For those that moved to NC from big cities, do you think we are hicks? (Charlotte: house, public schools)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't you mean rural, uneducated people's decisions? it seems especially bad lately and N.C. is being talked about around the country in unflattering ways.
Being a local, and having older relatives, I've heard a great deal over the years of locals complaining about how the transplants (NE ones in particular) want to come here and "show us the 'right' way to do things."
People get frustrated for no reason.
The reality is that if everything was perfect back home, many transplants would never have relocated. Most I have met seek to bring along the nice things from where they used to live and acclimate to the nice things about this area. No harm there.
The know-it-alls are the types I presume to have had an inflated sense of self LONG before they moved here from NY/NJ/where ever else.
You hit the nail on the head! Especially when people move here and try to show us the "right way" to do things.
A lot of rural people here may and may not have book learning education, older people that is, but they are every bit as smart or smarter than some educated people that relocate here thinking they know everything. Smart as in knowing how to do things for themselves. Raleigh has become too big and overpopulated imo to ever be have a rural flavor anymore. But it's been home all my life so I can't complain. I was lucky enough to be a kid here in the 60's before Raleigh became just another big city.
I didn't but I already knew it as the place that people from NJ are trying to move, heh.
I do have a friend who couldn't believe that Durham could be very progressive because it is in NC and she had a preconceived notion about the south in general, but she's changed her mind about that.
I have noticed that Durham is becoming very popular among those who are leaving Brooklyn. I suspect downtown Raleigh is as well. I like that as long as people realize they can be hipster and friendly at the same time.
I don't think it's all rural, uneducated people's decisions that are bad lately, although there are some doozies. There are plenty of rich, citified, educated people in NC gubmint now that are making bad decisions lately, too, but that's another thread.
I think the original question is interesting. It's certainly the feeling that I grew up with here in NC, that the "big city" folks elsewhere thought we were all dumb hicks. Movies, TV, and other media played up the racist dumb Southerner stereotype, or you had shows like Beverly Hillbillies and Dukes of Hazzard where the good 'ol boys and gals could either pull one over on the city-slickers or were too genuinely nice and naive to city ways to understand when someone was being mean and somehow that translated into the the city folks getting their come-uppance.
I do think there's a similarity in rural areas throughout the country. And I traveled, lived in LA for awhile, and realized that we're all more the same than we are different.
I do think it's still okay in entertainment media to perpetuate the dumb Southerner stereotype—isn't that stupid reality show with the kid in the beauty pageants set in Georgia—and I'm sure some people from elsewhere do buy into that crap, but I think most people don't think we're all like that.
I do think people often hope for a slower pace of life here and hope it will be a good place to raise a family.
Don't you mean rural, uneducated people's decisions? it seems especially bad lately and N.C. is being talked about around the country in unflattering ways.
Oh, geesh, I was right the first time I used the phrase. Yes, you are correct.
Also, about stereotypes...
When I moved here, I thought the KKK would be burning flags on my front lawn because our family included an Asian person. I had no clue there were far more Asians here than in my hometown.
I had to hear all the jokes about dumb Southerners, too, when I decided to move from the North to the South.
I think of the dumb rural Southerners as rednecks (and NO, not all are dumb, certainly!). And true, rednecks are in every state. Nothing wrong with rednecks whatsoever -- except when their bonehead decisions affect our lives.
Apparently, they outnumber the educated city people. So -- perhaps NC deserves its (awful) reputation?
Last edited by lovebrentwood; 05-19-2013 at 02:23 PM..
Being a local, and having older relatives, I've heard a great deal over the years of locals complaining about how the transplants (NE ones in particular) want to come here and "show us the 'right' way to do things."
People get frustrated for no reason.
The reality is that if everything was perfect back home, many transplants would never have relocated. Most I have met seek to bring along the nice things from where they used to live and acclimate to the nice things about this area. No harm there.
The know-it-alls are the types I presume to have had an inflated sense of self LONG before they moved here from NY/NJ/where ever else.
