13 terms every true Charlottean should know

How well do you really think you know the Queen City? Here are 13 terms every true Charlottean should know:

BofA

As of July 2018, BofA (short for Bank of America) is the only bank left with headquarters in Charlotte. Long known as “Banktown,” Charlotte was previously headquarters for eight banks.

USNWC

The U.S. National Whitewater Center, which opened in 2006, holds the world’s largest man-made whitewater river. There are more than 30 activity opportunities on the enormous, 1,300-acre property, from paddle-boarding, to mountain biking, to rafting, to deep water solo climbing, to sipping beer (it counts).

CATS

The Charlotte Area Transit System oversees the bus and rail systems (forms of public transportation) in the city, light rail and streetcar included.

LYNX

LYNX actually doesn’t stand for anything, but it refers to Charlotte’s rail systems — the LYNX Blue Line light rail running from I-485 in south Charlotte to University City and the LYNX Gold Line streetcar running from Uptown to Elizabeth. According to CATS, the branding was not an effort to play off of a feline motif, but rather was an effort to convey connectivity, in relation to the word “links.” (But I really like the cat theme.)

Uptown

No, we don’t say “downtown” in Charlotte. Uptown/Center City, the tract of land within the I-277 loop, was originally named for what historian Tom Hanchett calls “geographic reality.”

He told CharlotteFive: “In the mid-1700s, the nation’s trading path from the southeast to the Atlantic ran along a ridge top. One of those Indian trading paths in Charlotte came to be Tryon Street and it crossed another that became Trade Street. This was the highest elevation point and the city grew around it. When people came to this point, they were going ‘up.’’

Fourth Ward/Third Ward/Second Ward/First Ward

Speaking of Uptown, it’s broken up into four wards. Hanchett told C5 that Charlotte was split into two wards, or election districts, in 1851. The lines were redrawn in 1869 to create four wards and accommodate population growth, and the terms just stuck around. Here’s what you can eat, drink and do in each of the four wards.

485/77/277/85

These numbers point to the dominant tangle of interstates around the city.

– I-485 is a 67-mile interstate loop that circles around Charlotte. The last segment of I-485 was completed in 2015, after 27 years of construction.

– I-277 is a 4.41 mile partial loop around Uptown.

– Running north and south, I-77 is 105.7 miles long across North Carolina, creating a line from Fort Mill, SC, to Uptown, to Davidson, onward.

– I-85 travels from the South Carolina border and across NC to the Virginia border, covering 234.6 miles.

CLT

This is the airport code for Charlotte Douglas International Airport in West Charlotte. It’s interchangeable with QC (for the Queen City, named after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz), Panther Nation (in honor of our Carolina Panthers football team) and Buzz City (in honor of our Charlotte Hornets basketball team).

Booty Loop

This 2.85-mile route in the Myers Park neighborhood is a hotspot for joggers, walkers and, most notably, cyclists. In the ‘90s, the loop got its name from a group of male cyclists training in the neighborhood — with a lighthearted appreciation for the “fitness levels” of women exercising in the area. Today, the loop is home to the 24 Hours of Booty cycling event that raises big dollars each July for cancer charities.

Novant/Atrium

These are the two biggest health systems in Charlotte: Novant Health and Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas HealthCare System). Atrium is based in Charlotte while Novant is based in Winston-Salem.

704

Ah yes, the Charlotte area code. You’ll see this in plenty of branding here, including lifestyle brand 704 Shop, which crafts Charlotte t-shirts, hats and apparel.

Meck Dec

As legend goes, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed in Charlotte on May 20, 1775, prior to the signing of the actual Declaration of Independence. The Meck Dec declared independence from Great Britain for the first time in the colonies, and was carried to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia by militia Captain James Jack. Be on the lookout for Meck Dec celebrations each year.

NoDa

We like to shorten our neighborhood names around here. NoDa was arguably the first that caught on, referencing the arts district/neighborhood along North Davidson Street, bordered by Matheson Avenue, Sugar Creek Road and the Plaza. Other neighborhood terms like LoSo (Lower South End) and MoRa (Monroe Road Area) have more recently surfaced.

What crucial terms did we miss, Charlotteans? Comment below.

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 2:00 AM.