Boundaries

[ArtemisHi]

...actually, some Californians MAY view themselves as the world's shrinks...

Well, if you go by the view that all psychologists have issues to begin with. . .


Don't get me started on the mess that is my former state. Personally, I am waiting until they legislate themselves back into grass huts. Then I will ride across the border with a conquering army and declare myself king.

*chuckle* Kudos to us for escaping CA! Can I be part of this conquering army??

[txanne]

Mostly, I reserve my ragging for O'Hare, that circle of hell.

It's not ragging if it's truth. O'Hare's non-Euclidean nature is obvious as soon as you set foot in it.

[miminnehaha]

I am dreamy enough today to notice the ?irony? of our pondering the boundaries of teasing and bigotry, politeness and prejudice, in a thread titled "Boundaries." 

[eschatonic]

delurking to point out that from a linguistics standpoint, one of the reasons we think Northerners are rude and Southerners are slow has to do with the amount of time we pause at the end of our sentences. 

Southerners put a lot more space around their thoughts than the rest of the country does. I mean, okay not a lot, we're talking about tenths of a second here, but there is a noticeable difference.  People have done studies on it.

So a Southerner talking to a Northerner tends to get interrupted a lot, because the Northerner hears this big long pause and thinks "oh, you're done talking, it's my turn now."  So the Southerner walks away from this thinking Northerners are rude and impatient, and the Northerner thinks Southerners are hostile and kinda dim, because if you talk that slowly you probably are a little slow.

Oh yeah, the extremes for this in the US: New Yorkers, for the shortest pauses, and Native Americans for the very longest.


...back to lurking....

[Elizabeth Bear]

(Hi there, and welcome!)

[miminnehaha]

delurking to point out that from a linguistics standpoint, one of the reasons we think Northerners are rude and Southerners are slow has to do with the amount of time we pause at the end of our sentences. 

...back to lurking....

And isn't it really interesting that the patterns of accent which mark Southern American English as different from (non-accented) "standard" share characteristics with the patterns of accent for people in the South of England compared to, say, a "public school" accent?  I thought this was probably a clue to something bigger when I heard about it!

[Scedasticity]

And isn't it really interesting that the patterns of accent which mark Southern American English as different from (non-accented) "standard" share characteristics with the patterns of accent for people in the South of England compared to, say, a "public school" accent?  I thought this was probably a clue to something bigger when I heard about it!

"Shadwell hated all southerners and, by inference, was standing at the North Pole." -- Good Omens

[txanne]

delurking to point out that from a linguistics standpoint, one of the reasons we think Northerners are rude and Southerners are slow has to do with the amount of time we pause at the end of our sentences. 

...back to lurking....

And isn't it really interesting that the patterns of accent which mark Southern American English as different from (non-accented) "standard" share characteristics with the patterns of accent for people in the South of England compared to, say, a "public school" accent?  I thought this was probably a clue to something bigger when I heard about it!

The biggest influence on the English of the southern US, as I understand it, was the various languages of West Africa. This frequently makes me laugh at...oh, you can guess.

And eschatonic--please delurk more often, and don't be in a hurry to relurk!

[Felicia1066]

delurking to point out that from a linguistics standpoint, one of the reasons we think Northerners are rude and Southerners are slow has to do with the amount of time we pause at the end of our sentences. 

Southerners put a lot more space around their thoughts than the rest of the country does. I mean, okay not a lot, we're talking about tenths of a second here, but there is a noticeable difference.  People have done studies on it.

So a Southerner talking to a Northerner tends to get interrupted a lot, because the Northerner hears this big long pause and thinks "oh, you're done talking, it's my turn now."  So the Southerner walks away from this thinking Northerners are rude and impatient, and the Northerner thinks Southerners are hostile and kinda dim, because if you talk that slowly you probably are a little slow.

Oh yeah, the extremes for this in the US: New Yorkers, for the shortest pauses, and Native Americans for the very longest.


...back to lurking....

I ran into this phenomenon a lot when I lived in Spain for a few months. I'm not guaranteeing the exact numbers here, but: Someone from the US will generally wait about a second to see if the other has finished speaking. Someone from Sweden will wait two or three times that. Someone from Spain will usually start talking immediately when the other stops, sometimes before they stop. Now picture a conversation between a couple of US-ians, a Swede, and three Spaniards.... Yeah. I never got anything said. I was being polite by letting them finish, they thought I was boring and had nothing to say so they rushed in to fill in the "awkward" silence, and I thought they were rude and never let me get a word in.

I learned to adapt. They learned to adapt. But it took a couple months of living in each others' pockets.

[Jezabella49]

Pause times.  *sigh*  I was born in the state of New York, but I tend to leave long pauses in the middle of utterances.  This drives my husband to distraction.   Also, certain friends attempt to finish my paragraphs for me, which drives me to distraction.

I live in Pennsylvania, so I don't fit the standards.

[Leah Bobet]

...I dunno, guys.  All those Americans look the same to me.   

*giggles*

*runs*

[jennythe_reader]

Pause times.  *sigh*  I was born in the state of New York, but I tend to leave long pauses in the middle of utterances.  This drives my husband to distraction.   Also, certain friends attempt to finish my paragraphs for me, which drives me to distraction.

I live in Pennsylvania, so I don't fit the standards.

Were you by any chance born in western New York?  I'm from Michigan originally, and I do that, and so does my entire family, and bunches of people I knew growing up.  I'm wondering if it's a characteristic of the Great Lakes region, which would include both Michigan and western New York.

[eschatonic]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Re that whole "damnyankees" thing ... I live in a very racially mixed neighborhood.  So black people tend to address me as "white girl" to distinguish me from the crowd of blacks and hispanics.  Most of the time it's just a neutral identifier.  "hey white girl, your bag is unzipped" it's shorter than hey-you-in-the-blue-sweater.  But I've heard it used as a synonym for "pretty girl" and also for something that might be a racial slur but I generally do not engage in conversation with those people to find out. 

So when I read that conversation in the story I heard the "yankees" bit as a synonym for "what the hell am I getting myself into?" since this whole scenario is pushing pretty hard on the limits (boundaries, haha) of Danny Brady's ability to trust people.

[el_jefe]

*chuckle* Kudos to us for escaping CA! Can I be part of this conquering army??

Certainly! Have you a billet preference? I have a Bear Calvary unit that needs compentent leadership, some intel slots with the 7th Ninja Division, and even a privateer cruiser that is short a captain (the letter of marquee is post dated, obviously).

[nyarlathotep]

Pause times.  *sigh*  I was born in the state of New York, but I tend to leave long pauses in the middle of utterances.  This drives my husband to distraction.   Also, certain friends attempt to finish my paragraphs for me, which drives me to distraction.

I live in Pennsylvania, so I don't fit the standards.

Were you by any chance born in western New York?  I'm from Michigan originally, and I do that, and so does my entire family, and bunches of people I knew growing up.  I'm wondering if it's a characteristic of the Great Lakes region, which would include both Michigan and western New York.

Yeah, I do that too.

My wife lived in Alabama for 20 years, although she was from Alpena, MI originally.  She picked up the accent down there, and now she doesn't fit in anywhere!