Why are southern people considered more friendly than New Englanders?

Question

Why do southern people behave in a more friendly nature than their counterparts to the north, in New England?

Answer 1

I don't find that to be true. Being a New Yorker living in the south----it depends on the people that you encounter. I've had bad experiences in both the north and south. People are people no matter where you go.

Answer 2

gzmom obviously did not read the question. Not only considered, but I find they are in general. New Englanders give off a better-than-you-are attitude, but subtly. Southerners will genuinely like others. But if you are from the North, they do not really hide the fact that you are different. I can ignore that, and did for eight years. I still have a problem with most people in New England that do not know me.

Answer 3

I spent a few years in San Francisco and the suburbs of Chicago.

To me, Southerners are not only courteous but have hearts as big as Texas. Neighbors know eachother in the south and look out for eachother. I don't know why, we just do.

Answer 4

Generalizations are dangerous, but here's my spin (as a Pennsylvanian smack in the middle…):

Southerners would give you the shirts off their backs, talking to you the whole time they're doing it as if you've known them your whole life. New Englanders would also give you the shirts off their backs, but only after they've had a chance to wash and iron them, put them in plain brown bags, and leave them at your back doors anonymously under the cover of darkness. As long as they can claim it on their taxes, they're fine with not talking to you about the whole experience!

Answer 5

I've always attributed it to climate. In the South, it's hot and humid and people spend more time outside and sitting on their porches. They are exposed to their neighbors more and so exercise the social graces more frequently. That is passed down through generations. In the north, people pretty much keep to themselves, tucked away in their nice warm dwellings and not interacting much, so their social graces are a bit more rusty.

Answer 6

When I was a kid growing up in New York, when someone would give you an open-ended invitation to visit them, you could sense that they were only being polite, that they really didn't want anything to do with you. Since I moved to Florida, I can sense that people genuinely want you to come and visit and are not inviting you just to seem polite.

Answer 7

Southern people are raised to be courtesy and helpful.

Answer 8

Southern hospitality, darlin'.

Answer 9

southerners have different values than northerners..

Answer 10

The people who say that haven't met my Witch-in-Law.