from my dad's latest entry...
We said our good byes in a traditional Filipino way, in stages with hugs and kisses. Five minutes of goodbye when we got up from the table. Another five minutes when we reached the front door and then another ten minutes when we reached the parking lot. And what did we talk about that we haven’t mentioned in the first goodbye? I guess you can say it’s a Filipino thing, right?
I learned from Liz that in the South this is called fixin' ta go. Not really leaving, instead, the process of leaving.
So not a Filipino thing. It may be something from places warm enough to allow people to talk slowly, and move unhurriedly. Filipinos. Southerners. Hispanics of various flavors. We have filipino time. It's an aproximation of a designated hour. 10:00 am? That's somewhere midmorning.
My friend Marie said she heard that it comes from cultures where you can walk out your door and pick your lunch from a nearbye tree year round. Europeans? Places that have to make hay while the sun shines and work like crazy to save food for the coming cold got uptight about schedules early on. Hrmm- it's half past the third stonehenge arch. Time to put the potatoes in the basement.
Those who have no worry mon can afford to fix ta go.
Posted by weez at December 5, 2003 01:48 AM | TrackBackA friend of mine once asked me my opionin, as a Southerner, on why everyone and everything in the South moves so slowly.
Without hesitation, I said "Because it's f**king HOT!"
Anyway. I'm fixin' to get ready to start thinking about getting started grading a bunch of essays, so I'd better go. ;)
Posted by: Scott at December 5, 2003 10:14 AMYou are right!
Long ago and far away, I grew up in the cold wind of Northeastern Ohio. 25 or 30 years later I learned that other places existed in the U.S. that were not blanketed by snow 6 months or more out of the year, so I moved there.
I remember that it took me two or three weeks to get used to having strangers on the streets of various South Carolina towns walk up to me and say "Hey!" as they went passed. In northern cities, this meant "Watch out!"
In Texas, we're big on hugs and "honey" and "fixin' ta." And we say hey in greeting each other as we pass (or give the index finger wave/salute if we're passing each other on the back roads in our pickup trucks).
After I'd gotten used to greeting everyone I met in some fashion whether I knew them or not, I visited relatives in Ohio and found myself in Cleveland. Without thinking, I greeted a few people absent-mindedly as I passed them on the street.
Several of them glared at me suspiciously as if I were fixin' ta pick their pockets.
Posted by: UncleBob at December 5, 2003 11:28 AMAs a longtime Atlantan, I think Scott pretty much gets it right (don't forget the humidity).
Of course when it comes to grading papers, sometimes heat has nothing to do with it....
Posted by: chuck at December 5, 2003 12:34 PM? I'm getting ready, ready, ready to go......
Posted by: Sheils at December 8, 2003 12:39 PMFor us Spaniard/Cuban types, it's "la despedida." My mom would say "despidete de tu...que nos vamos" ("say goodbye to...we're leaving") But, oh no, that was just round one. Hugs, kisses, pick up toys, bags, etc., get toward the front of the house, then hugs, kisses, promise to call or write, then get to the door, hugs, kisses, thanks to everyone, get out the door, move toward the car and throw kisses and wave...see you next time. "La despedida" is a WHOLE THANG and it takes a good 20 minutes, otherwise, it means you're rude and couldn't wait to get your butt out the door! Besides, your host gets to show the elders new plantings along the path as you make your way toward the car. (Yep, it's definitely a fair weather custom.)
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