Quote:
Originally posted by Gattigap
From my experiences having lived both within and without the South, I agree with this assessment.
My only additional observation is that those who would be dismissed as "relics" for overt racist remarks typically seem to be either (a) occupying lower rungs of the social ladder, or (b) true relics (e.g., old people). IMHO, Southerners tend to avoid ostracizing the true relics because too often they're related to the relics by blood or marriage.
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I saw a relic get called on it the other day.
Some asshole sitting at a table next to mine at lunch was looking for his waitress and yelled across the patio, "Hon? Could you come over here?" For the rest of the meal the four other people at his table berated him for the use of the word "hon." He tried to "aw shucks" away, and then he tried a very half assed apology to the waitress ("My wife says I offended you when I called you 'hon' before, and I should offer an apology.") But the rest of the table wouldn't let up on him, and despite his protests that his father and grandfather have been calling waitresses "hun" for years and it's something that you say down south, I think that it sunk in that it's not an acceptible term to someone you don't know.
