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The "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees" nickname for Cary has been around for 30 years, and even most Yankees in Cary use it. It's tongue-in-cheek, but the name continues because it's essentially true; Cary is a mecca for Northern transplants in this region. It's not intended to be insulting (most of the time).
But I've heard the hurricanes can be a real problem in that region.
Hurricanes should never be a reason to avoid this state; they are rare. We usually get the residue from them in the form of strong storms, but direct hits to NC are not common, especially if you aren't directly on the beach.
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My wife is also deathly afraid of spiders, she freezes up and freaks out. And I'm certain that the critters down south are going to be significantly larger than up here in the north.
LOTS of spiders, not to mention mosquitoes and other bugs, and snakes. Especially the more rural you are. "Getting close to nature" is not always a 100% positive experience!
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We want a city where we can get our grocery shopping done, and where a mall or other shopping options are available within 10-20 minutes drive. We don't drive all that often, but we'd prefer someplace without a ton of traffic (i.e. not super interested in living in a large city)
You'd definitely want to avoid the Triangle (Raleigh) area if you don't like traffic; it gets measurably worse with each passing year, as the super-high growth rate is much faster than the infrastructure can keep up with.
You might look towards the Greenville, Wilson, or Rocky Mount areas. They are generally rural in character but still "cities" of some sort (not the "boonies") and still maintain a lot of the "Eastern NC that tobacco built" character. In many ways it would be like a time machine back a few decades, but that can be good or bad.
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But seriously, give us yanks a chance, we're good folk and want to get away from all the grumpy people up north and enjoy a slower lifestyle.
Unfortunately, far too many of those "grumpy people" from up North have already beat you here, and their favorite pasttime is to complain about things such as the "slower lifestyle" because "that's not the way they did things up Naawth"!
Check the subfurom for Eastern ("Coastal") NC for the best info on Wilmington, Greenville, Wilson, and Rocky Mount. New Bern (pronounced "NOObern", not "New BERN", just FYI) is another place that's getting a lot of attention.
The "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees" nickname for Cary has been around for 30 years, and even most Yankees in Cary use it. It's tongue-in-cheek, but the name continues because it's essentially true; Cary is a mecca for Northern transplants in this region. It's not intended to be insulting (most of the time).
As a "yankee" moving to the south soon, I worry that there will be a lot of insults.
Oh yeah. One more thing. NOObern? As in a long version of no?
Heh, no, like "new", but the point is that the accent is on "New", not "Bern", which runs contrary to almost every other geographic place named "New ___", which always accent the second word ((New York, New Mexico, etc). I don't know the history of this, and actually I never thought about it until I heard a Nicholas Sparks (who is from New Bern) book read on audio and the reader kept pronouncing it "new BERN" which drove me crazy
Don't worry about the "Yankee" thing; it's mostly not an insult, just a descriptor. Some use it as an insult, but it's pretty easy to tell from the tone. I compare it to the word "Jew"--it can be used (usually) in a very neutral way, or in a "pointed" way ("My neighbors are Jews" vs "My neighbors are Jews!") and you can usually tell which. Your Northern "birthright", as it were, will not be held against you, but any stereotypical "Yankee" traits such as being particularly loud, rude, in-your-face, argumentative, or saying "Why don't you people do things/drive faster/etc like where we come from, what kind of backwards place is this!?!" [or thereabouts] will have you branded a "Yankee" with the corresponding negative connotations. From your "tone" in your initial inquiry, I can't imagine any trouble
I'm not sure what my birthright would be...I was born in Norfolk, Virginia and raised in New York. All my life my Mom has said I'm a southern girl because of it and I'm finally ready to embrace that.
Heh, no, like "new", but the point is that the accent is on "New", not "Bern", which runs contrary to almost every other geographic place named "New ___", which always accent the second word ((New York, New Mexico, etc). I don't know the history of this, and actually I never thought about it until I heard a Nicholas Sparks (who is from New Bern) book read on audio and the reader kept pronouncing it "new BERN" which drove me crazy
Don't worry about the "Yankee" thing; it's mostly not an insult, just a descriptor. Some use it as an insult, but it's pretty easy to tell from the tone. I compare it to the word "Jew"--it can be used (usually) in a very neutral way, or in a "pointed" way ("My neighbors are Jews" vs "My neighbors are Jews!") and you can usually tell which. Your Northern "birthright", as it were, will not be held against you, but any stereotypical "Yankee" traits such as being particularly loud, rude, in-your-face, argumentative, or saying "Why don't you people do things/drive faster/etc like where we come from, what kind of backwards place is this!?!" [or thereabouts] will have you branded a "Yankee" with the corresponding negative connotations. From your "tone" in your initial inquiry, I can't imagine any trouble
Francois - I usually agree with almost all of your posts but this one I take some exception to. I disagree that using the term "Jew" as above is merely conversational. As a Jew, I find that insulting....and feel the term "Jewish" is much more appropriate.
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