Now, everyone knows I am not a Southern Lady. I never will be - there are just too many nuances to learn and I just don't have the social graces - but there is one tradition that I have embraced whole heartedly.
It is by far the best greeting ever. It is inclusive. It is kind. It is uplifting. It is friendly. It is everything I ever wanted when I was saying hello and there is nothing better than, "Hi y'all!"
Coming from California, I used to say "Hey, guys." (I still do, old habits die hard.) I never liked it though because 79% of the time I was addressing just women. Last time I checked women are not men so they aren't guys. But that is how you say hello - you address everyone as a man. But that doesn't feel good.
I've thought about "Hey, gals.", "Hey, ladies", and "Hey, folks." - but none of those roll off the tongue and not everyone I know is a lady, in the Southernist of terms.
I tried just, "Hi." That just seems pathetic, like you are addressing the room, but no one knows who and so no one really responds.
Here are other greetings I have tried.
Hi, people - that seems weirdly unsettling, like some of us wouldn't be people.
Hey - hey who? It seems too casual.
Yo - well, that would never work coming out of my prissy ass white mouth.
Women - to formal.
Hey You Guys - but I can't get the image of the Electric Company out of my mind when I say that and I want to yell it.
See, a dilemma.
Well, I lucked out. I ventured out of California into the Mid-South and was able to slip into Y'all country. A friendly place where everyone is greeted on the same playing field, where it doesn't matter if you are a woman or a man - at least in the greeting!
Now I just have to figure out a good bye! Ciao, namaste, hasta, bu bye...
Photo Credit from Slippin Southern - an Etsy Store.
