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Northern virginia I could agree to, but having been to Virginia myself, I can tell you that Northern Virginia is like the bootheel of Missouri...very different from the rest of the state...D.C. and Richmond are virtual polar opposites. Most of Maryland is more like pennsylvania and delaware than like virginia culturally and linguistically.
As someone who has lived in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, travels often between the three, and knows people in all three I would have to disagree about Maryland being more like Pennsylvania.
Maryland is most definitely neither and both. It cannot reasonably be entirely lumped with one or the other.
To be honest, the internet and forums vastly amplify this question. Perhaps Missouri cares about it's identify, but being northern or southern is something Marylander's really could care less about. Marylanders are generally quite comfortable with being neither - it's only when outsiders tell them that they are either Northern or Southern that a problem arises.
As someone who has lived in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, travels often between the three, and knows people in all three I would have to disagree about Maryland being more like Pennsylvania.
Maryland is most definitely neither and both. It cannot reasonably be entirely lumped with one or the other.
To be honest, the internet and forums vastly amplify this question. Perhaps Missouri cares about it's identify, but being northern or southern is something Marylander's really could care less about. Marylanders are generally quite comfortable with being neither - it's only when outsiderstell them that they are either Northern or Southern that a problem arises.
Thats the issue for Missourians in a nutshell.
When casual outsiders make pronouncements that are just wrong about the state, and its regions, we have a tendency to take umbrage.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca
As someone who has lived in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, travels often between the three, and knows people in all three I would have to disagree about Maryland being more like Pennsylvania.
Maryland is most definitely neither and both. It cannot reasonably be entirely lumped with one or the other.
To be honest, the internet and forums vastly amplify this question. Perhaps Missouri cares about it's identify, but being northern or southern is something Marylander's really could care less about. Marylanders are generally quite comfortable with being neither - it's only when outsiders tell them that they are either Northern or Southern that a problem arises.
That hasn't been my experience at all. Most Marylanders I have spoken with have no problem advocating one way or the other. Almost everyone I've spoken with, my relatives included, has told me Maryland is not the south in any way, shape, or form, from a modern standpoint. Some parts of the eastern shore and in southern Maryland will unequivocally identify as southern, and rightfully so, as evidenced by linguistics maps, cuisine, and culture, and my own experience there. But the vast majority of the population is not from those areas, and geographically those places occupy under 50% of the state. So we can say it has southern influences, but not nearly enough to the extent that we can't say what the majority of it is.
I can tell that you are a purist...something can only be considered part of a region if it's absolutely 100% in common with it, no 90% allowed...I hate to say this, but even within a region, no two states are 100% alike. I could easily make the argument by this logic that Pennsylvania can't be considered Northeastern because it's not part of New England, etc, or that Indiana can't be considered part of the Midwest because some parts of Southern Indiana identify more with the south.
As far as forums and the internet, not true at all. The internet is full of unreliable sources if you choose not to think when you pull your sources up. Not to mention, it does little good to take into consideration what the majority of people say if they don't care one way or the other...that means they haven't really extensively researched, and that their opinions need to be taken with a grain of salt. And as far as forums, citydata alone is evidence about how many uneducated people there are pretending to be experts. Pretty much any forum on the internet you look at has plenty of unreliable sources. People are bad sources of information unless they happen to be experts in those areas.
You're entitled to your opinion, but i'm entitled to disagree with it, so don't try and force things on me that you can't back up with hard facts. Culturally, linguistically, demographically, and politically, the vast majority of Maryland doesn't lean southern. There are plenty of maps which show you this. All it takes is going to google and typing in what you want to m not providing them to you because I know what you'll find know, substantiating your sources, and using it to form a conclusion. I've made plenty of posts on here showing those sources, so if you are that desperate to find out, start digging...I've got no time left to finish this post, but I've spoken my mind. If you still aren't satisfied, personally message me and we'll hash out our differences that way.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kshe95girl
Thats the issue for Missourians in a nutshell.
When casual outsiders make pronouncements that are just wrong about the state, and its regions, we have a tendency to take umbrage.
I've made no such incorrect pronouncements about Maryland. I'm more than a casual outsider of Maryland...I have relatives living in that state, and I've been to it many times, and visited all of it extensively, plus researched modern characteristics of it. The specific issue I have with both missouri and Maryland is that because neither identify fully with a region, that means that they are automatically very gray areas, which is false. The truth is that many states considered to be parts of regions don't fully identify with the Midwest. Not every part of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota, is classifiable as Midwestern, for example...nor is every part of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Regions are formed based on states which share a majority of characteristics, but are not 100% alike. No two states are 100% alike, and a state didn't have to be a border state in the Civil War to have areas that didn't fully identify with one region or the other. And that in itself is something I find ridiculous....basing a state being included in a region today solely because of what it did in the Civil War is ignorant...while i think it is important if the state ended up being different after the war, for places like Kentucky, it means nothing, because Kentucky is as southern today as Virginia.
I've made no such incorrect pronouncements about Maryland. I'm more than a casual outsider of Maryland...I have relatives living in that state, and I've been to it many times, and visited all of it extensively, plus researched modern characteristics of it. The specific issue I have with both missouri and Maryland is that because neither identify fully with a region, that means that they are automatically very gray areas, which is false. The truth is that many states considered to be parts of regions don't fully identify with the Midwest. Not every part of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota, is classifiable as Midwestern, for example...nor is every part of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Regions are formed based on states which share a majority of characteristics, but are not 100% alike. No two states are 100% alike, and a state didn't have to be a border state in the Civil War to have areas that didn't fully identify with one region or the other. And that in itself is something I find ridiculous....basing a state being included in a region today solely because of what it did in the Civil War is ignorant...while i think it is important if the state ended up being different after the war, for places like Kentucky, it means nothing, because Kentucky is as southern today as Virginia.
You misunderstand......I never meant to infer that you made any incorrect statements about any state.
My comment was solely towards the poster I quoted.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kshe95girl
You misunderstand......I never meant to infer that you made any incorrect statements about any state.
My comment was solely towards the poster I quoted.
I know you weren't posting towards me...I wasn't talking directly to you...I was actually using your statement as a springboard to reply to the person you were replying to, if that makes any sense. No hostilities toward you at all...I agree with what you said.
I know you weren't posting towards me...I wasn't talking directly to you...I was actually using your statement as a springboard to reply to the person you were replying to, if that makes any sense. No hostilities toward you at all...I agree with what you said.
Got it, I springboard off others posts all the time.
I've made a quick map of Maryland's cultural similarities to other areas.
Yellow leans towards the southeast Pennsylvania area. While here are major differences between the areas, Baltimore is far more Philadelphia than it is DC or Richmond.
Blue is most like Delaware, for reasons that are fairly obvious to me.
Red is most like the coastal areas of Virginia and northeast North Carolina. However, people here feel quite at home in rural Delaware too.
Black is generic suburbia and can be found all over. It's transplant dominated. Long ago I would place this in the yellow but now it is the clear "nemesis region" of the others.
Purple is most like West Virginia.
Brown is Annapolis , which is a definite mush.
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