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,i>When I moved from Maine to the South, the biggest thing that took getting used to, was the fact that people just come up to you and start talking. Made me want to check my wallet, or wonder what their agenda was, until I got used to it and realized that it was just the locals being polite.

The biggest thing this southern boy noticed working in Maine and other parts north was the instant I opened my mouth and they noticed a southern drawl they immediately start to treat me like I'm stupid. It's a bad habit a lot of Yankees have towards southern folks. I used it to my advantage many, many times....

I married a Southern Belle - that makes me the worst kind of Yankee, I suppose. I came to the south, never left, and married the best looking woman. :-)

Anyhoo, my family back home *loves* to listen to her talk. They love her accent, even if I don't hear it anymore.

There are some communications problems, though. Mrs WBill can't understand some of my friends/relatives that have the thicker Downeast accents. lol!

Regarding your point on "stupidity"....Mrs WBill says that "slow doesn't mean dumb". I used to get frustrated with many of the locals who would take an eon just to spit out a sentence - especially after working for a long period of time in NYC, where people speak like machine guns. It was tough, coming from Maine where people rarely speak at all....to NYC where they hit you with rapid fire....to the south, where you just need to slooooooooooooooooooow dooooooownnnnnnnn.......

Yankee Directness is refreshing, but slow is good too. I'll live longer in the South!

And BTW, did you see where Bangor was getting a foot+ yesterday? It'll be in the 50s where I am today. I don't miss winter up there.