Ah, the art of flirting, all respectable Southern woman use this secret weapon every once in a while. It is one of the basic tools in our psyche, allowing us to obtain wants and needs in a fun, game-like manner. Flirting allows us to meet new people, charm the curmudgeons, and climb the business ladder. We know exactly when to use it and when to turn it off.
Margaret Mitchell got it right in Gone with the Wind, when Bonnie Blue hugs and kisses a delighted Daddy Rhett, and then asks for a pony. We, as Southern girls, are always Daddy’s little girl and carry this special gene for the flirting ability.
Our fathers activate this gene without consciously being aware. From the beginning, they melt when asked for something, if given the proper XXOOs lead-in. When they realize they may be spoiling us, they slow down rewards. We still get what we want, but we may wait a couple of months or years for satisfaction. This slow down is an opportunity to hone our skills for the hard sell, we know her as mother.
Ronda Rich fills her book, What Southern Women Know about Flirting, with wonderful Southern stories to demonstrate our God-given ability. One of my favorites involves the marital argument, which always occurs if one spouse thinks the other is “laying it on too thick” at a social event.
“…an Alabama-trained diva, and her husband left a Christmas party and immediately entered into an argument over her allure and charm, which had held most of the men at the party captivated. He thought she had taken too far her vow to always uphold social flirting as a critical attribute of Southern womanhood. As they argued, he swerved the car and looked up moments later to see a blue light flashing behind him.
He pulled over and a trooper approached the car. Since [the] husband, an attorney, had partaken of a couple of glasses of wine over the course of the evening, he was a bit nervous. After checking his license, the trooper said, ‘Sir, can you recite the alphabet for me?’
[The wife] leaned across her husband and said sweetly with a flutter of her eyelashes, ‘Now, officer, he couldn’t recite the alphabet when he was a senior at Ole Miss. Why would you expect that of him now?’ She finished the question with a delicious, flirtatious smile, and the officer laughed so hard that he dropped the whole matter.
As her chastised husband pulled the car back onto the road, she asked mischievously, ‘Now, what do you think of my charm?’”
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
What Southern Women Know about Flirting (copy)
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3 comments:
Reminds me of this time when I was working a craft trade show. The man who did our framing came up from somewhere in the South with his wife 'Honey' (that was her name...). I've had very little exposure to southern accents in Toronto and delighted in hearing her speak all weekend. I missed one day of the show and when I returned the next day, she looked at me and just said, 'I miiiiiiiiised yooooooooou.' The long drawn out vowels were to die for and I spent the rest of the weekend re-creating that one line complete with accent.
Thank heaven someone is doing her part to keep social flirting alive. As it is, what with all the sexual harrassment seminars in the work place, just saying "hello, what a lovely hat!" is suspect.
Librarian to librarian: Must read for all those new to the south:
A Southern Belle Primer, Or why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma
by Maryln Schwartz
Thanks for the title! I'll head to my library to get it...Monday!
They may try to supress us, but they will never kill our Southern style! ;-)
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