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[drgrieves]

Greenville is around fifty miles past the Peachoid. It is around an hour from Clemson, so neither is exactly in Greenville's backyard.

I am a native Spartanburger (i.e., I know that we are correctly called "Spartans") and agree with much of what mended drum says, except:

"Milliken," not "Millikan." (Friend-of-Nixon Roger Milliken is a million years old and reliably gives a bunch of money to Wofford, Converse, and USC-Spartanburg. There, I said it: screw "USC-Upstate.")

And:

If Sparkle City is "smaller," that's because Greenville-Spartanburg has turned into a metro area of around 250,000 that is absorbing Spartanburg, at least so far as outside eyes can see. But Spartanburg also has a super-vibrant arts and downtown scene.

I would never live there again, but that has more to do with effed-up relatives than with the area itself.

Go, Dorman Cavaliers.

[pink_]

Clemson is out in the middle of nowhere, about 30 miles from Greenville (in the opposite direction from Spartanburg).  It's a decent R1, with all of the nice things that come along with that.

Many Clemson faculty live in Greenville and commute.

[leontrout]

And there is a "p" in Clemson: "Clempson" is the proper pronunciation, not the ESPN-ish "klemzon."

[prytania3]

Greenville is around fifty miles past the Peachoid. It is around an hour from Clemson, so neither is exactly in Greenville's backyard.

I am a native Spartanburger (i.e., I know that we are correctly called "Spartans") and agree with much of what mended drum says, except:

"Milliken," not "Millikan." (Friend-of-Nixon Roger Milliken is a million years old and reliably gives a bunch of money to Wofford, Converse, and USC-Spartanburg. There, I said it: screw "USC-Upstate.")

And:

If Sparkle City is "smaller," that's because Greenville-Spartanburg has turned into a metro area of around 250,000 that is absorbing Spartanburg, at least so far as outside eyes can see. But Spartanburg also has a super-vibrant arts and downtown scene.

I would never live there again, but that has more to do with effed-up relatives than with the area itself.

Go, Dorman Cavaliers.

I used to date a guy from Sparkle City when I was living in Columbia. He drove for Amarada Hess.

Oh wait. He was actually from Gaffney.

[drgrieves]

There is a hierarchy of textile mill villages at play here, which out-of-staters, including those who would mistake Gaffney for Sparkleberry, do not understand. Tony Earley captures it brilliantly in his short story "Charlotte," but I'll sum it up. (My grandfather made it through the first four stages.)

When you make it in Buffalo, you move to Union.

When you make it in Union, you move to Gaffney.

When you make it in Gaffney, you move to Spartanburg.

When you make it in Spartanburg, you move to Greenville.

When you make it in Greenville, you move to Charlotte.

When you make it in Charlotte, you move to Atlanta.

And at every step along the way, you strive to forget who you are and where you came from. You hide the clues--you learn that people from Spartanburg don't pronounce "Gaffney" the same way people from Gaffney do, and you start using the preferred pronunciation. When people joke about Gaffney, you laugh along with the crowd.

[fast_and_bulbous]

From three years in Western North Carolina, all I can tell you is it's pronounced "Greenvll." I lived in "Ashevll."

[prephd]

From three years in Western North Carolina, all I can tell you is it's pronounced "Greenvll." I lived in "Ashevll."

Ha! Having Southerners from the surrounding areas in my family, I already knew this much.