Suddenly Southern: A Yankee's Guide to Living in Dixie

Well, honey, here's your complete guide to living in Dixie, providing migrating Yanks with tips on living, eating, greeting, driving, walking, talking, and what food to bring to a funeral. From his 'n' her Southern Hair Dos (and Don'ts) to The A to Z Dixie Dictionary, Suddenly Southern includes everything you need to know about living south of the Mason-Dixon Line, including:

• Recipes that range from mint juleps and hoppin' john to recipes for disaster

• "Know Your Bugs by Their Mugs," a handy identification chart

• 10 ways to say, "Now that's ugly" in Dixie

• How to walk from the store to the car without dying, a Fun-in-the-Sun Survival Kit

• 100 Southern Things Worth the Trip

From Southern tailgate food (deviled eggs and cheese straws) to minding your BBQs, from pronouncing pecan to knowing when your cat's a true Southerner, from knowing when you're fittin' in to knowing when you're not, this is the ideal guide for anyone moving, planning a move, or just plain ol' interested in this fascinating American region. With this book on your shelf, they'll never be able to say "Yankee, go home" again.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Funny and true!, 2008-01-01
I bought this book for a friend that mmoved here from Boston and has a very thick accent. We joke each other all the time and I thought the book was perfect for her. She got a kick out of it.


11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

So Maureen's still bitter, eh?..., 2007-06-20
Ah Maureen, I see she's still got the venom flowing, bless her heart...

I remember Maureen well from her days in Raleigh, or H-E-double hockey sticks, as she liked to call it. She became semi-famous for her column criticizing everything southern after she had to move to Raleigh, NC because of her husband's job transfer. For a woman who prided herself on her hyphenated last name & feminist stance, I think it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Of course her editor loved all the responses that flowed in following virtually all of her columns, which were nearly always condescendingly critical of the South in general, and Raleigh in particular. Ms Maureen never bothered to look around with an un-jaundiced (is that a word?) eye long enough to attempt an embrace of her new environment. Need an example? She insisted on returning to Filthydelphia...ERR... Philadelphia to have her hair styled, since 'they just don't understand how to do it down here'.

I could go on providing background as to why this is only yet another condescending slam on all habits Southern pretending to be a 'gently humorous look at the South', but there's enough info provided here already as proof.

Need verification? What other book puts such a huge amount of its' content out for people to 'pre-read' before buying? No, this is like one of those sophomoric comedic movies targeted at the 15-25 yr old male audience, the ones where all the 'funny' stuff is contained in the trailers, you know? Only this targets the folks who live in the North and think everybody in the South either lives in a tar-paper shack or on a plantation.

Northerners who either have never visited the South or who think 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'The Dukes of Hazzard' represent Southerners accurately should love this book. No one else will. It's interesting that so many of Maureen's neighbors in North Raleigh found both Raleigh, and North Carolina to be wonderful places to live, and embraced the locals' customs and idiosyncracies. Maureen never bothered with that, instead voicing her complaints about the lack of availability of the regional foods of Philadelphia while disparaging the regional foods of central NC & criticizing people for being 'slow' and 'falsely gracious'. Based on Maureen's hypercritical style, I can perhaps understand why someone meeting her would feel 'forced' to act friendly.

Personally, I found it a waste of paper, and am disappointed any trees had to be sacrificed for her vindictiveness. I don't know if Maureen is happy back in Pa., but I do pity her for wasting the several years she spent in Raleigh and for not having the ability nor desire to objectively view anything outside of her personal cocoon.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Yankees Guide, 2007-05-15
Open it to any page a get a great laugh. Great book!


3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

A Yankee's view of Southern Customs!!!, 2006-09-07
Maureen has done herself proud to have such an insight into what makes Southern People so very special!!! We offered her a pardon for being born in Yankee-Land, and bestowed to her an official "Southern Belle" title if she would live here in Raleigh, NC for
10 years. Her husband was so overwhelmed to see the Southern changes in her, he just had to take her back to Philadelphia!!!

Maureen grasped the marvelous culture of the South, and even a little of the funny customs that we have!!

Read "Suddenly Southern" to get an idea what the Yankee's are missing by not moving to the South!! Understandably, not all can appriciate our customs, I guess that is the reason I-95 runs both South and North!!

The defining question is, "How many people have you heard of that Retires to the North!!!! I rest my case!!

Sonny Kellum


2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Belly Laffs bigger than my bunions!!, 2006-08-09
I loved the humor in this book! Having been born and raised in the Philly area myself and subsequently traveling and working throughout the South, I could easily identify with the author's humorous, playful and ultimately affectionate view of Southern Living, as seen through Yankee eyes. The book reads well if you've got the time to read it chapter by chapter or just a bit, as the time allows. I'm a fixin' to read this one again soon!

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