Maggie's Farm

I have been thinking about cultural codes lately, and struggling to put together a Yankee Code to put into words what people's unspoken expectations are where I live.

Codes are the things one takes for granted from having been raised in a culture or subculture. Thus it is difficult to put them into words: it is difficult to step far enough outside the assumptions to think about them or to even be aware of them, and of the extent to which they guide our behavior.

Then I stumbled into this version of The Code of the West. I guess it is male-oriented. Good, basic stuff about how to live right. A sample:

Complain about the cooking and you become the cook.

Never shoot a woman no matter what.

No matter how weary and hungry you are after a long day in the saddle, always tend to your horse's needs before your own, and get your horse some feed before you eat.