The Big Lazy

I never really “got” Louisiana.  It always seemed to me that the big selling point of the entire state’s culture was indolence interspersed with bouts of toxic drunkenness.

Bloomberg says there’s a reason for that;  it’s a statistical fact:

In Louisiana, where the humidity is as thick as the gumbo, people prefer to take it slow. Hunting, fishing, and outdoor sporting activity may have earned Louisiana the nickname “Sportsman’s Paradise,” but new data indicate that the more popular pastimes are sleeping, goofing off, and watching television.

In a new ranking by Businessweek.com based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Louisiana claims the top spot as the country’s laziest state. To be clear, by “lazy” we do not mean lacking work ethic or engagement. Rather, it is a measure of leisure time spent doing sedentary activities compared with activities that require more physical effort, such as exercising and even working. Mississippi and Arkansas came in second and third, and while states in the south and southeast are represented heavily in the list, such East Coast states as Delaware and New York placed in the top 20.

The average for the U.S. population: 8 hours, 35 minutes sleeping; 2 hours, 38 minutes watching television; 44 minutes socializing; 18 minutes relaxing; and 3 hours, 23 minutes working. Looked at another way, Louisianans over the course of a year spend on average 3,285 more minutes sleeping and 9,855 more minutes watching television than the national average.

But while growing up why would I, in particular, find the whole “Big Lazy” culture so foreign and incomprehensible, when so much of the rest of our culture seems to lionize it so?

In North Dakota, the least inactive state, people sleep 8 hours, 4 minutes; watch 2 hours, 19 minutes of television; socialize for 40 minutes; and relax for 22 minutes. The average time North Dakotans spend working is just over 5 hours.

Ah.  Now I get it.

7 thoughts on “The Big Lazy

  1. Finally, a study that backs up a personal observation (not Louisiana specific) over 25 years in.

  2. Who are all these people sleeping 8 hours? And for it to be an average, you know some people are sleeping even longer…

    By any chance was MN somewhere near ND in those rankings?

    I don’t think I know anyone who regularly gets 8 hours; most are thrilled to be able to get 7…..

    “Indolence interspersed with bouts of toxic drunkeness”?

    Psst, Mitch – how much time have you actually spent in Louisiana?

  3. Did a phone interview at a station in NOLA back in 1987. Never been there – but I’m going entirely by the state’s own image of itself expressed via its music.

  4. My experience with LA is limited to a three-day business trip to Nawlins more than twenty years ago. I recall that had I sweated through my poplin suit by the time I was off the jetway.

    I can perfectly well understand why people might want to do little more than sit in the A/C, drinking crisp and frosty G&T’s.

  5. I was stationed at Fort Polk, LA for 5 years and now, by coincidence, I’m in Baghdad working with the 256th, which a NG unit from all over the state.

    But I would say they are a little lazy. Not faulting them; they pay the bills, but they’d generally rather work a little less and get paid a little less. I especially noticed this when the unit that I’m attached to replaced an Oregon guard unit. You can definitely see the contrast in character when you see how one unit works and then the next… the Oregon guys definitely ran a tighter ship. And I’ve seen it in the places I’ve visited. They tend to be a little less organized, people like to stand around and chat more, etc.

    “And for it to be an average, you know some people are sleeping even longer… I don’t think I know anyone who regularly gets 8 hours; most are thrilled to be able to get 7…..”

    Complaining about not getting enough sleep is a fairly popular hobby and a lot of people are full of crap, so I’m skeptical of self-reporting.

    Also, note that 3285 minutes of sleep a year is less than ten minutes a day. That’s like hitting your snooze button once more every morning. Or sleeping in an extra hour every weekend.

  6. Pauline Kael wrote – I don’t think I know anyone who regularly gets 8 hours; most are thrilled to be able to get 7…..

    Having worked a lot in the Southeast (GA, MD, VA and the Carolinas) I definitely got a vibe there that nothing needs to get done in too much of a hurry – especially when its 95 degrees and feels like 105.
    The absolute worst work /customer service ethic is the urban hypster. No matter how pleasant I think I am in ordering or asking for an item, the ‘tude is definitely “hey dude, I am busy here contemplating my next tatt, piercing or object for my Obama shrine… f*** off”. A friend of mine has a way of dealing with urban hypster disservice – in a loud voice he declares “this place hates gay people and thats why we are being ignored”, while getting up to walk out. He claims it gets their attention about 25% of the time. Pretty good rate.

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