Sunday, July 13, 2008

How I do so love southern "charm"

Ladies from the south have such a beautiful drawl that even when they insult you, it comes out sounding sweet. Then later, you realize, "Holy crap. That was really nasty!"

Today, I was at a community pool and a southern-born and -bred woman of a mature age (who has known me in passing for a number of years) mentioned that she couldn't get in the water because her recently highlighted hair might turn green.

As a modeling/acting instructor, I often give my students beauty tips on how to remedy such disasters. So I told her that if it ever happened, she should crush 4-6 aspirins in warm water and let the concoction sit on her hair for about 10-15 minutes. Supposedly, it gets out most (if not all) of the green.

She smiled widely and said, "Well, thank you, Angelique! If anybody should know about hair dye, it's you."

Southern charm, indeed.

Still, you have to give her credit. She pulled it off and I didn't bite. Now, I just have to think of a way to throw it back the next time I see her. In a sugary-sweet way, of course.

(For the record, I do color my hair and it does vary from a medium shade of blonde to a light shade of brown depending upon the season. I try to keep it close to my natural tint, though, and except for one shade of red I tried two years ago, I'm very conservative about the choice.)

9 comments:

SzélsőFa said...

I'm sorry but I did not really get the nastyness in her remark. Was it the way she said? Or was it said in an ironic way?

The Quoibler said...

Szelsofa:

Hi there!

It was said in kind of a slow, sly way. She didn't make eye contact with me, but kind of said it into the air at no one in particular.

I got the feeling it was quite deliberate and not at all genuine. Hope that helps!

Angelique

Beth said...

Angelique, I am catching up on everything I missed ... so here goes:

I actually really like TV, but I have a good balance meaning my "real" life is a lot more than my TV life. I find I am not as unhappy with TV if I only watch things I really love to watch. I don't use the TV as background noise. Like take for instance "The Tudors" on Showtime. I started watching it and for the first time ever, it fired up this real passion of history in me. Since then, I've been voraciously reading about the monarchy in Europe and actually loving it instead of, "OMG, so boring. No more!"

Then we have your adorable son with a gal pal. HILARIOUS, but all I could hear in my head was, "Hi cha cha cha cha," like WC Fields even though his face was saying something totally different.

And I find nothing sweet about backhanded insults. In fact, I think it's quite cowardly. Isn't sarcasm just a way of saying, "I have no spine so I'll insult you in such a way as when you catch on I can feign ignorance?" Blech, that's not for me.

I wouldn't give her another thought. However, if she ever said anything in the future you should say, "Why do women in the south wrinkle faster than those in the north? I had a friend ask me and I believe it's from all that sunlight, but since you're ... well, southern, ahem, I thought you could answer this query much better than I." =D

If she's going to use cowardly crap, sling it right back at her!

Mary Witzl said...

Angelique -- I absolutely get the nastiness of that remark because I am reading it here now, but like Szelsofa, I suspect that if I heard this, it would sail over my head -- at first. Then I would walk away and suddenly think "What?" And lie awake all night thinking of a really killing comment.

One thing I'm sure of is that ladies like this don't just come from the South -- they are all over the place. We've even got some of them here in Scotland...

SzélsőFa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SzélsőFa said...

I see it now. The tone and all the non-verbal commnunication you described now made it clear that it was meant to be nasty.
I see it now, thank you!

Barbara Martin said...

Mary is correct when she says women like this are all over the place. Their lives must be a mess for them to make such comments to others.

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