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Old 01-23-2012, 07:41 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reelcheeper View Post
I'm from Chautauqua County (just south of Buffalo), and there are tons of Swedish and German people here, which is another reason why it is more Midwestern than Northeastern. There are also lots of Italians, but it seems to me that they are completely different from the Italians you see in the NYC area. There's quite a bit of Polish people in the Dunkirk area and also an unusually high number of Puerto Ricans.
Can't forget the Native Americans at the Res and around Silver Creek. Same for the Akron, Salamanca and Niagara-Wheatfield areas too.
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Old 01-23-2012, 07:46 AM
 
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Originally Posted by 585WNY View Post
Yes, especially within city limits, and in the inner suburbs such as Irondequoit. I've seen the statistics saying that German is the largest, but I never really understood that living here.
Actually, Gates, has one of the highest Italian American percentages for a community in the US. Same for communities like Solvay, Lyncourt(cdp) and Frankfort in CNY. Seneca Falls, East Rochester, Rotterdam, Mechanicville, Mt. Morris, Beekmantown and Canastota are also up there in that regard.

I think the German influence is so assimilated that you won't notice it. Here in Syracuse though, if you drive around the Northside(historically was/is German and Italian, now a diverse/international area), you can still see old breweries, German surnames on older buildings and more.

Last edited by ckhthankgod; 01-23-2012 at 08:07 AM..
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Old 01-23-2012, 07:53 AM
 
Location: New York
628 posts, read 658,233 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Port North View Post
Well I can tell you with complete certainty that Buffalo is nothing like Boston, NYC, Philly or D.C. in pace or in culture.
This is not a fair comparison. Buffalo has nowhere near the population of those city's, whether it be in density or in metro area. So of course there will be striking differences (hell, nyc and boston are about as different as can be).

A more appropriate comparison is Trenton, or Worcester, cities which are in buff's demographic.

I believe Buff is one of those border cities. It cant be all-east coast because it is too far removed from the coastal power centers, such as nyc, philly, etc... Yet, if iowa is midwestern, then I assure you buff is not. All depends what categories you look at.

For me, I have always felt that syracuse is the last east coast city (accents, italien influence, culture), and the vibe becomes much more "midwestern" as you get to rochester. Best example is the inland north accent which creeps all the way to rochester. Still, I would give wny more of a 50/50 split then to say the area is one or the other.
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Old 01-23-2012, 08:13 AM
 
Location: New York
628 posts, read 658,233 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn View Post
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
90% of this list is done by people in new jersy. I think you falling into the trap of believing that nyc = east coast. People who think this way are also suprised to here that:

there are farms in new jersey
one of the biggest state parks is in ny (adirondacks)
not all northeastern cities have a subway
affordable housing can be found
east coasters love shopping malls
small villages with "main streets"

All of the above exist in the east coast...the states of ny, nj, pa, and new england are not all pavement, steel, bad stereotype accents, and mass transit.
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Old 01-23-2012, 10:10 AM
 
3,235 posts, read 8,675,773 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod View Post
assimilated that you won't notice it. Here in Syracuse though, if you drive around the Northside(historically was/is German and Italian, now a diverse/international area), you can still see old breweries, German surnames on older buildings and more.
yes, the Germans seem to be assimilated that you can't really tell. When I travel to places in the midwest, or even some southern places I can see the German influence more. In NY, not so much minus a few things.
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Old 01-23-2012, 10:58 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Port North View Post
Syracuse has a little bit more of an east coast influence than Buffalo or Rochester (soda instead of pop) but I'm sorry people in Syracuse definitely have the Great Lakes accent, so do people in Utica. It is definitely more mixed in Albany (somewhat more of a downstate and New England influence). I deal with people frequently on the phone from the Utica and Syracuse areas and they sound only slightly different than people in Buffalo and Rochester (Both of which I've lived in)

As I'm watching (while I'm typing) the gridlocked traffic here in front of my office in Garden City, Long Island I find it laughable to that you consider Syracuse to be faster paced than Long Island! Not even a close comparison! Maybe way out on the East end but certainly not in Nassau and Western Suffolk Counties.

Upstate New York (from the Mohawk valley westward) is a mix of 4 parts Midwestern, 1 part Canadian, 1 part New England, 1 part Downstate New York and 1 part Appalachia.

As someone who grew up in Westchester County, but went to college in Syracuse and has family in CNY, Syracuse has the same inland northern, nasally twang accent as Rochester and Buffalo. I fail to see many similarities between Syracuse and downstate. I mean this as a compliment. Albany on the other hand is far more similar to say Hartford or Poughkeepsie than it is to Syracuse. The argument by montydean that the alleged "large" concentration of Italian people somehow gives Syracuse an "east coast vibe" is dubious at best. I doubt many would make the same argument of about Italian-rich Youngstown, Cleveland, or the Chicago suburbs like Norridge or Villa Park. According to census data, Syracuse has a larger Irish population than any other ethnic group. The large blue collar, Italian population in Syracuse's northern suburbs (Cicero, North Syracuse, Clay, and Liverpool (outside of the village)), East Syracuse and Solvay is no different than what you'll find in the Rochester suburbs of East Rochester, Greece, Henrietta, Gates or Chili.

