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runjun ,

When I got to Ohio, I was so confused when people called it the Midwest. I was like, have you seen a map.

Maximilious ,
@Maximilious@kbin.social avatar

That's because it is considered part of the Midwest?? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States

runjun ,

Not saying it’s inaccurate because of history but wow does it not match modern US geography.

Stovetop ,

At least it has “Mid” in the name. Imagine if it was just “West” and everything west of that was the Westwest.

RupeThereItIs ,

This is how I, a Michigander, feel about anyone west of the Mississippi claiming the monocer.

That river WAS the beginning of the west, how that could be Midwest is beyond me …

Hildegarde ,

Most of y’all are east of the centerline.

You’re the middle east, not midwest.

leaky_shower_thought ,

funnily enough, this is probably one of those “if you know, you know” things.

And I don’t know what middle of what is implied here.

Gingerlegs , (edited )

I think you’re joking but the name comes from the migration of the incorporation of the states into the union. Not really geographically a reference

Edit: geographically, not geologically

Hildegarde ,

Happy to learn that you’re unaware of all the new states.

Gingerlegs ,

We’re the middle child everyone forgets. Pardon my lack of empathy 😆

dream_weasel ,

Eh, most of them kinda suck anyway…

wreckedcarzz ,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, I’m especially ashamed of [your state here], but [my state here] really is a trailblazer.

OminousOrange ,
@OminousOrange@lemmy.ca avatar

As a Canadian, thank you for explaining. From the chart, I thought Americans in the middle states were just really bad with geography.

(also you mean geographically, not geologically)

Gingerlegs ,

Shit, thank you!

Hildegarde ,

As an American, I can confirm they are just bad with geography.

Thisfox ,

Australian checking in with “I had never been told that”. I just figured it was geographical like our “mid north coast” but evidently not.

SatyrSack ,

What does that mean?

ech ,

The US started as 13 colonies/states on the East coast. In the terminology, everything past that is “The West”, and this general area is the middle-ish part of that, so “Midwest”.

dream_weasel ,

If you’re west of the Mississippi river, you’re the West. Straight up.

dmention7 ,

Might want to check a map homie, cause I’m pretty sure Iowa is NOT in the captial-W West 😂

Maybe you meant the Missouri river?

Not_mikey ,

Maybe on a purely east west dichotomy, but if we’re using the typical 4 regions of the u.s. : Northeast, south, Midwest and west, then that is not right.

captainlezbian ,

It’s the name of the region. The Great Plains aren’t particularly great either, they’re just big. It’s like how the Mediterranean isn’t really in the middle of the world

Lemminary ,

Or how super foods don’t give you superpowers. :^)

TheSanSabaSongbird ,

“Great” in that sense doesn’t mean “good,” it means big. You see the same use in a lot of bird names as in the great blue heron or the great auk, just off the top of my head.

captainlezbian ,

Are you telling me that great tits don’t have lovely mammaries?

Yeah I’m sorry I know they’re the particularly large plains. They’re just also several shit states and couldn’t resist the pun to mock them

FARTYSHARTBLAST ,
@FARTYSHARTBLAST@kbin.social avatar

It's named after the purchase of what was called the midwest territories.

someguy3 ,

Wyoming has a plurality!

FunkyMonk ,

I would consider this data partial casserole containment fields at best.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@kbin.social avatar

Almost 10% of Pennsylvania thinks they are in the midwest? HAHAHAHAHHA

anon6789 , (edited )
@anon6789@lemmy.world avatar

Have you met anyone from Western Pennsylvania? You’d understand a number of them not knowing where they are on a map!

Lol I kid. Western PA, aka Pennsyltucky, is our Florida Man territory.

Ohio I definitely consider the start of the Midwest.

The others are right though mentioning the obscene number of rebel flags in PA though. My brother was guilty of it for a while in sad to say too. I’m in the Southeast, the most metropolitan part of the state, and they’re all over. They’re usually hung next to the MAGA stuff, which I’m sure comes as little surprise. Honestly I’d probably prefer the stars and bars to the Trump crap because at least the flag is aesthetically less ugly visually, and the person flying it could just be ignorant or is at least being honest about their beliefs instead of the poorly veiled hate the MAGA trash represents.

