Hatrack River Forum: What is Midwest? (a grumble....)

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Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

Once again, as always on National News, I see an article about the "Midwest" of the United States, and then read to see they are taking about Ohio, or Chicago?

Excuse me?

How is the world is that Midwest?

I know they have all these geographic "regions" somewhere that someone has made up, but they never make sense to me.

I mean -- it used to be nothing was considered "west" unless it was West of the Mississippi River. And "mid" indicates neither far north nor far south.

Sorry - I just don't consider Chicago to be Midwest. It is NORTH and maybe CENTRAL, but there is definately nothing "west" about it.

The "middle" of the country is the Great Plains, and "west" show be west of Mississippi -- so Midwest would be Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakotas, Oklahoma, etc.

[Grumble]

So the headlines say "huge Midwest winter snow" and they are talking about Ohio. Not a flake here....

FG

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :

Farmgirl, I totally agree with your logic. Oklahoma and Kansas are still the "middle" for that matter. I guess Midwest is everything between the Appalachians and the Rockies that isn't South. But it bugs me too! (and we don't have any so here yet either.)

AJ

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

Preach it, sister!

Although I've always considered the "mid" part to mean "not-exactly West but getting there", so since "West" starts at the Mississippi the states right on either side of the river are the Midwest. (But even going your way, most of Minnesota is West of the Mississippi.) So when I refer to my part of the country, I call it the "Upper Midwest" with midwest refering to the east-west direction and upper refering to the north-south direction.

But certainly not Ohio. Demmed Easterners.

Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :

Well, thinking about history, I always thought it made sense. After all, since the country just used to be the east coast, anything further than that is West. I assumed they called the rockies "the Far West" and... us, the "Middle West" or something like that. I could ask someone on my linguistics community about the origin of the phrase, though.

..I think I will. I'm curious now.

Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :

To people who live on the coasts--the majority of the media power people--anything east of Las Vegas, and west of the Appalacians, is either Mid West, South, or Texas.

Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :

I dunno...I think there's a very different ethos to Indiana, Michigan, etc., than there is to other places (I don't know if ethos is the right word, but sure, why not). To me, it isn't so much the geographical location as it is the culture. I don't know if I can expound on that, though. Let me think on it.

Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :

Ryuko explained my take exactly. [Hat]

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/statesbw/regions.shtml

I teach social studies, sometimes, and I swear they cjange the regions on a daily basis.

This is from a GREAT website, so if any of youhomeschool your kids, it is a fun site full of things for kids to do and for you to have them do.

Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :

That is so cool, Liz.

Posted by J T Stryker (Member # 6300) on :

IT's called the "mid-west" because it's made up of what used to be the "Northwestern Territory" which at that point in time was the west. Then after the rest of the continental US was acquired, it was still considered to be west of the civilized areas, but it wasn't the west geographically speaking, so it became the "Mid West"

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

Great link, Liz.

But it brings up questions -- 1) just who made those divisions?

And what exactly IS, then that eastern border of the "Midwest" - that separates the "Atlantic" and the Midwest" regions on that map?

FG

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

Farmgirl(and I owe you a thanks by the way),
A lot depends on who is doing the dividing up. I looked just in a social studies search, but, like I said, I have seen it divvied up differently. If you are the post office, it might be different, or the census bureau, or whatever. There are also regions based on landforms. Honest, it was frustrating, becaue the books we were using at the time did not match up with the Mass. frameworks.

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

I guess this has always been a pet peeve of mine because it is also reflected here locally on a much smaller scale.

I live in Sedgwick County Kansas (that's a link to a map of the county.)

Now, all the major media in this area is controlled, of course, in Wichita. So when we have a major thunderstorm or something going through here, it seems the radio/tv stations don't pay any attention to it at all until it is on the doorstep of Wichita. So it will hit Maize on the western edge of the city and they will come on TV and say "there is a major storm coming in on Western Sedgwick County!!!!" And by that time it has already flattened my area (see Mt. Hope way out Northwest) and other areas of truly WESTERN parts of the county. So I hate it when they call Maize "west Sedgwick County"

(boy, I must just be b****chy today.)

FG

Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :

I live in Indiana and I live in the MidWest. What other geographical region might I live in?

To be quite honest, I think of, say, Minnesota, as the North, not the Midwest.

Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :

Works both ways. I knew this lady from Colorado who was sure she lived in the midwest. I figure it's one of those good linguistic markers to know who the sane people are.

Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :

You're all wrong... anything east of Reno (or to be charitable, Salt Lake City) is EAST!!!!

Or so I thought growing up in California.

Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :

Hey! Of course we're the Midwest. I have never, ever heard any other reginal name given to the Chicago aread. Never. Chicago is, like, the Midwestern city. What else would you call the region?

