Comment by DoreenMichele
2 years ago
I grew up in the South. Daddy was a Hoosier and spent a lot of years in the army and retired in Georgia. Mom is a German immigrant.
The upper classes of the Deep South, where people are very religious and often call folks "Mr./Mizz. First Name" as a mark of both respect and familiarity at the same time, seem to skew Guess culture. But then the upper classes generally seem to skew Guess culture.
The South is also a place where people are more likely to own guns and join the military. Military culture is mostly Ask culture. They tend to be very direct and some people find this refreshing/no BS and others find it rude, crude and socially unacceptable if you are influenced by that.
Working class stiffs in the South may be more influenced by the very direct Ask culture of the American military.
So it's probably a lot more complex than regional cultures.
Most of the working class whites I know from the south in the military, or more middle class southerners for that matter seem highly mannered and polite, not really “ask” culture.
That doesn't actually contradict anything I said. I'm not suggesting that only upper class Southerners have the famous Southern Manners and Southern Hospitality.
Just that there are variances across the region and those are some influences I know of.