“Well, you get down the fiddle and you get down the bow,
Kick off your shoes and you throw ‘em on the floor.
Dance in the kitchen ’til the morning light:
Louisiana Saturday night…”
You’ve probably heard the Don Williams song “Louisiana Saturday Night.” I can assure you if you’ve ever been to an LSU game, you will hear this blasted on car stereos until your ears bleed purple and gold.
The song pretty much sums up life in Louisiana – laid back and easy going. Maybe a little too much, it seems.
A new study by Businessweek shows Louisiana is the laziest state in the U.S.
How was that determined? It seems Businessweek looked at the amount of time spent at leisure activities and compared which states chose to be active in their leisure time – doing exercise for example – vs. sedentary activities, such as sitting on the porch swing, petting the old hound dog and sipping whiskey.
Louisiana residents spend more combined time watching television (3-plus hours), thinking (29 minutes); socializing (54 minutes); and sleeping (8 hours, 44 minutes) than compatriots throughout the US.
The laziest top 10 is dominated by Southern states. Two – 10 are: Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and, for our Northern brethren, Delaware, respectively. Looking at this list, it would be easy to make this another study on the slothful South but I think that’s a mistake. This study leaves out a factor that an outsider could interpret as laziness but that we Southerners know is just self preservation. The truth is, it’s really, really hot here. What others see as laziness we know is simply an effort to stir up as little extra heat as possible.
I would bet the active people in Minnesota or Colorado aren’t doing so just because they want to but because they have to. When the options are limited to get moving or freeze, it’s not a hard choice.
So layoff picking on Louisiana. Sure, they may be lazy but they make great gumbo and beignets. Let them loll around until Mardi Gras time. Don’t begrudge them sitting down before they eat their King cake.
As they say in the Big Easy, Laissez les bons temps rouler or let the good times roll. But slowly, please, slowly.