this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Mildly Interesting

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This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Why is "west" in "midwest"? Can't we just call these states mid?

[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So living on the line would be living in the Midmid?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Middle of nowhere" is the accepted term for that region

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You have forgotten the face of your father.

We go by Midworld.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Oi get those linea out of Texas its Southwest

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because the US expanded from the east coast towards the west. The midwest is west of the OG colonies, but not as far west as, well, the west.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, living in Colorado has always been weird hearing that we're "the west". We're about as middle of the country as you can get. 3 states to our west to get to the Pacific, 4 states to the east to get to the Atlantic.

Edit: lol at people downvoting geography

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe it's because these states are west of the Mississippi River and something something Louisiana Purchase (high school history was decades ago).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan are east of the Mississippi. We couldn't reliably cross the Appalachian Mountains until shortly before the American Revolution. Expeditions before Daniel Boone forged the Wilderness Road had to go around so the most direct route between NY and where Chicago is now went about halfway down Alabama. The Appalachians were the original western frontier and the Midwest was the Northwest Territories. As the country expanded westward and new territories were established and the Northwest Territories gained statehood they became the Midwest.