I had no idea there was any controversy over it, to be honest. I figure anything west of Iowa is the West. Liz's map says west of Nebraska is the West, and that's okay too, I guess. [Grumble]

Posted by Lisha-princess (Member # 6966) on :

I have lived pretty much my entire life in Indiana, and, like blacwolve, I see nothing wrong with the idea that Indiana = Midwest. I don't normally consider Ohio to be Midwest, but if truth be told, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Ohio anyway. I'm not sure what to categorize it as. I do know people from there, however, and they consider it the Midwest. I would even say Missouri is Midwest, but that's as far as I can go with it. After that, it's all pretty much West to me.

Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :

I grew up in Texas and I always planned to move to the Midwest to live. Now, here I am, living in northern Indiana and I thought I had moved to the Midwest just as I had planned all along. This thread was quite a shock to me. It never occurred to me this wasn't considered the Midwest by some people.

[ December 23, 2004, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: Theca ]

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

I have seen Texas in the South, the Southwest, and the Great Plains.

When I was in fourth grade, there was Northeast, South, Midwest, Great Plains, and West.

Posted by Alucard... (Member # 4924) on :

I live most definitively in the Northeast, and my state is the cornerstone of the entire country. Without me, your flabby country would be a hopelessly lost series of landmasses floating in the wake of plate tectonics at its worst.

Fear me! Mwah hah hah!

Other than that, Pennsylvania is pretty boring. Unless you like cow-tipping or Amish cooking or monster trucks.

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

I'm inclined to agree with Farmgirl. When you talk about the "Midwest," the traditional "flyover" states, you have two distinct types of states: the good states (the ones around the Great Lakes) and the ugly, pointless states (the Great Plains). [Smile]

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

As someone who lived in the actual West (Colorado) and moved to what is termed the "MidWest" (Indiana) I find the term rather foolish and stupid, but that's about it. There's nothing West about Indiana, unless you want to know what direction to go to get there from New York, but in relation to the rest of the country, really the "West" should be dropped it can just be called "Mid".

Hobbes [Smile]

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

Alucard,
You live in a Mid-Atlantic state, according to some regional maps.

Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :

I believe Midwest is a somewhat older term, dating from when indiana was about the middle of the west (around the beginning of the civil war).

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

::rises to the bait::

::peers at it owlishly::

::goes about his business::

I completely agree with you, FarmGirl, both about the ridiculousness of the use of the term Midwest to cover so many distinct, disparate regions, and about how annoying the weather coverage down there would be if you didn't live right in Wichita.

Posted by Ginol_Enam (Member # 7070) on :

Well yeah, that's where it started...

Anyway, I don't even see the need for clearly defined regions. Whenever I'm ever asked where I live (which, BTW, is never), I reply, "Oklahoma," not "Midwest" or "South" or "Great Plains."

The only time regions are ever used are when people are talking about general areas of the country, in which case most people generally agree on the approximate area which is all that usually matters in those cases.

Although I do agree it is kind of annoying that the news refers to Ohio as the midwest. If its just one state in question, why not just say Ohio? If its textual, Ohio is less letters. If its verbal, Ohio is much more fun to say.

Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :

Here in California, we believe in three states:

California (of course!)
New York (a close second if you, for whatever reason, must live outside of California)
and
Kansas (everything else)

I am currently going to a school in Kansas: in the area called 'Indiana' if you want to be more specific... [Razz]

(I guess we figure there's the West, the East, and the Midwest. The least the South is mentioned, the better... [Wink]

)

Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :

jhai where are you going to school? I'm in bloomington Indiana (Kansas nah)

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

quote:
I believe Midwest is a somewhat older term, dating from when indiana was about the middle of the west (around the beginning of the civil war).

I definitly heard that too Fugu, so let's go with that. [Smile]

It's still stupid though. [Wink]

Hobbes

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

*shrug* I consider Chicago the Midwest for two reasons, I think. One: I was taught in school from a map that looked just like the one Elizabeth linked to. Two: My mom, a Chicagoland native, has been known to say she's from the Midwest (although she'll usually just say Chicago).

Next shall we discuss the idiocy and geocentricism of the terms "Middle East" and "Far East"? [Wink]

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

Hey, I'm not saying "MidWest" is the only stupid geographic reference in the world, I'm just saying it's stupid. [Cool]

Hobbes

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

It doesn't bother me in the slightest. There are bizarre etymologies all over the English language, and things often end up meaning the opposite of what they "should" mean.

Language might always be changing, but it sure is stubborn about giving up its quirks.

Posted by GradStudent (Member # 5088) on :

The midwest is anywhere that calls carbonated beverages "pop."

Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :

(to breyerchic04: DePauw, in Greencastle)

Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :

oh cool. I can't think of anyone that goes there right now, I think i knew someone who did, but they transferred to IU.

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

I like to call the Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, etc. area "The Old Northwest." I also like calling it "The Wobbish Area", but only in my head. I can't say it aloud, because it wouldn't make sense to anyone. Which is a shame, because I really like saying "Wobbish". [Big Grin]

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

This whole thread cracks me up.

Evidently, I've been to Kansas. Washington, Kansas. Oregon, Kansas. Idaho, Kansas. Montana, Kansas. Utah, Kansas. Wow! Didn't know I'd been to Kansas! [ROFL]