[rant]

Okay, I'm going to settle some things once and for all. This has been annoying me for a while now, so please indulge me for a moment.

Raleigh-Durham is not the name of a city. Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, and is where North Carolina State University, where I'm currently pursuing my M.A., is located. Durham is half an hour down I-40, is a completely separate city, and is home to the world famous Duke University. Our airport is called Raleigh-Durham International. There is a town called Fuquay-Varina, which is where my parents live, and which was formed when the towns of Fuquay and Varina merged. Raleigh and Durham, however, are totally separate cities. Please, whether in polite conversation, or on television, or in the movies, refrain from calling this area Raleigh-Durham, because you have no effing idea what you are talking about, and I will be forced to kick you very hard.

Also, and this goes out to all you owners of local sports franchises, there is no Carolina. There is North Carolina and there is South Carolina. Two separate states. If you say, "Ah, that old Carolina winter..." you are making no sense. Please, specify which Carolina you are talking about, or I will slap you. (And yes, I am painfully aware that "Carolina" is often used to refer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but this is a pernicious nickname and inaccurate. UNC is not even the only UNC; there are five other schools which share that moniker, but none of them are called "Carolina".) This has led to the Carolina Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, which are not even located in the same city; the former is in Charlotte and the latter in Raleigh. You don't call that baseball team from Boston the Massachussetts Red Sox, so why call our hockey team the Carolina Hurricanes?

And although this is a largely Republican state, not everyone here voted for Jesse Helms. I've voted for his opponents since I was first allowed to vote. So knock it off.

When you assume these things, you only make an ass out of U.

North Carolina has one of the most technologically-savvy populations in the country, centered largely in the Research Triangle. Cary, the town where I live, was just voted the most desirable place to live in the country by Money Magazine.

Thank you.

[/rant]

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