# They Say the South is friendly **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2023, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572 "2023-11-23T05:33:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/1 "2023-11-23T05:33:06Z")
And “southern hospitality” is a supposed byword. But look at these maps from Atlas Obscura. > **[Your Personality Depends on Which U.S. State You Live In](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/usa-personality-map?utm_source=Meta%2B&utm_medium=traffic&utm_campaign=NovemberSocial&fbclid=IwAR09A6NbG9d7kiPuExUbrzS3Opjr76WbX5pQhrDmEkH6f5kcb3PrNv9xhdM)** > > A map of confidence and kindness from California to New York. Lots of red in the red states, Hmmm ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/2 "2023-11-23T05:34:35Z")
Good grief, have a mod fix your title before my eyeballs explode. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/3 "2023-11-23T05:39:37Z")
Already done. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/4 "2023-11-23T05:58:26Z")
I’m nice. Considerate. Possibly charming in certain circles. From south Arkansas. Damn you for saying I’m not, you big dumb head. Don’t bother me with your nonsense anymore. You hear me??! 😊 And, Bless your heart! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/5 "2023-11-23T06:09:37Z")
Um, are you (the OP) reading those maps correctly? Of the five traits measured, I guess “agreeableness” is the closest to friendliness, and that map shows the southern states having a much higher degree of agreeableness than in the north, which seems to agree with the “friendly South” stereotype and be the opposite of what I think you’re claiming. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/6 "2023-11-23T06:12:30Z")
I’ve lived in Texas and Arkansas for most of my life. For the most part, I’ve found people to be fairly friendly. But then I’ve found people to be friendly in California, Colorado, New Jersey, Germany, and most other places I’ve been to. I’m certain there’s a lot of variation depending on who you are as well as where and when you went somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/7 "2023-11-23T06:33:59Z")
The PNW is extraverted? Tell me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze without telling me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze. > **[Seattle Freeze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze)** > > The Seattle Freeze is, according to widely held belief, a difficulty with making new friends in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington, particularly for transplants from other areas. A 2005 article in The Seattle Times appears to be the first known use of the term, although the phenomenon was documented during rapid population increases in the early 1920s, World War II, and the 1980s. > Newcomers to the area have described Seattleites as socioculturally apathetic, standoffish, cold, distant, and d... ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/8 "2023-11-23T10:54:42Z")
I’ve traveled all over the US, and the only two places where I found random people to be routinely assholes is Boston Massachusetts and Mobile Bay Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/9 "2023-11-23T12:23:42Z")
The cited article made the dumb decision to color their maps so red means more of the “good” behavior and green means more of the “bad” behavior. Which is sort of the opposite of what you’d expect. Sounds like maybe the article writers suck at basic psychology. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/10 "2023-11-23T14:31:03Z")
Most people, in most places, just want to live their lives. If you don’t bother them, they’ll either ignore you, or engage in whatever level of courtesy they feel will grease the social gears enough to get on their way without being bothered. Different cultures, however, have different takes on how much social grease should be applied, as well as whether to use 10W-Friendly or heavyweight Synthetic Indifference. For example, a Southerner might be more likely to engage in inquiries that they regard as required chitchat, the omission of which would constitute an impolite disregard for their conversational partner’s well-being. Their, say, Midwestern interlocutor, meanwhile, might find those questions intrusive, because they’re accustomed to interacting with others in a more self-contained context. I think it more likely that the maps display cultural differences than psychological ones, unless the study did one hell of a job controlling for that–and how do you control for a cultural inclination to tell polite fictions to the nice interviewer you’d really rather not be talking to? ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/11 "2023-11-23T14:36:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > the article writers suck at basic psychology Not very amiable of you, is this? I might say “The article writers may lack a firm grasp of basic psychology” if I were a nicer person. Which I’m not. So carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/12 "2023-11-23T14:37:34Z")
It’s dumb to equate particular political beliefs with friendliness. As for Professional Southerners (and their over-the-border counterpart, Professional Canadians) who insist emphatically on their overweening friendliness, better not contradict them, or they’ll likely whip your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/13 "2023-11-23T14:42:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The cited article made the dumb decision to color their maps so red means more of the “good” behavior and green means more of the “bad” behavior. Which is sort of the opposite of what you’d expect. I didn’t have any clue as to which color meant which, but I do fault the article for not clearly labeling the maps. The color-coding is hidden in the text in the middle of the article: “On these maps, red means higher than average, green means lower.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/14 "2023-11-23T14:44:38Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Most people, in most places, just want to live their lives. If you don’t bother them, they’ll either ignore you, or engage in whatever level of courtesy they feel will grease the social gears enough to get on their way without being bothered. The problem comes in that, for some people, “bothering them” can mean “have the sheer and utter gall to exist”. But how did they measure these qualities? If it’s just by self-assessment, then the maps look about right… but self-assessment of personality is horribly inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![Digger11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Digger11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger11)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/15 "2023-11-23T14:51:51Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The PNW is extraverted? Tell me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze without telling me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze. Adults everywhere complain of the difficulty of making new friends. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/16 "2023-11-23T15:04:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > The cited article made the dumb decision to color their maps so red means more of the “good” behavior and green means more of the “bad” behavior. Which is sort of the opposite of what you’d expect. > > I didn’t have any clue as to which color meant which, but I do fault the article for not clearly labeling the maps. The color-coding is hidden in the text in the middle of the article: “On these maps, red means higher than average, green means lower.” Yeah. The incompetence in putting that together is unbelievable. It took me a while too. It’s meant to be a heat map where red is more of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/17 "2023-11-23T15:06:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The PNW is extraverted? Tell me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze without telling me you’ve never heard of the Seattle Freeze. Green means less of the thing so the PVW is not extroverted per the article ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/18 "2023-11-23T16:21:11Z")
According to this “research” the South excels in Agreeability, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. So not only did the OP draw the opposite conclusion from this report, but the premise, methodology and conclusions appear to be somewhere between astrology and graphology in plausibility. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/19 "2023-11-23T16:47:28Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Um, are you (the OP) reading those maps correctly? Hmm, I see your point. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The cited article made the dumb decision to color their maps so red means more of the “good” behavior and green means more of the “bad” behavior. Which is sort of the opposite of what you’d expect. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572/20 "2023-11-23T16:53:33Z")
i would have expected that the northeast would have shown to be more friendly. I was also surprised to see Wisconsin and Minnesota ranked as friendly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-the-south-is-friendly/993572.md?page=2)