So what are the little quirks in NC/Raleigh that natives know (Durham: fit in, transplants)

[ddeel]

With our move only 2 months away and DH heading out Tuesday to start work, NC is central on my mind. I'm wondering about those little quirky things that natives know about NC and the Raleigh area.

Like in TX, unless you are in a speed trap, the police pretty much comp you 5 miles. Meaning you can pretty safely go 5 miles over the posted speed and not get stopped AND if you are they often deduct the same 5 miles from the number you were over. Speed traps to natives are pretty well known. Within and just outside SA we have several little towns you'd best go the exact speed limit or like me, a few miles under. One even made a Steve Earl song way back when ("speed trap, up ahead, Selma town...)

Obviously, we natives are the only one's who can pronouce our crazy town/county/street names (and we laugh behind your back if you mess up, especially reporters). We've got hispanic pronounced correctly--Bexar, Seguin...--and pronounced incorrectly--Llano with a hard l not y, Menchaca called Manshack which is just silly. Lots of German mostly pronounced correct except by transplants Huebner (hEbner) New Braunfels (brawnfuls). I've already noticed a few fun names up there for me to learn

I also saw something about getting a ticket for not moving over when police are on the side of the road and something about driving in the left lane. Here we just have a few passing stretches and of course the normal road rage when someone slow is there but otherwise no law I know of.

Anyway, please enlighten me on what little things I can know ahead of time that make me feel more like a native. I really want to fit in and LOVE NC!!

[Francois]

Prepare for all productivity to come to a halt at work during the ACC Basketball tournament, in early March. College basketball, in general, is a religion, not a sport. You will do well to pick a local team early unless you want to remain "Switzerland" UNC in Chapel Hill and Duke in Durham are the oil and water of college sports.

The road that encircles Raleigh is The Beltline, not The Beltway. Instant sign on your forehead saying "I'm a transplant" for using the latter, or saying "The 440" or "the 40" (which seems to be mostly a Southern Califronia-transplant thing) instead of simply "440" or "40".

Be very wary of criticizing the way things are done here as opposed to "how we did it back home". Any places with high transplant migration (and that has described the Triangle for over 30 years) gets really tired of hearing that. The response will often be a sharp "So, then why don't you go back there? I'll help you pack." (This is not to say you cannot offer to share a recipe from your home state with the neighbors, just don't make it sound critical of the local alternative).

Cary (a "town" with over 100,000 just west of Raleigh and bedroom community to RTP) is most known for its being a VERY popular destination for transplants, particularly from the Northeast, and has long had a nickname of "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees" (C.A.R.Y.). Its other "reputation", which may be changing, is one of a place so overrun with Homeowners' Association rules dictating everything but what kind of toilet paper you can use. Back in the 1990s, there were frequently items in the news about someone who was forbidden by the Town or their HOW for using a particular paint color, or other "trivial" sort of personal choice, giving Cary a tongue-in-cheek reputation of being "nothing but beige houses one after another".

Durham used to have a markedly high crime rate, but this has changed a LOT in the past decade. Still, it suffers from that reputation.

Oops...got to log off, but you'll get lots of advice--threads like this always do

[lamishra]

Easter Monday is a NC thing (schools are out, state is closed); The beltline will still be the beltline to natives, no matter if someone else decides to rename it so transplants can figure it out; it's called I 40, not "the 40", "mid-town" is a recently made up name, most natives will chuckle over it, it is true that it is a law that you need to move over for emergency vehicles, it is perfectly legitimate to miss a day of school or work for the state fair, we close our schools even when there is a threat of snow. This means you need to make back up plans in advance so we don't have to hear ya complain about it on city data when they actually do it (you've been warned now!)
You can make a right turn on red unless there is a sign that says not to, even if there is a red arrow.

[ddeel]

Okay, currently I live between 281 and 1604 (highway and loop respectively) so I'm good there. Y'all are going to have to enlighten me on teams. I love football and really like basketball so I can convert. In TX we have UT and A&M--neither of which I went to although I did go to UTSA, however, I prefer A&M as it is more traditional and conservative. Which team would fit me best?

I will try very very hard to restrain myself from judging y'alls lack of brisket (I like pork just fine) but I may stumble when it comes to Mexican food. In my defense I don't like alot of the stuff we're getting now with all the "transplants" from down south of TX. I like my Mexican food with a good dose of TEX in it. I plan to learn to make my own and maybe I'll invite y'all over one day for enchiladas, queso, and margaritas!

Do y'all get Good Friday as well as Monday? We do our Spring Break in March then get Good Friday as well. It would be really nice to have 4 days! Back in San Angelo (W. TX) we used to close down for the rodeo much like y'all do for the state fair. Do y'all have rodeos? How about cowboys?

As far as snow San Antonio shuts down on a chance of ice so NC is far ahead of us in snowy weather. I can't wait, SNOW, YAY!!!!

