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Hey, just an update, had to go to Fayetteville with the wife to get a piece of furniture we wanted yesterday and I found my Southerners. LOL It's a very nice place, sorta like the typical Southeastern medium-sized city. Everyone was very friendly!
I have been living in Fayetteville for a while and I love listening to my Southern friends! Thanks for saying nice things about Fay, by the way
It's actually easier to list the cities that don't have a lot of Southern charm and accents left than those that do. Most NC towns are still pretty Southern. Thankfully.
You don't live all that far from Clinton and the Goldsboro/Kinston/La Grange area. Drive to those towns and you'll hear plenty of deep Southern accents. Well, deep southeastern NC accents. There are several different Southern accents just within NC.
I was going to say NC is a southern state, so all cities and towns are southern, it's just to what degree. It's like asking which of the Carolina Panthers are true Panthers, most of them went to schools in a different state but they are still Panthers. There are a lot of transplants in the bigger cities and the coast maybe asheville too not sure but there are plenty of locals in those places as well so they are still southern with a northern influence. Once you get out of those places it is VERY southern still the people and the way of life. But even in Charlotte or Raleigh you can still tell you are in the south it just feels southern IMO.
Cities ANYWHERE are going to have lots of transplants from other places. NC, in particular, has become the "latest greatest destination" for former Northerners, so there are a lot of accents in the cities. But RURAL areas are where you will find the "true" accent of a place (not just NC, but anywhere). It's a matter of "transients vs long-timers" and cities, especially growing cities, are fueled from people coming from other places, with other accents.
Even the cities in NC have tons of natives, but even Southerners' accents tend to morph to a more "neutral" one just like many transplants' do; it's what naturally happens when people of different backgrounds come together ("Melting Pot", blah blah). So if you have a non-Southern accent, then oftentimes, even a Southerner will speak to you in a more "accentless" manner, the same way a bilingual person will talk to someone in whichever language the other person speaks. Meaning there are likely more Southerners around than you can tell at first glance.
The oldest parts of a city in NC will always be the most "Southern" and the newest, of course will be the least Southern. But the smaller towns (not counting "towns" like Cary that are mostly transplants) are where to find the "old NC". From Cary, take a day trip down to Smithfield sometime and visit the Ava Gardner Museum and then so to the many antique places the next town over in Selma. You will know you're in the South then!
Cities ANYWHERE are going to have lots of transplants from other places. NC, in particular, has become the "latest greatest destination" for former Northerners, so there are a lot of accents in the cities. But RURAL areas are where you will find the "true" accent of a place (not just NC, but anywhere). It's a matter of "transients vs long-timers" and cities, especially growing cities, are fueled from people coming from other places, with other accents.
Even the cities in NC have tons of natives, but even Southerners' accents tend to morph to a more "neutral" one just like many transplants' do; it's what naturally happens when people of different backgrounds come together ("Melting Pot", blah blah). So if you have a non-Southern accent, then oftentimes, even a Southerner will speak to you in a more "accentless" manner, the same way a bilingual person will talk to someone in whichever language the other person speaks. Meaning there are likely more Southerners around than you can tell at first glance.
The oldest parts of a city in NC will always be the most "Southern" and the newest, of course will be the least Southern. But the smaller towns (not counting "towns" like Cary that are mostly transplants) are where to find the "old NC". From Cary, take a day trip down to Smithfield sometime and visit the Ava Gardner Museum and then so to the many antique places the next town over in Selma. You will know you're in the South then!
I agree for the most part except cities up north for example had massive influx of transplants too (from other countries) and they still have their own culture, most of those immigrants adapted to their new home and even the ones that didn't were influenced by living there. Like New York, it's a very northeastern town, there were lots of people from other places but that doesn't mean it isn't a "true Northern" city. Likewise even Charlotte or Raleigh are very southern compared to DC and points north, despite the transplants, the fact that they live in a location that was originally southern has an influence on them too, i know that my parents are both from New York but they have changed over their years of living here even though they know other people from New York they wouldn't say they feel like they are back at home they are just people from there that live in the south now and having families here and just being here influences the way they live, sure they will still be yankees but the families of the ones who stay will become more "southern" over time, because even in say Charlotte, they will interact with more southerners than they would in say upstate New York, the people up there live in rural areas too and daily interactions with them would have a similar effect in a Northern way.
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It's a very nice place, sorta like the typical Southeastern medium-sized city. Everyone was very friendly!
