One of These Things Is Not Like The Other!

One of my favorite blogs to read is also one of the very first blogs I ever started following. I have read every single post Kelly from Kelly’s Korner Blog has posted since January 2008. Crazy!

Recently Kelly posted an amazing topic inviting people to talk about the differences stemming from where they live – ie, what people call things, what they eat, how they talk, what they refer to – and how it differs from state to state.

I read almost every single comment (nearly 500 total!) and was DYING. I had no idea that some of the things people were mentioning even EXISTED!

As many of you know, I went to the University of Arizona for college and though Tucson is a mere 500 miles away from Los Angeles, I met people there who could easily have been from another world. Almost every single one of my best friends is from the South – places like Memphis and Houston and Dallas and Mountain Brook and Austin and Charleston and New Orleans and Shreveport, places I never expected to visit in my lifetime!

Now, of course, I consider myself an honorary southerner :) I drink sweet tea and say “y’all!” I’ve been to rodeos and the Texas State Fair and have visited Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I have eaten chicken fried steak and grilled oysters and real barbeque (wet AND dry) and po boys and sausage on a stick – foods you just don’t see over here.

I remember being in college and learning all these crazy things that they ALL knew about and I had never even heard of. I had never eaten queso (cheese dip) or went “muddin’” – which is when you drive your truck into a super muddy field and then go to school with your truck all filthy and dirty. I didn’t know what cow-tipping was (umm… which is when you and your friends go into a field and literally tip a cow over on its side…) I had a friend who had a gun rack in his car, for God’s sake.

Because Gerrick’s wedding is literally just days away we’ve been talking a LOT about southern weddings. Did ya’ll know that in the south it’s a tradition to take bridal portraits before the wedding? That’s right, the bride gets her hair and makeup done and gets all dressed up in her gown and takes photos with her photographer – just of herself! Her fiancée is not involved at all! And then she displays a photo AT the wedding! I had NEVER heard of this before Gerrick told me about it.

Also new to me? House parties and grooms cakes. In the south, in addition to the bridesmaids in the bridal party, brides ask close friends to serve as the “house party” – basically female ushers. They come to the bachelorette party and walk down the aisle, but they don’t have to wear bridesmaid dresses. And grooms cakes are VERY southern – in addition to the big fancy wedding cake, the bride surprises the groom with a smaller cake that’s decorated like something he lives – usually his favorite sports team, I think. NEVER heard of that before I met my friends either!(Don't worry Mom, I am planning on getting bridal portraits taken and I will certainly have a groom's cake AND a house party!)

I feel like I’m rambling…but I just think it is too funny the differences between states. I have learned SO MUCH from my friends and I like to think that I’ve taught them things too :) I’m curious if you have had any experiences like mine? Do you have friends who are completely different from you who have taught you new things?