Is Buffalo "Midwestern" (New York, Rochester: credit, living, restaurant)

[Philabatavia]

Originally Posted by Canerican

I agree. But you judge a region by it's pizza
.

Everything starts with food! Pizza, sandwiches- they all are part of what defines a region to me. When I tell friends and family back in NJ/SEPA about where I live now, I usually begin with telling them about the pizza here, and the custom of dipping it in the blue cheese just like the wings. It's amusing to then watch the universally disgusted reaction!

[Canerican]

Originally Posted by Philabatavia

he custom of dipping it in the blue cheese just like the wings. It's amusing to then watch the universally disgusted reaction!

I don't think that I've seen many people do that... It does sound pretty gross.

[garmin239]

Originally Posted by Philabatavia

No, that makes Vermonters Northeasterners not related to megalopolitan East Coasters. The logic is of course going to be a little fuzzy and a lot open to debate. I've been to VT a few times, I consider it and the rest of the northeastern interior such as northern NY as a 'Northeast' sphere of its own. And I also have been about MI, Northern OH and IN many times- this is where my perception of the "Midwest" comes from.

Great Lakes cities represent a small portion of the midwest. Its a huge area and Buffalo is nothing like it overall. Believe me, I travel all over and get to hear that I'm different every day by midwesterners. There are a handful of cities in the midwest that have northeastern characteristics, not the other way around. Most of the things Buffalo shares with the midwester aren't a midwestern custom, but customs shared with several areas of the country.

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn

Just wondering what others think about this question.

I was born and raised in Buffalo, but moved to another part of the country, and I've realized that Buffalo really is Midwestern in many ways. Residents (and me) speak with a Midwestern accent which is nearly identical to Chicago or Detroit. But culturally there are definitely Midwestern characteristics that cause Buffalo to have more in common with Ohio, Illinois and Michigan than the East Coast.

Please understand, this is not meant as a negative statement in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact.

This Midwestern tendency was really brought home by this funny little book I saw in Barnes & Noble called I Love Ranch Dressing - And Other Things White Midwesterners Like. My wife and I found so many funny "Buffalo" things in there we had to buy it.

Examples:
Saying "pop" not "soda"
Finished basements with bars or "rec rooms"
Wedding receptions at the VFW
Above-ground pools
The auto industry
County fairs
Christmas letters
Small market baseball teams
The Weather Channel
Talking about the weather with strangers
Bragging about affordable housing (or being horrified at the cost of housing everywhere else)
Fake flowers
Polkas
Illegal fireworks
RVs and trailers
Child-related car decals or bumper stickers ("my child is an honor student..")
Theme bathrooms
For the older folks: Sayings like "jeez", "cripes", "p.o.'d" and "b.s." plus "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

These items were things from our own upbringing we thought were very funny and relevant because you don't see or experience them in NYC.

PS: My wife decorated our bathroom with a roses theme. My sister has fish and my mother always had swans

yes, absolutely , we are more midwest than anything else..I learned this when I went to school in NYC - I might as well have been from MARS...

[roadtraveler95]

I consider mid-west more like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana. Ok, I guess most also include Ohio and Michigan, but I think there is a distinct difference between the west-midwest and east-midwest. Buffalo has more similarity to Detroit or Cleveland than it does to Albany or Syracuse. But Indiana, no. Minnesota and Wisconsin, hell no. Those are slow, dull states with miles and miles of the flattest land on Earth and the only scenery is corn fields. The cities ar oases of culture and entertainment in those seas of empty doldrum. Even Chicago which is a major city, just doesn't have that energy and vibe you get from other big cities. I would say Buffalo is more unique than Rochester or Syracuse though. Not only is Buffalo a cross-roads of the Midwest, the old-industrial rust-belt and the east coast, it is also, a crossroads of Canada. the Southern Ontario culture has also been a big part of the Buffalo vibe, something that the other places don't get.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by roadtraveler95

