have responded?

I was sitting by the pool talking with Weezy yesterday. In a condescending tone of voice, a lady, sitting a few chairs down, said, "Good Lord! With that accent, you MUST be from Kentucky!"

Yes, I have a southern accent. And I realize to a lot of people a Southern accent makes you seem dumb. But that isn't what really pissed me off.

What really set me off was HER condescension!

This lady looks like she would fit in real good with the guys in Deliverance. She is at least 400 pounds. And, yes, I can comment on fat people because I am fat.

Every time I see her, she looks as if she hasn't bathed within the last 10 days or so. Now I have missed a bath or two in my time but she just looks gross. All. The. Time.

Her teeth look like they are about to rot out of her head. Visit a dentist for God's sake! Or at least brush!

She has two of the most ill-mannered, uncontrolled kids that I have ever seen. And she is constantly yelling at them - threatening them "If you don't stop, I'm gonna..." but she never does anything but yell.

And she is carrying around a pack of Kool cigarettes, a lighter, her keys, a cell phone, and god only knows what else between her gigantic breasts!!

So who was she to act as if she is better than me because of my accent?!? So what if I have the thickest Southern accent she has EVER heard? She is the one that fits the stereotypical Southern redneck.

I just smiled sweetly and said, "No, I'm from Tennessee." How should I have responded?

9 comments:

Busy Bee Suz said...

It sounds as though this woman has not a clue about tact. Perhaps she did not mean for it to come out as an insult???? but she is just dumb???
Personally, I love a nice southern drawl...my Mom has one, I have a bit of it from my time in GA, FL and TX....
I don't know what I would have said.....really. I am never very good in those situations. She sounds like a real pig though. :)
Like my walmart joke a few days ago...did you read that? That would have been a good comeback.

ToniM said...

Okay, that is the 2nd reference to Deliverance I have read in the last 2 days, I am going to have to crank up some Heavy Metal to get the sound of the dueling banjos out of my head.

You were a lot nicer than I would have been, cuz I would have totally made reference to her being from somewhere that obviously have running water.

ToniM said...

Okay I meant "obviously doesn't have running water" duh!

Big Hair Envy said...

I believe you responded in a most appropriate fashion. Don't let your anger pull you down to her level......at least not until you can get home and blog avout it!!!

Personally, I'm proud of my southern accent:)

Big Hair Envy said...

*about it

Whoops! First day with my new fingers!!

Unknown said...

Sounds like you did the right thing.

People like that aren't worth the time and even if you challenged her, she wouldn't "get it"

Anonymous said...

You did the right thing, although, being from Mississippi (I get that ALOT when I speak with people from other states while doing my job) I would easily have noted that the cost of a bad is ALOT lower than the cost of a pack of cigerettes!

Anonymous said...

Oops! That would be BATH!

Anonymous said...

I think your response was just fine! It's not worth your time to get heated about people like this, and it's true that she may not have intended it to come out the way it sounded. ;)

One of my best friends in the world comes from Tennessee! Being English myself, we constantly tease each other about our accents, but I just love hers!