Chicago Downtown vs Manhattan, Chicago = Mini-NYC (largest, population, Atlanta, Los Angeles)
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I think people take offense at Midwestern being a misnomer for boring and white-bread. Just as Southerners take offense at being labeled backwards hicks. All regions are stereotyped, but all stereotypes aren't made equal either.
If anything, you'd think with Cleveland, Detroit, St.Louis being majority black, it would be incorrectly stereotyped as "hood", but no, people still hold on to this "Leave It to Beaver" image of the Midwest.
The census showed an increase of the non-hispanic white population from 34.7 to 35.7%. Not that large, and some of the increase is from an increase in the Hasidic Jewish population.
Interesting, I wonder if there's immigration offsetting it in other areas. There's still data from studies like this:
I think people take offense at Midwestern being a misnomer for boring and white-bread. Just as Southerners take offense at being labeled backwards hicks. All regions are stereotyped, but all stereotypes aren't made equal either.
If anything, you'd think with Cleveland, Detroit, St.Louis being majority black, it would be incorrectly stereotyped as "hood", but no, people still hold on to this "Leave It to Beaver" image of the Midwest.
"Midwestern" is not a pejorative, it's where Chicago is located. I don't have a "Leave it to Beaver" image of the area. You can be nice and friendly without being "whitebread".
People in Chicago were so nice. I guess that friendliness sort of strikes me as being a pretty midwestern trait, as people from the east coast are usually pretty frigid to outsiders.
Also the popcorn served in every bar struck me as incredibly midwestern.
It must have been coincidence, I have been to dozens, if not at least 100 or more bars in Chicago and most DO NOT serve popcorn.
"Midwestern" is not a pejorative, it's where Chicago is located. I don't have a "Leave it to Beaver" image of the area. You can be nice and friendly without being "whitebread".
It does exist though, it plays off the whole "middle America" and "flyover country"
"In the popular imagination, Midwesterners are generally considered proudly ordinary people who speak dialect-free American English and go about their business without fanfare or drama."
That is like saying NYC and Boston aren't east coast, or SF isn't west coast, or Atlanta isn't the south just b/c there are immigrant areas. All big cities over 5 million or so have these features. Point being, you could make exceptions for every large city. However the point is in the abstract notion of Midwestern, in the particulars of Chicago you can start to generalize a certain pattern, and that pattern is decidedly Midwestern. It's *the* hub city of the Midwest, of course it is midwestern and attracts more midwestern transplants from the region than any other city in the midwest.
Well don't you think Chicago is a lot more fast paced, cosmopolitan than say. St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis etc?
My point is that Chicago for good chunks of it has more the vibrancy and pace that you find on the East Coast than the Midwest. Outside perhaps the people, the urban style and culture of Chicago is more comparable to Boston and Philly than it is to St. Louis or Indianapolis. Even in regards to public transportation Chicago is more comparable to the East Coast than any other Midwest cities. I am sure you can agree with that. Yes most of the people are Midwestern, but the city's culture itself is more of a hybrid of Midwest and East Coast.
I mean which city is more similar in regards to it's urban culture to Chicago, Minneapolis or Boston? Philly or Indianapolis? St. Louis or DC? Chicago has aspects of both, but I don't think Chicago is much more like Minneapolis than Boston or vice versa. Chicago has that mix.
Well don't you think Chicago is a lot more fast paced, cosmopolitan than say. St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis etc?
My point is that Chicago for good chunks of it has more the vibrancy and pace that you find on the East Coast than the Midwest.
In the big cities of the east coast, perhaps [not all of the east coast is big cities]. But big city does necessarily mean like the east coast (really you mean the northeast). Big city Northeast has a different culture than big city Midwest.
The only city more fast-paced than Chicago IMO is NYC. I'd say DC and Boston are about equal. LA is a different kind of fast-paced so its hard to compare.
In the big cities of the east coast, perhaps [not all of the east coast is big cities]. But big city does necessarily mean like the east coast (really you mean the northeast). Big city Northeast has a different culture than big city Midwest.
Of course, ok does Chicago have more in common with which group:
Group A: Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta
Group B: Indianapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Minneapolis Cleveland
Group C: NYC, Boston, Philly, DC
Now which group would you say Chicago overall (this includes built environment, urban culture, vibrancy, transportation, people) has more in common with?
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