Don't you love to see the misperceptions some "Others" have of true Southerners?!
They equate 'slower speech' with 'slow minds' and have no idea how we laugh over that.
We're kinda like tigers or lions lazing in the warm sun, evoking a smile from the onlookers.
Prod us with a stick, though, and we become their worst nightmare - LOL - but in THE most CIVIL of ways, doncha know...:))
(We just don't need to 'prove ourselves' all the time...)
We wimmin are sometimes acused of having iron hands in velvet gloves --- soft and pliable ordinarily, but don't try to fool or mess with us...
I often think that we're so slap happy to be here in the South that it makes us look silly to others. We're really just extremely happy.
I had a boss in Savannah, who everytime he had to go to NYC on business, he pulled out his white suit and panama hat. He always came back the winner because in that "git-up" and with his Ga accent they underestimated him - everytime!
I do believe the term "Steel Magnolias" is a perfect description of the true southern belle/woman.
You are so right!
I have the dubious pleasure of interacting daily with our corporate group
in Ohio and y'all would be amazed at some of the assumptions those folks make!