# Is Pining For North Carolina Normal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 9, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224 "2004-04-09T21:07:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/1 "2004-04-09T21:07:59Z")
Dear Dopers,
On Wednesday, I called the apartment complex my new employers have a deal with. They told me that there was only one apartment left, so we needed to act fast :eek:. So when **Morelin** got home, we tossed some things in a bag and scurried up to Durham (where we stayed in a magnificent suite–we’re talking fridge, stove, kitchen suite–I scored on Expedia for $50) to check out the complex and do the paperwork and poke around the area on Thursday.
I think I should mention now that, as we crossed the border from SC into NC, we drove through a creepy, Sam Raimi style cloud of eerie fog. Instead of containing evil demons, however, the smoke carried with it the sweet, sweet scent of barbeque. This is surely a sign from the gods.
Thursday comes and we check the place out–it’s a few bucks a month more than we’re paying now but with 150 more square feet, washer-dryer hookups, a much bigger kitchen, there’s our bank, a mailbox place, a grocery store, and a nice mall about a mile away, and it’s walking distance to the place I’ll be working–and lurve it. And we check out the mall and-I say this as a fully qualified, Jay and Silent Bob and Brodie mallrat-it has to be one of the nicest malls I’ve ever seen. We had to leave cause I was muttering things like, “Screw it, let’s just stay up here. We’ll figure something out.”
And I say without qualification that the colors were brighter, the air was sweeter, and the drivers actually drove like human beings. When I stopped in the middle of an intersection to read the street signs, I was not immolated in a fiery inferno as a Starbuck’s crazed soccer mom in a Lincoln Penis Compensator came charging up my ass, which is what would’ve happened here. People used turn signals when they changed lanes. And not just once, ALL THE TIME. And, unlike in Atlanta, where letting someone merge in front of you means you have no penis, in NC, I regularly saw people changing lanes to allow people to merge.
Zeal of the converted? Perhaps.
I also noticed that if I happened to do something insane, like only 5 MPH above the speed limit in the slow lane, the drivers would NOT perch 3 inches off my bumper. Instead, they would change lanes (using their signal!) and leave me alone.
I hear you saying how impossible and unlikely this is, my friend. But I was there! I saw, with my own eyes, these wonderful things.
So we’re moving in mid-May. But I wanna be there _NOW_. A few hours in Durham was enough to atrophy my leet Atlanta driving skills. My ability to careen into lanes in front of semi trucks was already atrophying. And yes, I did use my turn signals.
Is this normal?
Signed,
Nothing Could Be Finer
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### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/2 "2004-04-09T21:24:15Z")
In my mind I’m goin’ to Carolina
Can’t see the sunshine?
Can’t you just feel the moonshine?
Ain’t it just like a friend of mine
A-hittin’ me from behind
And I’m goin’ to Carolina in my mind…
(Not sure if that’s about the Northern or Southern variety, there.)
---
### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/3 "2004-04-09T21:51:28Z")
I spent 6 months in “Fayette-nam” (Fayetteville) and had no problem with it, G.I. town or no. I went to a convention in Charlotte and was impressed, and Asheville was rated as one of the better (top 10) cities for livability in the country.
Of all the places I have visited to some extent (Massachussetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersy, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, Carolina [North and South], Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho), I think that North Carolina was in my personal “Top 5.”
If I was told by my employer that I had to pick up and move to North Carolina, I would NOT be heartbroken in the least.
Good luck with your move, and I hope you have many years of great living and good memories of North Carolina.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/4 "2004-04-09T22:09:11Z")
> [@Beadalin](#):
>
> In my mind I’m goin’ to Carolina
> Can’t see the sunshine?
> Can’t you just feel the moonshine?
> Ain’t it just like a friend of mine
> A-hittin’ me from behind
> And I’m goin’ to Carolina in my mind…
and…
_Carolina day don’t rise in the morning
Don’t set in the evenin’
It ain’t that way
Look up in the morning
And you got a grin
And you’re with a girl
and you want to stay
Then my friend you’re in a Carolina day_
---
### Author:  [@dewizeowl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dewizeowl)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/5 "2004-04-09T22:24:54Z")
If my North Carolina born wife reads this thread, North Carolina is Heaven on Earth. After twenty + years in Chicago, she pines for Paradise, especially in February. Our retirement location is already picked out.
But having lived all my life in the Midwest, I think NC is very nice. Yes it is slower, people are “friendlier”, there is a southern charm there. It was also the birthplace of Jesse Helms and NASCAR. Need I say more.
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### Author:  [@Never\_to\_be\_Queen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_to_be_Queen)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/6 "2004-04-10T02:37:36Z")
I moved to Virginia last year. It is the first time in my life that I have not lived in North Carolina. Taxes are easier there. The mountains are more beautiful there (IMHO)…
Okay, now I am sad.
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### Author:  [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/7 "2004-04-10T02:48:52Z")
On a whim a several years back, I packed up my car and spent a week in Wilmington, near Cape Fear.
As time passed, I took my friend, and now wife, there and visited a few more times. Such a wonderful place. We \* always\* wish we had the time and money to be there.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/8 "2004-04-10T03:17:22Z")
\>\>Is Pining For North Carolina Normal?
Are you a dead parrot?
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### Author:  [@Kuizelemartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuizelemartz)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/9 "2004-04-10T03:39:35Z")
I love North Carolina. Beautiful land, wonderful people and pretty good food. The air _is_ fresher there, and the grass is greener, it’s not just you.