[leighbhe]

Here are a couple I can think of.................I am not going to go into all of the rather patronizing things I hear, but things that will clue you in are the following:

Towns:

Fuquay Varina: is pronounced few-quay vah-reena, most natives simply call it fewquay, period.

Angier (more east, on 55) is pronounced Ann-ger not

Wendell: when-dell

Our beaches: Many people think most native north carolinians go to Wrightsville beach for vacation, WRONG. Wrightsville (which is close to wilmington) is great for a day trip, but not a beach we go to regularly, because it is not as much of a family friendly beach as others. The other beaches are vast...........but some you may want to know:

Topsail, it is pronounced Topsill, if you say top-sail, people will laugh at you. It is a great beach.

Kure: another beach, pronounced Cure-e

the universities:

Carolina=UNC Chapel Hill
State=NC State (in raleigh)
Central=NC Central in durham
Duke= I wont even mention, but many natives call it the new jersey of the south

And, as another person said, ACC basketball season is the best time around here.......I remember watching the friday games in class in high school. People are very particular about their teams, so make your choice wisely. The lowdown is this:

Carolina Fans HATE duke period. Hate. Yet, they can tolerate State. State has never really been a threat (in basketball) and so many carolina fans will pull for state when not playing carolina. Now, State fans HATE carolina. Hate to the point that my husband's friends (all state fans) asked him WHY he started dating me when he KNEW I was a carolina fan. State Fans never pull for carolina. Everybody hates duke, unless they either grew up in durham or the relocated here. I am exaggerating here, but in general this seems to be true.

Traditional NC BBQ is considered "eastern bbq" which has a vinegar base. It is awesome!

Also, when we want to grill out for dinner, we say we are cooking out. We don't say we are bbq'ing. So, we will ask friends, do you want to come over and cook out, we can tell an outsider by asking if we want to "cook on the grill" or bbq. bbq is a food here, not a verb.

When someone says to you "bless your heart" at the beginning of a sentence, they are genuine and concerned. When they use bless your heart or her heart or his at the end of a sentence, well, they are kind of insulting that person............

Hope this helps!

Leigh

[ddeel]

hmmm...I think we use BBQ as a noun and verb here in TX. But we do cook out so I'll remember that one. My fave BBQ sauce is from a place called Rudys and I think it might be vinegar based.

Now is Carolina where Ashley Judd went? I really liked her little wildcat tattoo so maybe that's the one for me (and yes I'm female and very straight but I have tattoo envy because I don't have the guts to get one)

I believe I saw that y'all say go to the BEACH not COAST like we do here. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lesson in saying the towns right. It totally bugs me here so I don't want to be that person that butchers the names.

We bless your heart here as well--okay, the natives do and there's not many around where I live but I know the drill

[lovebrentwood]

I wrote this a little while ago -- "Newcomers Guide to the Triangle." I was a newcomer 17 years ago. To some natives, I'm still a newcomer. Other people added their opinions to the thread...

Newcomer? Triangle Terms and Survival Guide

There's also another one having to do with snow. The world here closes down when it snows, and people use different terms for snow-related things than we did up in Snow Country in the North.

[leighbhe]

Originally Posted by ddeel

hmmm...I think we use BBQ as a noun and verb here in TX. But we do cook out so I'll remember that one. My fave BBQ sauce is from a place called Rudys and I think it might be vinegar based.

Now is Carolina where Ashley Judd went? I really liked her little wildcat tattoo so maybe that's the one for me (and yes I'm female and very straight but I have tattoo envy because I don't have the guts to get one)

I believe I saw that y'all say go to the BEACH not COAST like we do here. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lesson in saying the towns right. It totally bugs me here so I don't want to be that person that butchers the names.

We bless your heart here as well--okay, the natives do and there's not many around where I live but I know the drill

I have been to rudy's (In austin, tx) and they do not have the traditional vinegar sauce!!!. It is called carolina bbq for a reason. Rudy's is good mind you, but not carolina bbq. Ashley Judd went to Kentucky............now in graduate school at harvard? Yale? someplace like that.

Yes, we will say we are 'heading to the beach' for the weekend, etc. We do not call it the shore or the coast.

There is also the outer banks, if we are going there, we say outer banks, regardless of the beach we are going to visit.

Leigh

[jeffs555]

Okay, currently I live between 281 and 1604 (highway and loop respectively) so I'm good there. Y'all are going to have to enlighten me on teams. I love football and really like basketball so I can convert. In TX we have UT and A&M--neither of which I went to although I did go to UTSA, however, I prefer A&M as it is more traditional and conservative. Which team would fit me best?

A&M = State
UT = Carolina
don't know an equivalent for Duke, maybe Rice.

[HollyMarshall]

Also BBQ is pig. Not cow.

The hardest adjustment I've had to make is slaw. I still don't want it ON my BBQ, but it's ok if they touch on the plate. I've had to work up to this. I still don't understand red hot dogs, or why they have to have slaw on them as well.

I'm not a sports fan, so I've found it's easy to keep peace if you figure out which of your neighbors is the alpha neighbor and then root for their team.