Growing Up Southern" August 1, 2017

Ahh. A consultant’s job is never through. First task in town today was to introduce some of the younger women to the good old Southern term, “The Vapors.”

As in, “that guitar player, Slash, for Guns and Roses, gives my wife a case of the vapors.”

“The what?”

“The vapors, not the Matthew McConaughey vapors, mind you, but the regular kind.” I proceeded to elucidate, noting their increased interest.

The condition may have, back in history, referred to a number of conditions women encountered, including bloating or having gas. In the American South, however, it refers to a condition of near-swooning brought on by an emotional rush experienced, exclusively back in the day, by Southern Belles.

“I’ll sweah Hon, I took one look at that man and it nearly gave me the vapors. Hit showly did.”

This short explanation derives from a secondary database. I never, as far as I know, caused the condition in anyone.