Arkansas was the surprising state to me. I guess I just don’t ever think about anything related to Arkansas so I lump it in with the Midwest instead of the South, which I think of as the tourist destination states.

TheMusicalFruit ,

78% of people polled in Ohio believe they are midwestern. People living on that border in Western Pennsylvania might identify geographically or culturally as midwestern, so 9% isn’t that surprising. Now if you broke it down and it showed that people living near Philly thought they were midwestern, that would be laughable.

Can_you_change_your_username ,

I think it probably has to do with the overlap between the Midwest and the rust belt.

Buffaloaf ,

I’m from Wyoming and I’m calling bullshit on that number. Unless they talked to people living in the town of Midwest.

dual_sport_dork ,
@dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

Not only is Wyoming solidly in the west, Wyoming arguably defines the west. Cowboys, sagebrush, the Rockies… If any part of Wyoming is “the midwest,” so is the moon.

oldGregg ,

deleted_by_author

    •
    Swedneck ,
    @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    pretty sure midwest is not the same thing as west lol

    guyrocket ,
    @guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

    Isn't the tourism "mascot" for WY a cowboy? Kinda screams Western state to me.

    dual_sport_dork ,
    @dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

    The cowboy on the bucking bronco is also on their license plate.

    TheSanSabaSongbird ,

    The truth is that pretty much everything about the western US starts with California and then spreads back out. This is because, due to the gold rush, California was settled and made a state first, while the rest of the western states remained “territories” and only achieved statehood much later as they too became more heavily settled.

    Basically, the settlement pattern of the western states is backwards after about 1852 or thereabouts, with the California and the west coast filling in first, and the interior states filling in later.

    dmention7 ,

    According to google the town of Midwest, WY has 283 people, which is damn near half of the state’s population. So add in a few more confused cowboys and that checks out.

    atomicorange ,

    Totally agree. I’m in Colorado, nobody would ever call this the midwest. Maybe all the midwestern transplants here were confused about the question?

    watson387 ,
    @watson387@sopuli.xyz avatar

    I’m in PA and I don’t consider it to be the Midwest even slightly…

    rockSlayer ,

    Sure do! Love my home state of MN

    JJROKCZ , (edited )

    Illinoisan here, Pennsylvania and Idaho need to get their heads checked. I wouldn’t consider anything west of Kansas or east of Ohio(being generous there) as Midwest. Also just about anything south of the Missouri Compromise Line is a southern state, the Midwest is not the home of traitors.

    Edit: correct mason Dixon to Missouri compromise

    cmbabul ,

    Then y’all need to get Ohio to stop giving northern Kentucky Skyline chili if you don’t want them to be somewhat midwestern and southern at the same time. But you damn right about Idaho, culturally they’re closer to Floridian that anything else

    JJROKCZ ,

    I’ve never given Ohio anything other than ridicule lol and Kentucky is southern so them influencing Ohio would be trying to make them southern but they’re bordering Canada so that doesn’t work.

    Ohio really just doesn’t fit anywhere well

    Tok0 ,

    I don’t think Ohio is mid west… I know(think) it had something to do with the original 13 colonies but at this point the naming conventions need to change definitions.

    JJROKCZ ,

    Ohio was not one of the original 13 colonies

    DeepFriedDresden ,

    Pretty sure they're implying that the region west of the 13 colonies was called the Midwest, not that Ohio was considered the Midwest because it was one of the original colonies...

    JJROKCZ ,

    That leaves the majority of the country as the Midwest then and that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Really trying to make states fit into 3/4 designations doesn’t work, we need to split them into like 8 to make sense

    DeepFriedDresden ,

    So originally anything west of the Appalachian mountains was called the west. Then as they explored more of the land and gained territories the line that defined the west moved to the Mississippi, making the territories between the Appalchians and Mississippi the Midwest.

    Now the regions are split based on census data, and there are huge swaths of land in the West and Midwest that are sparsely populated so they are larger regions in size.

    It makes sense if you actually look into it and take a 5 minute google search to learn about it.

    JJROKCZ ,

    Sure, but designations from 200 years ago are irrelevant to a modern nation spanning a continent with colonies and military bases spanning the globe. To call everything west of the Appalachian mountains “the west” is nonsense now

    captainlezbian ,

    Not really. Midwest is more west of Appalachia, north of slave states, and east of the Rockies. It’s the land between the mountain ranges

    cave ,
    @cave@lemmy.world avatar

    Wait until you see the Confederate flags in PA. Ya know, where the battle of Gettysburg happened. Very much not a southern state. It’s wild seeing this shit in my neighborhood.

    dual_sport_dork ,
    @dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

    So much not a southern state that its bottom border is literally the Mason-Dixon line. Some people are, indeed, whack.

