Haoran from New York

My friend Haoran is from New York City. It was very interesting to talk to him about southern accent and Texan culture comparing with his hometown. I started the conversation by asking him why he chose to come down to Texas for college as a New Yorker. He said, “There is nothing wrong with it, isn’t it? Even though the whole country has a stereotype on Texas, it is still just a stereotype. I don’t see farmers and ranches in Austin area. Even though people have strong southern accent, like saying y’all all the time, I still like Texas simply because people down here are much nicer. ” Then I asked him, “Why do you say Texans are nicer?” “Ok, I’m from another state which is very far away. It was last year that I first came down here. I was a stranger, but people still treated me friendly. Well, in New York, people don’t really care where you are from since there are so many visitors there. People don’t start random conversation when they are waiting in line like what you guys do down here. Further, people address the authoritative figures properly. They always use sir and ma’am. And there are many things you can see in Texas. People are very polite. Like when you are on the bus, people always save seats for women and older people, at least on the UT bus. You can rarely see this in New York. People don’t care how you feel as much as you do in Texas. ” I think the conversation, again, lead to the impression management. Impression management is a process people use to control the perceptions or impressions about themselves. People think that they are judged or perceived based on their physical appearance, personality or other subjective opinions by other people. Impression management attempts to control these perceptions from other people through the development of self-presentation methods and techniques. Like Texans, people across the country have a stereotype over them. Even though the whole stereotype isn’t true, but partially, the impression people have on Texans is due to the way Texans behave and talk.