Nonetheless, it can still hurt. After almost 14 years in North Carolina and a much softened New York accent, I still meet Southerners who basically stop talking to me after they find out where I'm from. However, when someone such as yourself consistently makes jabs at Yankees, you are perpetuating the bad stereotypes and inflaming Southerners who may have a knee-jerk tendency to think of Northerners in this way. Many times our humor masks a simmering hostility. But it goes both ways, too.
Some people do come here with anti-Southerner chips on their shoulders.
But when we complain that they have not made an effort to understand us, I wonder if, in our defensiveness, we've given them a fair chance. It is hard to blame outsiders for isolating themselves in North Raleigh and Cary if we have made it clear, by our in-crowd jokes and unwelcoming attitudes, that we natives really prefer it that way. Who knows, they may be cool kids, too.