Where does Southern Illinois begin? (Chicago, Aurora: neighborhoods, yard, areas)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

...However, let's not fool ourselves in thinking there is something vastly and innately different from people living in suburban Chicago (which is where a bulk of the metro population is) and someone living in a central IL city (which is where a bulk of the rest of the state's population is).

In many of the suburbs there is a big difference between them and someone living in a central Illinois city.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by chitown85

...Also, West of Kendall County is "southern IL" despite it being western IL. I think this speaks more to the fact that Chicagoans believe the rest of IL is a different culture...

Any Chicagoan that thinks western Illinois is southern Illinois or calls it southern Illinois must have attended one of the many crappy CPS schools.

I do not know what kind of people you hang out with, but nobody I know calls western Illinois southern Illinois.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

In many of the suburbs there is a big difference between them and someone living in a central Illinois city.

Alright, I think in both cases it is more a matter of opinion. From my experience, there has been little difference. I'm sure it depends on which suburb, and which part of which city you choose and compare.But we're not talking the difference between Oslo and Shanghai here...

[chitown85]

I'm sure there are more Southern Illinoisians who would rather not identify with Chicago than vice versa.

[linicx]

It all started during the Vaudeville heyday when some comic quipped that everything south of State and Madison is Southern Illinois. Illinoia has undergone some changes in 80-years but you can't change history or take back words. But attitudes can change.

Chicago it the Queen City in the Midwest. It is the entertainment, food and shopping destination. It is instant gratification. If you can't eat it, drink it, buy it, wear it, sample it, read it, find it, experience it, or order it in Chicago, "IT" doesn't exist. It has all the beauty and all the ugliness any town of its size in the world does; Chicago is not alone in this regard.

It does not mean the rest of the world is insignificant, to be despised, or that it has somehow morphed into Chicago's personal doormat. Y'all might try considering what Chicago would be without the rest of the world?

Peoria exports $20M in goods through Chicago ports. The taxes are spread throught the state. Illinois feeds Chicago and the world. Libby canned pumpkin comes from central, Illinois. Maui Jim's sunglasses. the UI flagship university, and one of the top 13 Actuary schools in North America are in Central Illinois; so is the largest inland Wetlands in America, and the oldest, largest park district in the state - which is a 2010 Gold Medal winner.

There is a big world outside of Chicago waiting to be discovered. And one-third of Western and Eastern Illinois is in Central, Illinois, too.

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Any Chicagoan that thinks western Illinois is southern Illinois or calls it southern Illinois must have attended one of the many crappy CPS schools.

I do not know what kind of people you hang out with, but nobody I know calls western Illinois southern Illinois.

[Ratdude]

Originally Posted by smoking357

Jack, you can hear that drawl as soon as you get just a little South of Merrillville. Really, you're in the South all the way from the farthest reaches of Chicago's South Side to the Gulf of Mexico. In Indianapolis, ordering tea with lunch is common, and they keep pitchers of it ready.

Some people wear that drawl as a badge of honor. It's like they're very proud to be non-city and non-North.

We don't drink tea in Chicago?? That is funny, everytime I go to Mc D's I have to wait my turn to fill my cup at the sweet tea dispenser...

[Ratdude]

Wikipedia-Geography of Illinois should help give some answers.

Basicly anything south of U.S. 50 (Lawrence, Richland Counties, etc...),going across the state from the IN border to the St. Louis Metro East Burbs would be Southern IL.

Anything between U.S. 50 til just about south of Kankakee would be Central, IL, with other geographic varitions, (South Central, East Central, West Central, Central, and North Central).

Anything north of that is Northern Illinois, including the geographic variations of Chicago Area, State Line Area ( Rockford), and Northwest (Galena).

Some information that some of you folks may find interesting.....Due to the north-south distance of Illinois, it runs through seven different language dialect regions, so people who travel about the state will notice several different accents ranging from the "Deep South" to the "Chicago Accent".

People who lable South Chicagoland bing in Southern Illinois or in the South in general need to go back to grammar school and learn geography and realize there is a huge state that extends well south beyond I 80, Kankakee, etc....I find it amazing for as educated as the Chicago Area is supposed to be as a whole, how many stupid people there are when it comes to mentalities and mindsets...

I still wake up every morning being very grateful that I escaped to Central Illinois and I don't have to deal with that urban mess anymore!

[Ratdude]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Who is we? You don't live in Chicago.

I was referring to people in Chicago Metro and I used to live in that area until recently.

[cubssoxfan]

Many might agree on a certain geographic boundary. I think it's Salem and south. But truly it probably starts within each of our own minds with the experiences, prejudices and trips (or lack of trips) throughout the state giving each of us our own definition of where So. IL begins and what defines it.

[southerngirl4life]

I'm from Southern Illinois, White County, which is almost as far South as you can get. Kankakee is still in Northern Illinois, Peoria to Effingham is Central Illinois, and Southern Illinois is Effingham down (even some people would consider Effingham to be in Central Illinois). But let me tell you something, Kankakee is not Southern Illinois; I’ve been up there at it feels like a completely different state. I live on a farm my entire like, and now my husband and I own close to 500 acres of farm land; that is Southern Illinois, farm land, not city.