Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:54:41 -0500

From: "Emerson, Jessie J" jjemerso[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INGR.COM

Subject: Re: "Bless you" (was "Good morning")



You folks are hard! Even if the phrases (or tail wags, if you wish) are

meaningless, they connect me to the people I meet in a (to me)

satisfying way. I always say "good morning," I always say "bless you"

when someone sneezes, and I always hold doors for people, especially the

elderly (I'm a woman in my 30s, by the way). People who don't do these

or similar things seem alien to me, and if for some reason I'm in a bad

mood and don't do one of them, it makes me feel horrible! I realize

that this is probably a learned behavior indicative of Southern society

(not necessarily gentility), but I enjoy, even need, these meaningless

pleasantries!



A friendly old Southern redneck coon dog who wags her tail most of the

time,

Jessie Emerson



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From: Julia Cochran[SMTP:COCPROFS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU]

Sent: Thursday, 23 October, 1997 9:26 AM

To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU

Subject: Re: "Bless you" (was "Good morning")



and even taken as an empty formula, it

still struck me as a conscious gesture of making human contact with a

stranger in a city which otherwise does a poor job at interpersonal

relations.



Precisely -- like a tail-wag. Thanks for putting it so well.