Do Charlotte Natives generally dislike Northerners? (Monroe: sales, home, DMV)

[Mrs. P]

Originally Posted by Khayla007

Eventually you will be able to understand. Also there are so many people here from other places so you will hear different accents. I still have problems understanding some of South Carolina I must admit.

I was married to a Southerner, and I still have a hard time understand some people. It came down to what kind of accent. Drawls, I can understand, twangs, take me a couple of minutes, and if I still have a problem, instead of asking them to keep repeating it, I ask them to spell it, worked for me.

But now, I don't seem to run into it as much, change of job had to do with that, now I'm trying to understand people all over the world, and THAT's hard sometimes! Matter of fact, with many of my customers, I keep a card file on hand and write their names down by using phonics...so I don't keep messing them up when I talk to them on the phone.

[Anigirli]

It seems the overall southern dislike stems from the days of the "carpetbaggers". Honestly the smug attitudes and condescending tones comes from both sides. No one wants to be labeled a rustic or "hillbilly" just because you are from the south and no one wants to be called a "Dam Yankee" because you were born north of the Mason Dixie Line. So by having that attitude it makes people apprehensive and builds a barrier towards the other individual.

One the flip side when I lived in NYC(after college) it reminded me of Charlotte in two similar ways. One that everyone was from some other place; to find a "Born and Bred New Yorker" was just as difficult as to find a native "Charlottean" in CLT. Second, the stigma of the accents. Some transplants make little jokes about the southern drawl when they get here, meanwhile in NYC the Patrician Waspy elite makes scathing remarks of those who posses the "Jellsey" and "Brooklynese" accent.

On a personal note my family has been here for three generations and we are still not considered "native Charlotteans". Just last Saturday while in the grocery store someone asked me where I was from. And I told them my family moved from Lousiana to North Carolina in the 1950's. That was the end of that topic. Yet if they would of asked me the same question as a 15-year-old girl it would of urked me. Since it raised my own bigoted issues with being mistaken for a transplant or God forbid a "Yankee". And how dare they not see that I am just as southern as them. Now that I'm in my 20's I got over it and realized that being considered one or not does not make me a worse or better person. It is their perception of me not mine. Could care less now nor does it affect me like it did as a teen. Xenophobia is one of the worst human characteristics, it divides people without given them the chance to talk or interact with them and see what they are all about.

P.S.
While in L.A. I saw the rivalry between Los Angelenos versus New Yorkers.

[DawnW]

I don't know where you guys are finding these people. I have been in Charlotte 2 years and have to say that most of the people I meet don't even have an accent or if they do, it is very slight.

Now, when I travelled to Barnwell, SC, I had a harder time, but it is still completely understandable English.

The only thing I had to get used to was colloquial terms. Schools have "trailers" not "bungalows", you need a "buggy" at the store, not a "cart." A BBQ does not mean any kind of meat on a grill.....you know, that sort of thing.

Dawn

[berryjuice4life]

Originally Posted by DawnW

I don't know where you guys are finding these people. I have been in Charlotte 2 years and have to say that most of the people I meet don't even have an accent or if they do, it is very slight.

Now, when I travelled to Barnwell, SC, I had a harder time, but it is still completely understandable English.

The only thing I had to get used to was colloquial terms. Schools have "trailers" not "bungalows", you need a "buggy" at the store, not a "cart." A BBQ does not mean any kind of meat on a grill.....you know, that sort of thing.

Dawn

My cousin from NY said the same thing, she has yet to run into anyone who has called her a yankee or dislikes her because she is a Northerner/NYker she also mentioned she hasnt really spoken to too any with heavy southern accents...

[yellowdog]

I'm from Pittsburgh and my fiance is from NJ. She doesn't have an accent at all, but I have a very distinct Pittsburgh accent still even though we have both lived in the NYC area for the past 4 or 5 years. My relatives, though, moved from Pittsburgh to Concord, NC many years ago and when they would call back to Pittsburgh, their southern accent was so thick that I couldn't understand them. Bottom line, it should be interestesting when I move there because I don't know if I can understand you long term residents and you guys may not understand me!!

[ssdei38]

My mom refers to the people that have lived here for generations as the indigenous people. When she talks about her experience moving here, she says something to the effect....the indigenous Charlotte residents have welcomed me warmly and great... I like that term....indigenous.... and yes, she actually talks like this....she's a dork...but I love her.

[ssdei38]

that's my mom's experience....anyway, I have been referred to as a good for nothing yankee quite a few times!!! I just don't care anymore.....

[XNYgirl]

[

I'd have to agree, there are few 'natives' left, mostly you'd be communicating with Transplants from the North.

[Nacht]

Originally Posted by XNYgirl

I'd have to agree, there are few 'natives' left, mostly you'd be communicating with Transplants from the North.

Oh please. :rolleyes Even if the majority of people in Charlotte weren't born in Charlotte the majority are from North Carolina and the South.

[marvinnative]

Originally Posted by Nacht

Oh please. :rolleyes Even if the majority of people in Charlotte weren't born in Charlotte the majority are from North Carolina and the South.

Nope, I'm pretty sure you'll find more from NY and NJ than you would born and raised in the Carolinas...unless you went way far out into the country.