# Talk:Cary, North Carolina

I found this at Containment Area for Relocated Yankees:

"C.A.R.Y. or Cary is a tounge-in-cheek Backronym for the city of Cary, in North Carolina. It is so named for it's concentration of relocated Yankess."
I'm redirecting this here for now, feel free to revert, incorporate, demand deletion, etc.  Alai 19:00, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
If you need a reference, National Geographic published an article on Cary about eight years ago and cited this backronym.

The following paragraph:

The town's reputation as a bedroom community for transplants from outside the South has led to natives joking that Cary is an acronym for "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees." [1] Some observers have noted this as Cary's crisis of identity, especially when compared with its neighbors in the Research Triangle. Chapel Hill has a reputation as a bastion of liberal academia, Durham as a blue-collar post-boom industrial city, and Raleigh as the state's center of arts and government, but Cary has yet to come into its own identity, despite or perhaps because of its meteoric rise in population.
was removed on 8 June 2005 by Rtphokie (talk · contribs) with the explanation "removed argumentative, non-factual content."  On 24 June, the "C.A.R.Y." backronym got re-added as an "Interesting Fact" with no context to it whatsoever, and so it remains.
I'm putting the paragraph back.  Wikipedia is about NPOV, not about removing "argumentative, non-factual content".  If you want to claim that Cary is not a bedroom community, that it doesn't have a reputation for transplants, that observers haven't noted a crisis of identity, that Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh don't have well-formed identities, that Cary does have its own identity, or that its population hasn't risen meteorically, then add your arguments.  But don't just zap a fact of its context because the context offends you. --TreyHarris 8 July 2005 15:52 (UTC)

I'm not sure whether the paragraph should stay or go but I think it has some problems: 1) "a bedroom community for transplants from outside the South" is unclear; 2) "Some observers have noted this as Cary's crisis of identity"  Who exactly?  This is a statement of opinion not fact, even though you're attributing it to "some observers."
How is "a bedroom community for transplants from outside the South" unclear?  Cary was certainly a bedroom community for commuters to other parts of the Triangle through the 1980's and into the 1990's at least.  And C.A.R.Y. makes no sense outside the context of "transplants from outside the South."  Maybe you could elaborate on why you think this is unclear.
As to the second point, if you're saying there's no crisis of identity, then you should put down what Cary's well-understood identity is.  At the time I wrote that sentence, I had [2] as a reference, which quoted the mayor of Cary using the term "crisis of identity", but the page has moved.  Maybe someone else can find it. (p.s.--would you please sign your posts?) --TreyHarris 8 July 2005 19:59 (UTC)
I, for one, being from California, don't know your definition of South and don't know why that would be a bad thing...  Mrcolj 18:59, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

The concentrated area for relocated Yankees reference needs to be removed, it's not factual.  It is not encyclopedic any more than a blond joke is encyclopedic.  It's cutesy and doesn't belong here.  It's only purpose is "Cary bashing".
The history of this joke is that Cary's major growth occurred in the mid to late 80's when IBM relocated large portions of it's workforce from the New York headquarters to their new facility in Research Triangle Park.  Many of those ""relocated yankees"" put down roots in Cary.  The area has continued to grow and attract transplants but those transplants are far from being primarily from the North East part of the U.S., they come from and California, Canada in the case of the telecommunications companies, the UK in the case of the drug companies, and all engineering and scientific companies are seeing their employee populations from India and China increase.
Yes Cary is largely populated by transplants and this has affected perception of the community as well as it's growth patterns and policy over the years.  These references need to stay. But the cutesy joke that puts that growth primarily from ""Yankees"" is innacurate and needs to be removed.
Rtphokie
Okay, we went through this six months ago.  NPOV does not guarantee that everything written in an article will be inoffensive, merely that it is neutral as to taking a position on controversial points of view.  The sentence reads, "The town's reputation as a bedroom community for transplants from outside the South has led to humorous backronyms for its name such as "Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees" or "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.""  And it has a reference, which you can click on, to see that at least the latter humorous backronym does exist.  So—are you claiming that the Money magazine article is incorrect, and actually this article invented the acronym?  (An odd claim, since the Money article came first.)  If not, then it's NPOV to state that the backronym exists.  
You seem to misunderstand: the fact that people have used the backcronym is factual.  Saying so is not the same as saying that the backronym itself is factual, and the article doesn't assert this.  --TreyHarris 19:53, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Just because it was in Money magazine or National Geographic or whatever, does that make it worthy of being here in Wikipedia?  What is the purpose of this article, to give a as complete of a sumarization as possible or to amuse readers?
I just dont think it belongs here.  It's been removed before, by other users as well.  Some think it belongs some dont.  We need to step back and ask ourselves if it makes the article better or not.  I say it doesn't add anything to the article since Cary's history and current state is well covered. 
This ""backronym"" is sophomoric and makes this article worse, not better
Rtphokie

