Skip to main content

It's a Southern Thang!

Originally Posted


I watched American Idol tonight and I have just about had it with this show. I have watched from Season 1 and it has just gotten more and more annoying. Tonight, there was approximately 45 minutes of screeching and caterwauling and 10 minutes of stupidity (not contestants) and a five minute "recap" of the talent found. 

The new judge is, in the words of our favorite cranky judge, "forgettable". She adds nothing to the show or the competition. The original judges are still the same, sometimes annoying, sometimes strange, sometimes just plain rude.

Tonight, I was offended. I have never been on the AI website forums before but I signed up (another annoying process) to be able to spend my two cents. (This is more or less a copy of my post there.)

I have to insert a brief summary of the incident for the ten or twelve people who don't watch so that they can follow the logic...

This is an excerpt from another post from the forum...


...the auditions in Louisville ky, the man that auditioned [Mark Mudd] sang a George Jones song - White Lighting.  He was shot down, which was very understandable. At the end he told the judges "ya'll take care and be careful"  The judges took this as a threat.  Well i dont know how they could have taken this as a threat.  Here in Kentucky we say this quite often. 


I live in Alabama, was raised in Georgia and I have heard (and said) some version of this all my life - "Be careful" or "Take Care" or occasionally if the person departing is driving a distance, "Drive carefully" or "Drive Safe".  It is important to note here that this is not a "recent" colloquialism or new slang as my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother used to say this all the time. (Where do you think us "good ol' boys" learned it?) 

It was apparent from the moment Mr Mudd walked in that he was a victim of prejudice and ignorance. The first thing heard when he walked in was Simon Cowell asking "Is that a gun". Really? Perhaps when you live your life being as blunt and honest (and sometimes just cruel) to people, you should always be looking for weapons. 


I think this contestant was just nervous, shocked and upset and reverted back to his natural, polite, southern upbringing. It is a shame that a well-wisher can be so misunderstood. Is it really that rare? Not according to the AI forums. There are eleven pages of posts as of this writing (3 hours after the show ended). Most were people from all over the US stating that they have heard or said this themselves. Maybe it isn't just a southern thing after all.

Y'all take care.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

In the Arms of the Angels

Originally Posted
Three weeks after my last post, I lost my mom, quite suddenly. It's been nearly four months and I am no closer to understanding, no closer to acceptance, and certainly no closer to OK. This, just two weeks before my beautiful daughter was born. Mom had been so excited about my first child. A child no one ever expected. A grandchild she had given up on. (Yes, she has four awesome and monstrously talented grandkids she saw daily, but none from me.) At forty-five (when we found out) no one was as surprised as I was. No one was more excited than my mom. Every time I talked to her, she asked (usually her first words) "do we have a baby yet". The last time I called (the night before the morning I got "the call" was no exception. I told her soon. We talked about how we would get up there as soon as we could after so she could see the baby. I told her I would call her again soon. She sounded tired and I didn't want to aggravate an already delicate balance. (Another...
4 comments
Read more

Mayberry Mourns

Originally Posted
What a sad, sad day. In what has to be a national tragedy, beloved actor Andy Griffith, who raised untold generations of kids with his tv son Opie, has passed at 86. I have literally shed tears as if my own grandfather had breathed his last, again. If that wasn't enough sadness, a local celebrity (how he would laugh), has fought the great fight and lost. Ken "K.C." Carlisle, was one of the first people I had business dealings with when I moved to Dothan, almost 17 years ago. A nicer guy you couldn't have conjured. As sad as it is, I don't think KC could have asked for better than going out with Andy. Both will be missed and probably for many of the same reasons. The easy smile, the natural warmth, and the feeling that you are among family, are qualities that seem to fit both. As much as I wish l could claim to be friends with either or both, this is just the ramblings of an acquaintance (at best) and a fan. As a human, it makes me wonder... What legacy will I ...
1 comment
Read more

Year of the Dork

Originally Posted
So I'm watching TV and the disembodied voice of Tim Allen asks, "where is your road to happiness". I'm not sure what that has to do with soup but it made me think. What is my road to happiness? Did I miss the exit? Am I even in the right town? There is no GPS for the road of life but I'm pretty sure if I had one it would sound like Dean Winters in a Geico commercial... "recalculating". I realized that I've spent the last several years not actively trying to accomplish anything, not chasing any dreams, just coasting along through life, waiting to die. I wasn't even ambitious enough to try to end it. More like a passive suicide. Now past 40, in a dead end job and living alone, hours from the nearest hint of family, in a town with nothing left to offer, it has become clear that I have wasted at least half of my life (statistically), possibly two-thirds (based on family history). Not only am I doing nothing, I'm not even pretending to try ...
4 comments
Read more

Seven Things I've Learned in Seven Months

Originally Posted
Before my daughter was born, I wrote (OK, pilfered, paraphrased, and possibly plagiarized) a blog entry titled 99 things I hope to teach my daughter. Now, here we are, more than seven months in and I thought I'd share seven things I've learned. The things that she's learned had nothing to do with me. The things I've learned are all because of her. There is nothing better than the great big grin on her face when I walk into a room. There is no sound sweeter than her laugh. I can change diapers, wipe snotty noses and clean up spit up without a hazmat suit or throwing up. Not all babies look like aliens (it seems most don't in fact). Babies go through a LOT of diapers and baby wipes. A. Freaking. Lot. Eat, sleep, pee, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, pee, and repeat. I have a lot to learn. (But I've learned a lot.) One bonus item that isn't on the numbered list only because it isn't technically from the baby... Mommy's job never ends. T...
1 comment
Read more