Manners

I was raised to be your stereotypical courteous Southern darling by my mother. Who's from Michigan. Regardless, I spin out the pleases and the ma'ams like a good little girl, smile sweetly like I'm genuinely pleased to see the person, and darling whoever I'm talking to like they mean something special to me when that is rarely the case.

Manners are really the best kind of deception, the reason being that there's nothing deceptive about them. They're just good living. You can keep yourself on good terms with your worst enemy, as long as you're nice and polite to them. These days, that's referred to as 'Old World charm', though all it really is is a smile and well chosen words. Courtesy.

Being raised with my Southern manners (Won't you please come in, darling, have a drink?), it upsets me greatly when people neglect such minor courtesies. I mean, really! There is absolutely no call to be rude! You should smile at strangers, wave to people who drive through the neighborhood when you're walking, and always call before you show up at someone else's door. That is, of course, only if you haven't been given an express invitation to 'come by any time, sugar.'

I'm not talkin' 'bout anything so fancy as dinner silverware, though that's always a good thing to know. No, I'm talkin' common sense! It is NOT complex. You exchange small talk before bad news, you give up your seat for someone older or more burdened than yourself, and you don't talk with your mouth full of food. All relatively 'duh' things to do.

I was raised to be a courteous Southern darling by my yankee mother. You don't have to be Southern to know good manners, and here's the proof. You just have to possess good ol' common sense. (Though it could be argued that it's mainly Southerners that possess the stuff.)