Raleigh people, no. But I think anywhere more rural is where people think of the term "hick". I'm way from WI and out in the country (where some of my family lives) it is known to be "hick town". Now I have some redneck family members up there and they're proud of it and don't even want to move to anywhere urban. I don't think it's necessarily the south because there are rural areas everywhere. I went far enough north in WI to a really small town and all the people there had what sounded like southern accents! It was funny.
Yes, it's a rural vs urban thing, not really a North vs South thing. However, traditionally Northeastern culture has been more urban in nature since most of the population of that corner of the country was in cities while Southern culture, even in cities, has a more rural flavor, so those making the jump and comparing one area to what they're used to can find it like moving out into the country, relatively speaking. Noone should ever move to an area if they are going to deride or look down on the people already living there, however.
I heard someone mention it and I know all of you don't think that, but do you think we are backwards in Raleigh compared to big cities like NYC? I don't mind being called a hick since I was born here. I take it all in good fun. And it's better than being a yankee city slicker from up north lol
aren't rural folks called 'crackers' not 'hicks' down here? That is the term i've heard - "s/he's nice, but a real cracker".
In any event, I do think 'city folk' are far different breed than suburban/rural folk. and, to be honest, we made fun of the city folk even when I lived in CT. I can spot them a mile off, and do rather enjoy making as much fun of them as they did of us...that type of attitude has nothing to do with Raleigh -- it existed (for us) in suburban connecticut as well!
So, what do I mean by city folk? These are the folk who generally don't cook (instead eat out most meals or liberally use take-in from 'around the block'), expect things open 24x7, have services for everything (housekeeping, laundry, car), dress far better than many of us, eat late and stay out late, and when faced with Nature, have no idea what to do with it. Literally, these people may have a single yogurt in their fridge 'for emergencies' and wear mostly black clothes. <grin>
So yes, I do think that those types of city folk would and do make fun of us here and hence, have a more difficult adjustment with suburban living in the RTP area. I do think they can find more urban living in the area and might be happier with that rather than living in areas where the sidewalks really do roll up around 8pm and where you have to drive to find different cuisines rather than just around the corner.
Do I think Raleigh is backwards compared to other suburban areas? No, definitely not. I see RTP as very well educated, diverse, relatively low key and interesting place to live for a suburban area.
is it NYC/Boston/San Fran/Chicago/Miami/Washington D.C/Paris/London/etc.? Nope, not even close. and I don't mean that in a bad way. To me, it is like comparing apples to donuts -- not even in the same food group but both are perfectly fine in their own way...so don't take offense and please don't think that all 'yanks' are the same. A NYC yank is far different than an upstate-NY yank...
No, not cracker. "Cracker" = "honky". It's racial and only refers to whites. Maybe the person you heard was using it in a joking manner? "Redneck" is definitely in use and is one of those words that can be used in a pejorative manner, but other folks wear it as a badge of pride. I don't think anyone says "cracker" with a sense of pride. Now, "hillbilly" is another one that folks have sort of taken back. It's akin to "redneck" in that some people find it offensive, but other folks identify with it. I think "country" is the more polite way to refer to rural folks if there is a polite way to point out differences like that. Black people and white people can be "country". When somebody has a really strong rural southern accent you might hear somebody say that "she sounds real country".
I know those particular kind of city folk you're talking about, but we don't have them in NC. I don't even think I have a word for them.
I have noticed that Durham is becoming very popular among those who are leaving Brooklyn. I suspect downtown Raleigh is as well. I like that as long as people realize they can be hipster and friendly at the same time.[/quote]
Oh God I hope not!! I'm trying to move away from these people. But in all seriousness, the changes in the Raleigh-Durham area are going to continue and probably accelerate in the next decade or two. Give yourselves some credit, you have created a nice place that is desireable to live in. As for hicks, they are everywhere even up here. Hicks are people too and sometimes more fun to hang around with than city folks.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.