Here is an interesting programme, which makes a contrast with Russia today, where so many people I have met outside the Garden Ring of Moscow are embarrassed to socialise with people of different income levels. A great example of "southern" (American) culture is the statement made by one of the people interviewed who is trying to explain the essence of "southern hospitality" (which seems to me to be the essence of Highland hospitality in Scotland too). He says: "In the south you are never to poor to be hospitable."The unspoken but essential corollary, which is equally rare in modern Moscow, is that you are never to rich to accept hospitality. It is an ideal, of course, not always a fact. But ideals are important, like dreams. This one expresses true etiquette at its most basic level.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03ppyh2
So it "to" instead of "too" also a part of the Southern culture? As in "In the south you are never to poor to be hospitable."
ReplyDeleteNot mentioning in "you are never to rich to accept hospitality"?