What defines where you came from?

What defined where you were when you were little? Was it places that you saw? Was it the people who were around you? For me... It was the way that people, especially women spoke to me, and the way I was supposed to speak back to them.

Me first :)

As you all know, I'm Katy... As many of you don't know, I'm from Texas, but not originally. Originally, I was from Minnesota. Kind of a switch from freezing to sweating but I like it. A lot of my family still lives in MN and goes back and forth like we do for the summers and holidays. My favorite is late spring in MN, when all the trees are purest green and everything is in fresh bloom, all bright and happy. People walking can't help but falling under the tree's charm and being happy too. Then when I moved to Texas, I got my first taste of "The South." It wasn't really the South though, where I lived we had "Oil Brats" (some places have Navy-Brats, we have the Exxon version). I grew going to school with kids from Mexico, Holland, England, Italy, Canada, Australia, Germany and all parts of the states. Basically, I never got to hear the "Howdy Y'All!" I did hear a lot of y'all and sofas and sodas which I was most definitely not used to hearing! I heard things like hey guys! and let's go sit on the couch and anybody want some pop? I feel like this was how I identified where I was at the time, I could always know where I was when I was a little girl by the words that people used when they spoke to me and around me. When speaking to my mother's friends in MN, I would address them either by simply their first names, "Stephanie," if she was close to them, or by their last name if they were neighbors or aquaintences, "Mrs. Sample." If I was in TX it was considered rude to address women by simply their first name and it was too formal to call them by their last names which meant that I had to call them "Miss Stephanie," which always sounded weird to me, but it was what I was supposed to do, and it was what was expected of all of us (the kids). My favorite drink was also called different things in different places. A lovely mixture of cherry syrup and Sprite was callled a "Kiddy-Coctail" in MN but in TX and most other places in the country, it's called a "Cherly Temple" after the cute blonde actress. But I'm rambling....

So now it's your turn, I knew where I was by the language used... How did you know?