And you’re also right about the freakish way people drive there. I’ve never ever seen 100% polite, thinking, signaling drivers. If two lanes merge into one, say, 2 miles ahead, people merge right then and there. There’s no one running up the lane merging to pass 300 cars and cut in, just not how they do things there.
Go and be happy !
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### Author:  [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/10 "2004-04-10T04:08:48Z")
I grew up in North Carolina. It’s a gorgeous place–I didn’t appreciate it as a kid until we went on a road trip around the US. I’m still convinced it’s the most beautiful state in the US.
I love Austin, TX too… but man o man, do I miss that beautiful North Carolina weather. I try to come up with a good excuse to head back to North Carolina for a week or so sometimes, but I can’t justify it quite yet.
Except the hurricanes. Don’t miss those.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/11 "2004-04-10T04:31:22Z")
When I was growing up in Georgia during the 50s, we wondered how any place with the word _ **north** _ in the name could be any good. Later, I found out it ain’t that bad, but the people are just a little carried away with themeselves.
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### Author:  [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/12 "2004-04-10T04:44:53Z")
I may be moving to NC in a few years. You’re normal, and so am I. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/13 "2004-04-10T04:57:01Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#):
>
> I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.
Seriously! Everyone I talked to loves it there. And not “It’s ok”, oh no, “This is SUCH a great place to live!”
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### Author:  [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/14 "2004-04-10T15:58:20Z")
> [@Ravenous Lady](#):
>
> And you’re also right about the freakish way people drive there. I’ve never ever seen 100% polite, thinking, signaling drivers. If two lanes merge into one, say, 2 miles ahead, people merge right then and there. There’s no one running up the lane merging to pass 300 cars and cut in, just not how they do things there.
Somebodys never had to fight through rush hour traffic in the nightmare that is Greensboro. . . or driven anywhere near downtown Raleigh. . . or waited an hour and a half to go 6 miles - just west of Asheville on I-40. I grew up in NC and I love it too - but this idea of a drivers nirvana is simply not true. Sure its not NYC, but there are idiot drivers _everywhere_.
I miss my friends and family in the Old North State but I have to say Knoxville, TN is the nicest place **I** have ever lived.
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### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/15 "2004-04-10T16:18:19Z")
Preach it, **NothingMan**. I live in Greensboro (actually a smallish rural backwash town that prances around with the name of Pleasant Garden) and all of you who are praising the drivers so heavily have obviously never been on I-40. Locals around here call it Death Valley I do believe. I have been driving through out the eastern coast and nothing is quite like that. It is a different breed of ignorant drivers. Ones who do not do anything uniformly or by the Jackass of Modern Travels Manual v8.0 (with atlas). Atleast with places like DC you can expect unexpected merges and no turn signals. Here, there is just no clue what the next driver may do. Maybe he will turn on his left blinker and go right or maybe he will speed up to brake, but there is never a certanity that you get with other places.
Anyways, out of all the states I have been to, there is nothing quite like driving 4 hours one way and ending up in some gorgeous mountains, 4 hours the other way and ending up on some of the most beautiful beaches (and islands) on the eastern coast, and driving 4 hours the other way and ending up in a bustling city in its own right. Also, with all these new projects as of late, Greensboro is going to turn into quite an art center within the next 20 years. Sort of what happened to Chicago.
(Plus, I live on 3 acres of half woods [that we own… there are actually 36 behing my house] and i can drive 20 minutes and get into many different thriving shopping areas depending on which direction I go.)
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### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/16 "2004-04-10T16:20:52Z")
North Carolina wants you, too, **GMRyujin** and **Morelin**.
I’m a native North Carolinian, and I wouldn’t live anywhere else. Beautiful place, nice people, a rich history. Sure, there are jerks and assholes here, but you’re going to find them everywhere in the world.
Durham is a great city, too. Oh, yeah. You’re gonna like it here.
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### Author:  [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/17 "2004-04-10T18:31:12Z")
North Carolinians are yankees. 😃
Boone, Asheville (and the surrounding areas incl. Pisgah NF, etc) Charlotte, Raliegh/Durham are awesome.
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### Author:  [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/18 "2004-04-10T19:06:02Z")
I get all my [tattoos](http://www.mansruintattoos.com/tattoo33.htm) in Asheville. (I’m the blond girl in the middle.) I like it alot there.
I’m a big fan of Charlotte, as well.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/19 "2004-04-10T19:42:06Z")
Pining is rather appropriate. North Carolina has lots and lots of pines.
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### Author:  [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pining-for-north-carolina-normal/239224/20 "2004-04-10T19:51:47Z")
Nobody’s mentioned Chapel Hill yet! My husband and I were married in Maryland, moved to Virginia, then California, then Louisanna (less said about that miserable experience the better…) then Georgia, then Durham, NC and finally to Chapel Hill. An island of liberalism set in a sea of conservatism. Beautiful town, wonderful people, fabulous Franklin Street, best schools in the state, two of the best high schools in the country, one of the finest universities in the USA, close to that great mall in the OP, 3 hours to the mountains and 2 hours to the beach. North Carolina is a terrific state, even if we DID elect Jesse “Scourge of the South” Helms to office more times than seems healthy in a democracy. Nascar’s appeal escapes me but ya gotta do something when the basketball season ends…
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