I would even argue that Syracuse's northern suburbs, despite having a more northeastern ethnic concentration, have a feel (flat land, similar street grid, sprawl, heavy mix of commercial development near residential) that is more consistent with the industrial Midwest (ie. Chicago, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and Milwaukee) than the east coast.

Syracuse's eastern suburbs have rolling hills, upscale properties, many historic homes, and are home to the vast majority of the metro area's upwardly mobile transplants, and highly educated professionals. As a result the regional dialect in this area is far less noticeable than other areas. The ethnic composition is more Irish, German, and English with sizable amounts of Asians and Indians. Unlike the northern and western suburbs of Onondaga County which are heavily Catholic, the eastern suburbs and Cazenovia are more evenly distributed among mainline Protestants and Catholics with a very sizable concentration of Jews. In many ways, the topography, architecture, and demographic and religious profile of Syracuse's eastern suburbs are more New England than anything else.
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Old 01-23-2012, 06:04 PM
 
Location: New York
628 posts, read 658,233 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RollsRoyce View Post
The argument by montydean that the alleged "large" concentration of Italian people somehow gives Syracuse an "east coast vibe" is dubious at best.
I am not basing my point solely on Italian ethnicity, but instead using it as one of several factors for why Syracuse is more "east coast" than Rochester or Buffalo. I wont rewrite all the other factors that I gave, but they serve to make Syracuse a more upstate city than a western new york city. Of course, there are also numerous similiarities between buffalo and syracuse, just as there are numerous similarities between buffalo and trenton.

As for the accent, syracuse does not have an inland north accent. To say so is a lazy classifcation and one that is inaccurate. The accent is part inland north for sure, but it is also part new england, downstate, canadian, with some new england thrown in there. In other words, the syracuse accent is a mutt, consisting of all these different styles. This makes sense as cny is positioned in between the east coast cultural centers as well as the great lakes; but people from syracuse and people from buffalo do not talk the same to someone who listens.

It seems to me that too many people are realying on wikipedia to provide them with information; this can only be where the inland north idea came from. while i will not bash the site, it should be used as a starting point for information, not a finishing line. for example, just look at its woefully inadequate and inaccurate portrayal of upstate ny.
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Old 01-24-2012, 05:57 AM
 
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Funny, I grew up in Syracuse / Albany, and I now live in Buffalo. I'd say the differences are rather small and I suppose that also depends on who you associate with. There definitely seems to be fewer WASPs in Buffalo proper and even in the Burbs there appears to be a fairly high density of italian americans as well as poles. Hah, I was just thinking of the place that I work and ran through 5 or 6 names, all poles, then there are a few italians mixed in and one or two irish names.
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Old 01-24-2012, 11:53 AM
 
Location: Hamburg, NY
1,199 posts, read 2,855,042 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by montydean View Post
I am not basing my point solely on Italian ethnicity, but instead using it as one of several factors for why Syracuse is more "east coast" than Rochester or Buffalo. I wont rewrite all the other factors that I gave, but they serve to make Syracuse a more upstate city than a western new york city. Of course, there are also numerous similiarities between buffalo and syracuse, just as there are numerous similarities between buffalo and trenton.

As for the accent, syracuse does not have an inland north accent. To say so is a lazy classifcation and one that is inaccurate. The accent is part inland north for sure, but it is also part new england, downstate, canadian, with some new england thrown in there. In other words, the syracuse accent is a mutt, consisting of all these different styles. This makes sense as cny is positioned in between the east coast cultural centers as well as the great lakes; but people from syracuse and people from buffalo do not talk the same to someone who listens.

It seems to me that too many people are realying on wikipedia to provide them with information; this can only be where the inland north idea came from. while i will not bash the site, it should be used as a starting point for information, not a finishing line. for example, just look at its woefully inadequate and inaccurate portrayal of upstate ny.
Look, no one thinks any less of Syracuse just because it has more in common with Buffalo and Rochester than it does with the East coast cities.

Sorry, but I agree with this map:

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Old 01-24-2012, 11:57 AM
 
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Originally Posted by montydean View Post
I am not basing my point solely on Italian ethnicity, but instead using it as one of several factors for why Syracuse is more "east coast" than Rochester or Buffalo. .
Cuse does not have much in common with the East Coast cities, but does with other Northeastern cities. There is a difference. And yes, Cuse has the same accent as Rochester does and is more in line with a city like Rochester or Buffalo than any other listed. But regardless all are heavily northeastern with a very weak at best argument for midwestern characteristics(aside from the accent).
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