I didn’t know what to image when Tracy sent me this book.  First thought was “Oh no, here we go again with all the southern jokes.”  When you live in the south all your life and you turn on the television or read a book that makes fun of people in the south, you get to where it really aggravates you.  You want to say, “Hey, this is the New South, why don’t you come down here and see for yourself how things have changed?”  So, that is what Maureen Duffin-Ward has done.  Well, she moved down here instead of just visiting (there’s a joke about this, too), but same difference.  

I have a friend who moved here from Michigan.  I teasingly call him a Yankee all the time because of his accent.  Not because I feel Yankees are bad, but because I enjoy the difference.  I also notice that his accent gets thicker when he gets tired.  

I live in the farthest outreaches of the south, since Arkansas probably wouldn’t be considered truly southern compared to Georgia or Alabama.  However, we are called southern when it’s convenient for people to make fun of the south.  I hear horror stories of how Yankees are treated in other states in the South, but can’t honestly say that it happens here in Arkansas.  We have too much tourism from people all over the US to be inhospitable.  We like Yankees and enjoy them spending their money here in the Natural State.  :-)

SUDDENLY SOUTHERN seems to read like an outline of things to look for, expect, and avoid for Northerners heading this way.  Some of it is right on target, like sweet tea.  Yes, we like a little tea with our sugar.  My grandmother made the best sweet tea, and even today, I can’t have enough sugar in my tea.  The food is pretty much on target; we do eat pork barbeque (Only in Texas they use beef, but we expect that from them!), drink Coca-Cola, and eat fried chicken.  We love our pecan pie (and we Arkansans say “pick-AHN”) and buttermilk biscuits.  But you forgot cornbread, Ms. Ward, and fried okra! 

I do take exception to the stereotypical southern men and women, used as diagrams complete with clothing illustrations and mottos.  What I have found is that there are these kind of people everywhere in the US, not just in the south.  You have your golfers, your hicks and your politicians.  The women portrayed are either southern belles, Daughters of the Confederacy or Ms. Redneck.  Please, if you’re going to degrade us, use some new material.  If it’s supposed to be funny, I’m missing it.  Things like the names for boys in the South totally escaped me:  I’ve never once met a Bubba, Luther Ray or a Beauregard.  But then, I’m not in North Carolina, so maybe they are more backwards than I even imagined. 

Some of the book was funny, like the signs of the zodiac using Tar Heels, Krispy Kremes and Pecan Pies.  I’ve seen something similar on the internet, so that wasn’t new to me.  Also, we hardly ever say, “Ya’ll come back and see us, ya hear?”.  This is dated and feels just as stereotypical as Ms. Ward’s requirement for getting in to the University of Arkansas - a sixth grade education.  Like I mentioned, if you’re going to insult us southerners, at least use new material. 

So, just read this as it must have been written, with tongue-in-cheek and not a true guide to the South.  I feel there is a lot to learn by Northerners if this is the best they can come up with.