I consider mid-west more like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana. Ok, I guess most also include Ohio and Michigan, but I think there is a distinct difference between the west-midwest and east-midwest. Buffalo has more similarity to Detroit or Cleveland than it does to Albany or Syracuse. But Indiana, no. Minnesota and Wisconsin, hell no. Those are slow, dull states with miles and miles of the flattest land on Earth and the only scenery is corn fields. The cities ar oases of culture and entertainment in those seas of empty doldrum. Even Chicago which is a major city, just doesn't have that energy and vibe you get from other big cities. I would say Buffalo is more unique than Rochester or Syracuse though. Not only is Buffalo a cross-roads of the Midwest, the old-industrial rust-belt and the east coast, it is also, a crossroads of Canada. the Southern Ontario culture has also been a big part of the Buffalo vibe, something that the other places don't get.

I agree with a lot of what you said. I think Rochester is more like Buffalo than Syracuse. Even when I was going to college in Michigan, you would hear people say "Pop" instead of Soda, like they say here. They also call sneakers, gym shoes, for example.

As for Syracuse, we get some Canadian influence and we get more from NYC, PA, NJ and the New England states too. I think a lot of that has to do with Syracuse University and our location, which is very centralized for the Northeast and parts of Ontario and Quebec to get to.

[nygirl200]

I totally agree with Buffalo being a unique city. It has so many influences and really is a tri-state" type of place. Not only is it a crossroads to the mid-west (Ohio) but also is very close to Pennsylvania and Canada. Being originally from Rochester, I used to visit Buffalo a lot in my youth. As a youngster, the city felt more Canadian to me than midwestern, but I think that is just because I had visited Canada a lot and therefore had something to compare it to. I never visited Ohio or any other places in the midwest as a child, despite the close geographical (and cultural) proximity to Western New York. I realize now, however, as an adult, how midwestern-like Buffalo really is, after having travelled some in the Midwest.

[Canerican]

I don't find it's like Canada at all. I've lived in Canada 17 years, and I can tell you beyond a doubt Buffalonians are far more friendly, and open-minded that Canadians are. The only parts of the US I find are Canada-like at all are Burlington, Providence, and Southern Maine.

Try telling a Canadian that you are a gun owner, and shoot for sport. Tell them that you think that a strong military is important, or tell them that you think your country is the best in the world, and they will call that a foreign concept.

I think that there are three cities that I have been to that are somewhat like Buffalo, the most alike is Cleveland by far, only Cleveland is bigger. Detroit as well, except Detroit is 85% black, then Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh is generally cleaner, and has implemented pro-growth policies.

[nygirl200]

Well, I was referring more to the presence of a lot of Canadians in Buffalo, and, at the time of my youth, the presence of some Canadian-owned or Canadian-inspired stores in Buffalo. Heck, a good half of the television and radio channels in Buffalo were Canadian back then, too! The "influence" of Canada was unmistakable. The influence even extended to Rochester, NY. I remember watching a good deal of Canadian TV in my youth, and my favorite radio station was a station based in Toronto. My point was that I felt closer ties to Canada growing up than I did to Ohio or other parts of the Midwest. That was my only point.

[jblake78728]

NYgirl, IMO the best radio stations are still from Ontario (but I guess that depends on what kind of music one likes) & you can still get CBC & CTV. Many of the Buffalo TV stations (especially CW & MyTV networks) advertise heavily for Southern Ontario.


I do think Detroit is a good comparison. Cities both hit hard with heavy loss of blue collar jobs. Both areas have nicer suburbs than they will ever get credit for because so much negative is made of the actual cities that it over shadows any of the good. Border towns with Canadian influences. Both are in states that are considered a winter sportsman's paradise.

What Canerican says about Canada may have some merit to it but I don't believe it is necessarily true for all of Canada. When I lived in Northern NY I found a lot of the attitudes/beliefs he mentioned in Montreal & the part of Quebec that lies along the NY/VT border. I would say it was still 0resent in the Ottawa area but nowhere near as bad as in Quebec. In my experience I haven't found Southern Ontario to be anything like this though. I think the people in Ft Erie, NFO, St Catharines & even Hamilton have much more in common with the people of WNY than they do not.