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I can't believe that people compare Charlotte with other cities. Charlotte is Charlotte. Why does it have to be like other cities? I have lived in several very large cities including London and Boston. I can't see where Charlotte is lacking in anything. The restaurants are good, there are plenty of performing arts and concerts, you can basically drive anywhere in 20 minutes withing the city, three hours from the sea and two from the mountains. the cost of living is reasonable (below the national average), and there are plenty of private schools for those that don't want their kids in public schools. Obviously people that move here feel that it is a better place to live than the place from which they left regardless of the reason(s).
Charlotte is a southern city. Much of the city is made up of people from outside of the south. Many people from outside of the south come to Charlotte with preconceived ideas about the south and southerners. First, charlotte is a southern town. Southern towns are supposed to be dirty and slow with ignorant/racist citizens. Charlotte shouldn't be where it is economically today in the mind of many. Many contend that it has only reached its level of economic success because of the gift of the northerner and their superior intelligence, superior hard work ethics, technical gifts, and all of the industry that they brought to this cow town. Get over it. You are very wrong. Even before the northern invasion (the 1990s), Charlotte was the number one industrial producer (output per worker based on same product) in the U.S. North Carolina was also number one of the top ten industrial states although North Carolina and Texas were the only two at that time. Following behind N.C. was Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia which outproduced all other states. Michigan was on the very bottom.This can be varified in the Depart of Commerce , Labor output by state (1990).
Charlotte, like all large cities, has an enhanced economy due to the influx of outsiders. They have brough cultural activities, restaurants, and a wide variety of gifts to the area. Hey, New York City wasn't built by people from New York City. They had a little outside help too. However, Charlotte has always been an agressive business city as experienced by the local banking history. In addition to this, Charlotte had other industries that brought fame, ie. Lance Cracker Company, Pepsi, NASCAR, and Duke Power just to name a few. It was somewhat destined.
I don't live in Charlotte but am moving there in the next few months. I find it very disturbing to read some of the postings that I read on this board bashing the city. I really don't wish to live around a bunch of miserable, whining SOBs. My wife is from Minnesota and has no desire to ever move back. She has found southerners to be loyal, good friends that have never thought twice about her being a yankee. Southerners are people and people come in all shapes and forms. Some are awful, but that is part of being part of the human race. It is true that many southerners, like myself get extremely frustrated with the never ending insults that seem to strike during most conversations with yankees. I have noticed that any time a northerner has a problem with an individual, the whole south is catagorized as a bunch of rednecks or whatever label they use. It gets very frustrating when I hear a person from the northeast with what I consider an 'accent from hell' criticize the way southerns speak. I can attest from experience that poor English is used all over the U.S. As a friend of mine put it, "We speak just as poorly in northern New York as anyone in the south, it is just southerners sound worse when they do it". I thought he was pretty funny and maybe even true. We do share a strong sectional bond in the south and that goes back through history. This is reinforced by the southern citizens being catagorized. When I speak to someone in the north, it is immediately noticed that I am a southerner and I am thus catagorized as such. This isn't a bad thing. Southerners have always been generally depicted as being the bad guy in movies, television and even books thanks to slavery from which nobody today had anything to do with.
My bottom line is that most of us southerners are not hateful people. We generally tend to judge by how a person acts and not what the person is. If one is critical and judgmental, he/she will probably not be accepted by many locals. One thing that I know and lots of people don't is that Americans are habitual complainers. When I lived in my gorgeous flat in the Westend of London, I would constantly hear Americans (mostly with distinct northeastern accents) complaining about the bathrooms in hotels, the lifts, the showers, the stairs, the prices, the dirty people, the pubs , the inability to understand their awful accents, not being able to find a bartender that can make a good ole American Manhattan. The list goes on forever. I suppose that you might say that many southerners feel like many British must fill with the yankee invason over there called tourism.
Please be more sensative and look at southerners as being equals. We really are. Last year when visiting northern Minnesota, I was with some people that lived in a trailer court. One big sloppy looking guy drinking wine out of a bottle in a paper bag, after spitting out his chewing tobacco, started telling southern redneck jokes. Come on people, be nice to us. We love you when you assimilate.
I may not agree with everything in this post, but I do agree with a good bit of it. It is funny how people automatically think we're ignorant or "simple" when we open our mouths, just because of our accent. I would argue that I have a better grip on the English language than many without a southern accent, but for some reason my drawl makes sound like I don't know a noun from a verb.
What I find kind of funny (and I'm not complaining here -- just pointing out something I've noticed since I've been here) is that I don't feel nearly as "at home" here as I thought I would. I come from the DEEP south and I always considered North Carolina to be a "southern" state, but I can't even find crackins here! (By the way, if anyone knows where I can get some, please share). BUT I love it here! I love the diversity of Charlotte. It is open-minded (for the most part) and progressive, yet values are still important here. In my book, it's the best of both worlds...a little be southern, a little bit northern.
If you tell me what a "crackin" is, I'll try my darndest to help ya find one!
Thanks! Cracklings (pronounced "crack-lens") are similar to pork rinds. They are small, crispy, and sold usually where country ham is (although I've found country ham but no cracklings yet). If you have never tried "cracklin cornbread" you just don't know what you're missin'!
Location: Some got six month some got one solid. But me and my buddies all got lifetime here
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I get kicks out of pretentious, detailed posts such as this one depicting <fill in the blank of your favorite city or town) and the poster then says that he or she doesn't live there. Moreso yet another post telling northerners how they should accept southerners (as if there are guidelines telling how we should "accept" one another). And for all the talk about what northerners think of the south, don't think for a single second that people from the south aren't doing the same. Not everyone down here wears a halo.
I get kicks out of pretentious, detailed posts such as this one depicting <fill in the blank of your favorite city or town) and the poster then says that he or she doesn't live there. Moreso yet another post telling northerners how they should accept southerners (as if there are guidelines telling how we should "accept" one another). And for all the talk about what northerners think of the south, don't think for a single second that people from the south aren't doing the same. Not everyone down here wears a halo.
Uh, I sent my halo out to be cleaned
So how are you, my favorite yankee??? Somehow I knew this post would make you roll your eyes!
I get kicks out of pretentious, detailed posts such as this one depicting <fill in the blank of your favorite city or town) and the poster then says that he or she doesn't live there. Moreso yet another post telling northerners how they should accept southerners (as if there are guidelines telling how we should "accept" one another). And for all the talk about what northerners think of the south, don't think for a single second that people from the south aren't doing the same. Not everyone down here wears a halo.
I agree that everyone in the area doesn't wear a halo, but it is their home and where they were raised. One should respect the local customs of others no matter where they are. It is called class. I am sure you have heard the saying, "When in Rome do as the Romans"? You don't have to do like the locals, but it isn't neccessary to compare or run them down. As far as guidelines telling how to accept one another, that isn't the case. It is more of a request for some respect. Accepting others is something that one should practice automatically. You shouldn't need a guideline for that. It is something that comes with good upbringing and education.
why northerns never understand that things are different once you enter the bible belt!
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Thanks! Cracklings (pronounced "crack-lens") are similar to pork rinds. They are small, crispy, and sold usually where country ham is (although I've found country ham but no cracklings yet). If you have never tried "cracklin cornbread" you just don't know what you're missin'! 
