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Think about it. Ohio is closer to New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey than it is to the quintessential Midwestern "Plains States". Ohio has very Northeastern demographics. It has high concentrations of Italians and Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans are more prominent than other Hispanics. Cleveland is more like Upstate NY than it is like Iowa or Nebraska. Cincinnati has a dialect that sounds a lot like Philadelphian with their "o" sounds and short split A system. In Central Ohio there is t-glottalization like in NYC and Philly. It was also settled by Yankees and at one point a part of it was known as the New Connecticut. Aside from Cincinnati sharing linguistic similarities to Philly, Cleveland shares them with Buffalo and Rochester as well as the inner part of the Northeast as far as Western Mass and Connecticut itself. Youngstown shares linguistics with Pittsburgh. In Dayton, locals call their city "Day-on" with a glottal stop the same way Southern Pennsylvania people would say it and how certain New Yorkers would say it. This shows the cultural tie with the Northeast as they kept that remnant of British English the same way the Northeast did. Cleveland also has that "tough guy" cultural aspect to it like Philly and NYC do.
I think Ohio should reconsider being Midwestern and think more Northeastern.
The plains states were the last states added to the midwest. Some still dont refer to us as midwest. Ohio is a midwest origin.
Plus eastern Kansas and Nebraska are practically identical to Ohio culturally, landscape-wise, and in terms of climate. The main divide in the Midwest is north to south, not so much west to east.
Plus eastern Kansas and Nebraska are practically identical to Ohio culturally, landscape-wise, and in terms of climate. The main divide in the Midwest is north to south, not so much west to east.
IDENTICAL? That is a pretty strong word. In the city centers do they have large proportions of Puerto Ricans? I don't think so. Were they settled by New Englanders that claimed them as extensions of the Northeast? Linguistically, I would say no one in Cleveland or Toledo speaks like anyone in Kansas or Nebraska. You might have a case for Cincinnati, but not Northern or Eastern Ohio.
While it is true that Ohio has many things in common with the Northeast, I would not go as far to consider it a northeastern state. If it was just northeast Ohio, then yes.
It's silly to argue about this, because the terms Northeast and Midwest mean nothing anyway.
People always get confused because we have one region of the country (the South) which is both a well-defined geographic area as well as a distinct culture. They want to believe the same is true elsewhere in the U.S. - that there are such things as Northeastern, Midwestern, and Western cultures. But there simply aren't. There's a "general American" culture which is vaguely Northern in orientation. And there are different cultural influences, like Yankee and Midland, which are in both the Northeast and Midwest, and also to an extent in the West.
The bottom line is that there's nothing other than the census designation which defines the Midwest. And people in Ohio generally speaking consider themselves Midwesterners. Ohio is fine where it is.
While it is true that Ohio has many things in common with the Northeast, I would not go as far to consider it a northeastern state. If it was just northeast Ohio, then yes.
I was thinking the same thing in regards to your last sentence.
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