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.

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[–] 30 points 2 years ago (1 child)

The "Midwest" would more accurately be named the "Middle East" and the "Middle East" would be more accurately named "West Asia."

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Western Pennsylvania is a special economic zone

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    [–] 19 points 2 years ago (3 children)
  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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!"

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago

    Chicago and all the lands which pay it fealty

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago

    As far as I'm concerned, all west is "mid" west

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago

    "The Midwest" are the sacred lands where his holiness St. bhagavan shree Matt Christman (PBUH) was born one glorious day.

    large-adult-son

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago

    Ohio is the leaky reactor core of the midwest, I have no idea what those people are talking about

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  • [+] 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)
  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    Midwest is outdated, imo. More meaningful is to roughly split it into Great Lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and Great Plains (the other ones). But really even that's insufficient. We can get a lot more detailed doing cultural mapping of the US. Like, Ohio is Great Lakes (the north), Appalachia (southeast), upper South (southwest), and great plains (Columbus and west). Most of the other states cross a few different distinct vibes: Southern Illinois is more like Missouri than it is Chicago, but St Louis is more like Chicago than it is the rest of Missouri!

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Out of the midwest states. Which one are the "nicest" to live in ?. Like I get the impression some are utter basura but some dont seem that bad from the outside (compared to other US states). Im not an American but interested to learn more.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    You really gotta think in terms of cities, not just states. The best places are probably Minneapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland, imo. Detroit has a really unique appeal all its own, too; I just dock it for really bad transit. Minneapolis is the best biking city in the country, Chicago might just be the best American city flat out, and Cleveland is really cheap for the quality of urbanism you get. You'll find good small towns all over the place; Ohio and Michigan are packed with them.

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    [–] 11 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Fuck historical context and tradition. Look at a map of the US. Divide it in half vertically down the middle. See the left side? That's the West. Now look at the middle of the West: there's the Midwest.

    The Mideast can fuck off. You wanna call yourself Midwest while being in the central and eastern time zones??? Midmid is more accurate in every way.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Divide it in half vertically down the middle

    where tho

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    I’ve met people from Oklahoma who were mortified to learn the rest of the country considers them part of the South and not the Midwest

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    [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    Midwest is a state of mind comfy-cool grillman

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago*

    The US Census Bureau defines the Midwest like this, but I think the Dakotas and most of Kansas and Nebraska are Great Plains, not tha Midwest.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States#/media/File:Map_of_USA_Midwest.svg

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    I have heard the term Midwest before. Upbear because I want to know more US lore as an ameriboo

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    In a mild hell. Seriously though, your assessment of Ohio is on point. I'd say everything surrounding the Great Lakes and throw in Iowa. Some people consider the great plains states like the Dakotas and Nebraska, even Missouri and Kansas but those all have a very different vibe ino.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Ohio is one state away from the Atlantic Ocean, it clearly shouldn't be Midwest.

    The most Midwestern State is Iowa.

    It's literally mid.

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    [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    The midwest is the southeast imo.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago*

    Culturally it's Western PA (Pittsburgh and west), Southern Michigan (like everything south of Grand Rapids), through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, including Iowa Nebraska Wisconsin Missouri and the South eastern parts of South Dakota. Geographically who knows or cares the only real reason to track this stuff is for cultural reasons.

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