    I have seen Confederate battle flags flying on trucks and houses in and around Gettysburg, no less. I get the impression that people are not doing this for historical reenactment purposes…

    chunkystyles ,

    It’s the racism. That’s why.

    lingh0e ,

    Seriously. I live in the Cleveland area of Ohio. We are geographically closer to Canada than the Mason Dixon. There’s still an abundance of hoople heads flying confederate flags.

    JJROKCZ ,

    Confederate flags are in canada and California, it’s just a flag for racists to roleplay with, the confederacy won’t rise again anywhere.

    deweydecibel ,

    It won’t “rise again” but the spirit of it absolutely has resurfaced in other forms, and will continue too so long as a significant number of people in this country identify with white supremacy and abject hatred.

    The original KKK were effectively the remnants of the Confederate army + new recruits. And it’s continued to find new banners in the generations since.

    TheSanSabaSongbird ,

    It very much depends on what you mean when you say “the spirit of it,” which I think you have to admit, is open to a lot of interpretation.

    Blamemeta ,

    It means something else to those who fly them, generally speaking. Think Dukes of Hazzard more than Slavery.

    Not saying its right, but thats how they see it.

    krashmo ,

    I don’t think that’s anywhere close to universally true but even if it is that’s only one more example of why we should never listen to those kinds of people. That opinion is dumb, inaccurate, shallow, and more than a little white-washed.

    dual_sport_dork ,
    @dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

    This is similar to the line my neighbor tried to pull. He had one of those half-and-half flags that was the US flag on one side and Confederate battle flag on the other. Somebody came by in the dead of night and stole it. It became a big hoopla on the block. He tried to tell me, “It’s got nothing to do with racism. It’s just a rebel flag because we’re just rebels in general and ain’t nobody tell us what to do.”

    So have an anarchy flag or fly the Jolly Roger or something instead. For fuck’s sake. I don’t know if he actually believes that line of shit, or if it’s just a cover. (He also has a Trump election sign, one of those corrugated plastic ones, stuck in his screen door. So I suspect the latter.)

    frezik ,

    I saw more Confederate battle flags in Indianapolis than Atlanta. Fuck Indianapolis.

    wowbagger_ ,

    Even worse are the ones I see flying in West Virginia – you know, the state that only exists because its inhabitants didn’t want to secede along with the rest of Virginia.

    Piogre314 ,

    South of the Mason-Dixon Line includes almost half of your own state of Illinois, and multiple other states that remained loyal to the union.

    Did you perhaps mean to refer to the 36°30′ parallel that was used in the Missouri Compromise?

    Personally I’m more worried about the 3% of Iowa who doesn’t consider itself the Midwest.

    JJROKCZ ,

    You are indeed correct, my bad it’s early where I’m at lol

    JJROKCZ ,

    Yes the Illinois/Missouri/Iowa group could be nothing other than Midwest, I don’t know how those aren’t 100%. We’re the poster children of Midwest

    PlasterAnalyst ,

    Missouri is pretty Southern culturally, due to all the racism.

    JJROKCZ ,

    Oh I know, I live here, it’s still IN the Midwest though. STL and KC are at least decent cities, the rest of the state is horrible though

    Piecemakers3Dprints ,
    @Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world avatar

    St. Louis is actually referred to (by its tourism board, at least) as “The Gateway to The West”. So, if it’s not mid west, I don’t know what they’re thinking.

    theodewere ,
    @theodewere@kbin.social avatar

    similarly, there's a good chunk of Southern Illinois that is basically indistinguishable from Kentucky.. same for Indiana..

    tasty4skin ,

    my guess is that the 4.7% of missourians saying no are all in the ozarks/boot heel

    JJROKCZ ,

    Nah, they can’t read

    jscummy ,

    There’s a big cultural divide for Illinois, Chicago isn’t very “Midwest” compared to downstate.

