47
Where is ‘the Midwest’? (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
88 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Contentious issue I know, but recently I’ve encountered a number of people who believe that Ohio (and sometimes Indiana and Michigan) is not truly part of the Midwest. Which to me is preposterous since I’ve always considered Ohio the most quintessentially Midwestern state. Midwest to me has always been very nearly synonymous with rust belt, but it seems there are a fair number of people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call the Great Plains, or Greater Minnesota. So I’m wondering where do you all place the Midwest.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 19 points 2 years ago (10 children)

The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

so that's the official answer. yes, it includes ohio.

but the real answer is that it's wherever people call carbonated beverages "pop" instead of "soda" or "coke", which means it actually extends eastward to buffalo, ny and definitely still includes ohio.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    I'm definitely a midwesterner, born in MO, lived all over the place, and now live in MN.

    I've called it "soda" my whole life. "Coke" was definitely confusing in the southeast. "I'll take a coke." "What kind?" "Wtf?"

    I think the real lexicological definition is "ope"

    Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    "I'll take a coke." "What kind?"

    i know a poor soul who moved from the north atlantic seaboard to rural deep southern appalachia and then once worked a drive thru at mcdonald's and had to parse "errinj coke" into a sensible order for an increasingly impatient customer

    Do you ope?

    as a kind of semi apologetic interjection, right? like "ope! look at the time!"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    as a kind of semi apologetic interjection, right? like "ope! look at the time!"

    That's pretty much it. Although it can also be used like a less aggressive "hey!"

    Nearly bump into someone in the hall? "Ope!"

    Someone examining the spices for 5 minutes when you just need to grab the salt? "Ope, scuse me, just gotta sneak by ya there."

    Etc.

    Having spent some years in the south, clearly "errinj coke" is a fanta orange, or Sunkist if you're lucky.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    I'm definitely a midwesterner, born in MO, lived all over the place, and now live in MN.

    I've called it "soda" my whole life. "Coke" was definitely confusing in the southeast. "I'll take a coke." "What kind?" "Wtf?"

    I think the real lexicological definition is "ope"

    Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent