Guide for Newcomers to the South, Part 6

I just happened to overhear a couple of my co-workers talking the other day and the phrase "bless his heart" was used and I couldn't help but laugh. "Bless his or her heart" is so Southern. If you aren't from around here you might think the speaker is actually is blessing the person they are talking about or at least sending out great waves of positive energy, but you would be wrong. So wrong! Let me tell you about that phrase, if you need to say something ugly about somebody or discuss how stupid they are then you have to add "bless his/her heart" in the sentence somewhere. If you don't, you may be in danger of gossiping or come across as being mean. It doesn't matter where in the sentence you say it; personally I prefer the end of the sentence. Others prefer the beginning; I'm assuming they want to make sure they don't forget to use it. If the speaker is truly blessing somebody then they use the words "Bless him/her" without the word "heart."