    Piecemakers3Dprints ,
    @Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world avatar

    To say nothing of Idaho… What bunch of fucking morons. The state is one away from the left coast and they’re calling themselves “mid” west? Are they actually that stupid? (Yes, rhetorical.)

    CIA_chatbot ,

    As someone from Idaho: yea this pretty much tracks

    PapaStevesy ,

    I mean, if we went with what the word should indicate, Idaho is absolutely the Midwest. As it stands, there’s no Mid or Mideast, the real “Midwest” is actually just the middle of the country. At this point, "Midwest* has almost nothing to do with relative location, it’s more of a social and economic distinction, which Idaho does fit in with imo.

    Piecemakers3Dprints ,
    @Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world avatar

    IIRC, the term was founded when “The West” was pretty much everything west of St. Louis, but it’s been decades since primary school, so I could be (and often am) mistaken.

    EntropicalVacation ,
    @EntropicalVacation@midwest.social avatar

    Central Illinoisan here, and I’m pretty sure the half of Illinois south of the Mason-Dixon Line is the South, not the Midwest.

    Can_you_change_your_username , (edited )

    That map for the Mason-Dixon Line is not correct. The original line was at that latitude but it ended at modern day West Virginia. It was the line of demarcation between Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. It was used in congressional debate during and after the the Missouri Compromise to refer to the line of division between slave states and free states which lead to an unofficial expansion. Since the 1820s it has been understood to move directly north from it's original endpoint until it hits the Ohio River then to follow the river west to the Mississippi River then to travel along the eastern, northern and western borders of Missouri. It ends on the 36°30' parallel and extends straight west through the Louisiana Purchase. The 36°30' line was applicable in the territories but not among the states. The Mason Dixon was the line of separation among the states.

    https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/mason-dixon-line.htm

    TonyToniToneOfficial ,
    @TonyToniToneOfficial@lemmy.ml avatar

    Well, Pittsburgh is culturally midwest even if they aren’t geographically so.

    theodewere ,
    @theodewere@kbin.social avatar

    it was settled by a lot of the same type of Germans who continued west from there during the mid 19th Century.. and its proximity to Cleveland has always sort of made it the easternmost Midwestern city..

    root_beer ,

    Aside from the Browns/Steelers rivalry, I don’t get why there is so much animosity between people in the two cities. Having lived there for a couple of years after growing up in NEOhio, I miss Pittsburgh, and there’s a lot of commonality to be shared there.

    Piecemakers3Dprints ,
    @Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world avatar

    Ey. Fuck you for saying so. And, fuck Pittsburgh. 🤌🏼

    Perfide ,

    Philly, on the other hand, is culturally… Philly.

    ech ,

    I view Pittsburgh as honorary Midwestern territory. It’s a fantastic city, too.

    spacesatan ,

    We’re way too confrontational to be culturally midwest.

    TonyToniToneOfficial ,
    @TonyToniToneOfficial@lemmy.ml avatar

    Haven’t been to much of the Midwest, then, I guess

    spacesatan ,

    I figured it was mostly passive aggressiveness rather than aggressiveness. Michigan has it too but I chalked that up to rust-belt overlap.

    TonyToniToneOfficial ,
    @TonyToniToneOfficial@lemmy.ml avatar

    Could be; I’m in Chicago, so what I see is just active aggressiveness, haha.

    prunerye ,

    Pittsburgh is geographically midwest as well. The Appalachians were the historical eastern border of the Midwest.

    rifugee ,

    Pennsylvania does seem to be really far east for anyone to legit think that they’re in the Midwest, but I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting, yet, and don’t know much about the people there. I can offer some perspective on a couple states that aren’t exactly Midwest states:

    Eastern Colorado is geographically and culturaly indistinguishable from Kansas, so I can see how people living in that area could consider it being the Midwest.

    Since Oklahoma, my home state, was mostly just Native American territories it wasn’t really part of either side of the civil war and so I think a lot of today’s population don’t want to be associated with the south and its history. I personally would hate to be called a southerner, but I don’t think midwesterner is necessarily the right fit either.

    zammy95 ,

    Pennsylvanian here, sorry we have a lot of dumb people.

    bisby ,

    I once worked with a person from Ohio who thought Ohio was the furthest WEST Midwest state.

    JJROKCZ ,

    Map literacy is hard I guess

    Sethayy ,

    Well that’s a hot take that nearly makes ontario a cold midwest

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