My grandmother's favorite pastime was sizing up people's wardrobe, their vocabulary and those with whom they associated. In the South, we use the term "sizing up" because "judging" has become passé.

She often looked at someone — especially a young woman — pursed her lips, shook her head slowly, and said, "Bless her heart. I guess her mama never taught her. Not surprising, though. They aren't PLUs." When I asked what a PLU was, she smiled and said, "Honey, that's People Like Us."

She warned me to stay away from non-PLUs, as they would lead me into all sorts of temptation and evil-doing. It was especially fun as she got older and made her pronouncements loudly in those noisy places like church and the library — wasn't awkward at all. But she always ended her commentary with a self-deprecating redemptive chuckle, "Well… God couldn't make everybody perfect like me."

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