Gun/knife collection
Nothing says working-class southern roots like things that can kill you hanging on the walls. Yes, throw a couple implements of death up beside that Confederate Flag or the logo of a college football team whose college you never attended because you never went to college, and you can call yourself a good ol’ boy. In fact, you pretty much don’t need to do anything with the rest of your life because this set-up tells you who are and who you will always be. Learn to like beer and keep all the bottle/cans around.
Music paraphernalia
Meaning posters of bands you like, souvenirs, t-shirts and so on. Be sure that it’s not somebody that a stranger would assume that you like. If you are a black teenager, have George Strait up there, if you are white guy in your 40s, have Yo Gabba Gabba up there. You want people recognize that you are deeper and quirkier than all the other people who are in your demographic, that the labia of your soul has unseen folds and twists.
Books
Not just one kind either, you want to be seen as widely read. If they don’t like you on the basis of the Stephenie Meyers throw down a couple of Hemingways. Plan it right and they will all think you are erudite and tasteful. Also have books that people will want to look at but probably won’t as long as there are others around (like National Geographic’s Largest Naked Breasts of the African Continent, or, My Big Book of Chinese Girls with Black–girl Butts). That way the ones who don’t read and have no idea how Meyers or Hemingway are, they will still be fascinated.
Art
The cool thing is that you don’t have to have taste or money. Roll a used tampon across a sheet of bright white letter-sized and frame it. I guarantee that it won’t look out of place hanging in the living-room. Glue a lampshade to the ceiling, hang a dead bat from the ceiling fan. In five-fifteen minutes and access to a dumpster you can supply “art” for every room in your house.