Archive for November 5th, 2009

People in the South rarely say the words “Civil War”. I didn’t realize that until I moved to the South. Mention the Civil War to a Southerner and you will not get a polite reply. Belles can cover up their feelings most of the time with a smile and a “Bless your heart!”, but when the subject of the War comes up, it’s tough even for the most experienced Belle.

The Civil War is still a sore subject in the South. You will find it called many different things, but never the Civil War. As one Belle put it, “There was nothing civil about it. We didn’t know those people.” And that’s saying a lot coming from a Belle because civility is a way of life. My husband, a South Carolina boy born and bred, refers to it as The War of Northern Aggression. It is also called The War Between the States and The Late Unpleasantness (I particularly like that one). Whatever it’s called, the war is still serious business in the South. I lived in Atlanta for several years, and they still take The War of Northern Aggression very hard. Maybe it’s because most of their buildings and homes were burned down. Dang Sherman. Of course if that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have one of the best scenes in Gone With the Wind. I’m just saying….

Most people I know from the North never think about the War. That is definitely not the case in the South. They still hold a grudge. I think that’s why so many people will say, once they hear any sort of Yankeeness in your accent, “You’re not from around here, are you?” Or one of my very favorites, “Who are your people, dear?” Southerners care deeply about the War and also about your family tree. And if your family tree branches up north of the Mason-Dixon line, uh oh.

I love this quote from a true Belle: “I never heard about anything called the Civil War until I went to Maine one summer with my mother. In Alabama, my family and my teachers always called it the War Between the States. And that was only when they were being polite.”