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Take a flight into RDU (the AIRPORT CODE) and as you leave terminal 2; you'll get a "Welcome To______ " greeting over your head. Ignore what the pilot says as you land....he/she most likely doesn't live here.
Spoiler
Pilot usually says "Welcome to Raleigh-Durham".... sign at Terminal 2 reads "Welcome to North Carolina's Research Triangle"
Well, the pilot isn't lying. They are landing at Raleigh-Durham airport.
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Being born in Durham and a resident of Raleigh, I never really LIKED the "Raleigh-Durham" moniker, but I kind of picked it up and started using it, because it's what people outside and in the area started using. I use "Triangle" or "RTP" too, but usually with folks who live here - I assume many folks outside of the area don't know what these terms mean. I also use "RDU" sometimes. "Research Triangle Park" or "Research Triangle"- I don't use this. Too clunky, stilted, formal and archaic. Non-residents may not know what this means. I don't really hear anybody using this in reference to the area, but for the actual Research Triangle Park.
All of these terms are problematic in one way or another I guess.
Remember your audience. The public in general are pretty inept. It's quite scary. Personally I would advertise as Raleigh-Durham or just "Raleigh". Really no downsides with that.
Most people I know from the MSP area just say "Minni" or "Minneapolis" which is a pretty similar situation to our area.
When you go to (insert airline website) and type in Cary you get no returns. Chapel Hill same thing. The triangle yep nothing. Only Raleigh and Durham work.
It's a website that showcases different things to do around here and local events. So presumably it would be for people who already live here (or are considering moving here but probably way more for the former)
I was confused how somebody could just make up a name for a whole side of town that had previously been called something else. I'm also noticing "Midtown Creep". At first "Midtown" was North Hills. Then it started creeping down Six Forks. Now businesses and people almost as far as Six Forks and Strickland are starting to claim "Midtown" and add Midtown to the titles of their businesses.
If you're talking about people who are from out of town and learning about the area, they don't necessarily know that RDU is the airport and why the Triangle is the Triangle. Since this was me not too long ago, I can relate to how that changed once I learned more about the area. It seems more logical to go with the two largest cities that are like bookends to everything in between. Raleigh-Durham. I don't see anything wrong with it considering so many people spend their lives living or working in between both.
People who don't yet know what a Triangle is or the abbreviation for the airport shouldn't be looked down on. That smacks of local snobbery. People are ignorant until they learn, there's nothing wrong with that. Now if they refuse to learn, and choose to live in their own little bubble, that's a whole different thing altogether.
Now that I've been here a bit, of those choices, the Triangle is a more local representation for me.
Calling this area RDU is like calling New York "LGA" or "JFK". I just don't see it.
I was confused how somebody could just make up a name for a whole side of town that had previously been called something else. I'm also noticing "Midtown Creep". At first "Midtown" was North Hills. Then it started creeping down Six Forks. Now businesses and people almost as far as Six Forks and Strickland are starting to claim "Midtown" and add Midtown to the titles of their businesses.
I wish I knew the origin. I first heard it on here. Very odd.
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If you're talking about people who are from out of town and learning about the area, they don't necessarily know that RDU is the airport and why the Triangle is the Triangle. Since this was me not too long ago, I can relate to how that changed once I learned more about the area. It seems more logical to go with the two largest cities that are like bookends to everything in between. Raleigh-Durham. I don't see anything wrong with it considering so many people spend their lives living or working in between both.
People who don't yet know what a Triangle is or the abbreviation for the airport shouldn't be looked down on. That smacks of local snobbery. People are ignorant until they learn, there's nothing wrong with that. Now if they refuse to learn, and choose to live in their own little bubble, that's a whole different thing altogether.
Now that I've been here a bit, of those choices, the Triangle is a more local representation for me.
Calling this area RDU is like calling New York "LGA" or "JFK". I just don't see it.
I don't think people mind it when someone they meet who is visiting here calls it RDU or something. It's more when someone moves here and keeps trying to make it a thing.
Naturally, it gets dismissed on this forum, but online forums are like that.
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I wish I knew the origin. I first heard it on here. Very odd.
I don’t find it that shocking I recently heard someone calling NC beaches “the shore” it’s just transplanting terms
I think we all agree referring to a place called “the triangle” anywhere in the us can get confusing however if you live here and don’t understand why it’s called the triangle or are confused why Chapel Hill or that there isn’t a coherent region called “Raleigh durham” you need to hit the books
I don’t find it that shocking I recently heard someone calling NC beaches “the shore” it’s just transplanting terms
I think we all agree referring to a place called “the triangle” anywhere in the us can get confusing however if you live here and don’t understand why it’s called the triangle or are confused why Chapel Hill or that there isn’t a coherent region called “Raleigh durham” you need to hit the books
Yeah... when I travel, I refer to where I live as "near Raleigh, the capital of NC."
I do this, because so many people have no clue what the capitals are of a good many states. Spread the knowledge.
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