(I said this six months ago, and I'll say it again now.  Please sign and date your comments, using --~~~~.)
No, being in Money or National Geographic does not automatically qualify a fact for inclusion in the Wikipedia.  But what the citing of the backronym in both of those publications (and many others) does do is show that it is a notable fact, it isn't some sort of inane trivia, it is actually reflective of an actual state of being in the world.  This fact has been very stable in the article, and contrary to your assertion, before today it has never been removed by anyone other than you (except in the context of a whole-article vandalism), and the only other removal today was by an anonymous IP coming from cisco.com.  Check the page history.  --TreyHarris 20:33, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

It does not show it is a notable fact.  It's not a fact.  It's a joke.  It's not reflective of actual state of being anymore than a blonde joke or polish joke is reflective of actual state of being in the world.  It's a joke, not a fact.
Major publications include cutesy little things like this. That doesn't make them fact nor does it automatically reflect on reality.  It also doesn't necessarily reflect perception.
This is an old joke that I haven't heard in years. 
This doesn't add anything and it doesn't belong here.
--~~~~.

Your "old joke" was in the paper today - Ruth Sheehan's column on name for the soccer team.  I heard it last month in an IBM meeting.  Definitely has stuck as part of Cary's history and "culture". -Jcbarr 01:08, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
Strong vote to keep. You can't live in NC without hearing the containment area joke a thousand times. Those who wish to learn about Cary should learn how it is perceived.

The News and Observer dredging up a humourous name in a mean spirited column is not evidence that this kind of thing belongs in Wikipedia.  There is quite a history between the N&O and Cary that isn't worth getting into here.
Should we go add some Polish jokes to Poland's entry?  People thought those were true at one point too.  Perhaps some jokes about San Francisco Hippies or Florida being known for it's geriatric residents?  Where does it stop.  I say it should stop right here.  
--~~~~

I agree with it being kept, I'm from Rougemont and I've heard it many a time and it does speak about what the town is like. And anyone who's ever been to Cary knows why people say it has no soul. It's not the yankee part, it's that when I was born Cary had a population of 13,000, now it has a population of over 120,000, but there's nothing more than road after road of massive prefab houses, and because it doesn't have any real history it's just kind of this massive creation for the sake of people not wanting to live in Durham or Raleigh. There's not much to do, or to see, or anything really like that, it's just meh. If you've seen Weeds before it strongly resembles the town Nancy's from: Agrestic. 2607:F470:6:5002:D008:B7B6:7876:4E6D (talk) 02:20, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

I think because the phrase concentration of relocated Yankees is more of an opinion rather than a known fact, it should not be included within the article.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brownrs28608 (talk • contribs) 19:26, 5 February 2018 (UTC) 

For everyone's benefit, I'll note I've cited the claim (some time back) to a book about linguistics and dialect in North Carolina, published by a university press. It is a fact that some people refer to the town this way, and the label has stuck as a cultural item. -Indy beetle (talk) 07:33, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

All notables must now have a sources per the GA review committee. I am removing the following from the notables list until sources can be found: 
U. Alexis Johnson, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Czechoslovakia
Miguel Campanerta, ballet dancer and choreographer
Chris Hubert, professional football player
Please find a viable source before moving these individuals back to the article. Thanks. Rublamb (talk) 18:59, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Also placing this here just in case of potential issues - "Notable mayors include Fred Bond Jr. (1971–1983), Glen Lang (1999–2003), and Harold Weinbrecht (2007–present)." SL93 (talk) 21:40, 7 November 2022 (UTC)
Notable mayors restored with sources (same as from notable list).Rublamb (talk) 12:47, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

The redirect Town of Cary has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 January 31 § Town of Cary until a consensus is reached.  Duckmather (talk) 05:54, 31 January 2025 (UTC)