Missouri...Southern or Midwestern? (Kansas City, St. Louis: rated, deal, catholics)

[califokie]

I don't know... I think you may all be nuts! LOL

[Sadie85]

I'm gonna have to go with Midwestern, but I'm in the northern half of Missouri. If you go to the southern half, it's definitely more Southern.. *Shudders*

[GraniteStater]

West Plains, Joplin, Springfield, Poplar Bluff, and Sikeston I would classify as being the upper South mixed in with some Ozark flavor. The only thing that is Midwestern about those towns is the architectural styles of houses, some foods, and some rust belt influences.

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by Sadie85

I'm gonna have to go with Midwestern, but I'm in the northern half of Missouri. If you go to the southern half, it's definitely more Southern.. *Shudders*

And you *shudder*, why?

[ajf131]

I wouldn't necessarily say all of the Southern half per se is more Southern. Yes, the landscape is quite different the Northern half of Missouri, but at the same time it's still got a lot of Midwestern traits to it (dairy farms, crops, agriculture). But you definitely start to see a lot more Baptist churches in the Southern half....I myself have personally never heard very many real Southern accents in Missouri except for extreme Southeast Missouri. Most of Southern Missouri to me is mixed. That's the only i know how to put it. Southwest Missouri I don't agree about it being truly Southern. Yes it's got a lot of Southern traits to it, but I can trace family from that area back there to 100 years ago, and from what i know they never considered themselves Southerners. Also, another thing to note...Joplin and Springfield are in fact in the corn belt. when I visited my grandmother's grave in Monett, dairy farms and cornfields were everywhere. However, that being said, there is also Southern industry in these places, and the "Great Southern Bank" I believe originated in Springfield. My personal opinion is that these cities are borderline Southern, but not entirely. Southern Missouri really doesn't feel Southern or Midwestern to me...it's kind of both, like Southern Illinois.

[SFC B.]

This is one of those ongoing debates that will never be cleared up but, is fun to talk about anyway. I was born and raised in extreme Southern MO. My county borders Arkansas. My family is very much Southern. I think most of what is considered the Ozarks (the hill country of SE and SW MO & NW AR) can be considered more Southern than Midwestern. However, the Ozarks is a very unique area with a unique culture. We tend to relate more with our fellow hillbilly's in NW Arkansas than we do with the rest of our state and vice versa ( I am married to an Arkansas Ozark gal). This Ozark culture is decidedly more Southern than Midwestern, but is closer to the Appalacian areas of the South than say, Alabama. Northern MO does not share this Southern identity. Additionally SW Missouri's Southern identity is being watered down, if you will, by the large numbers of outsiders who have been migrating to the area in recent decades.

[bellamaxjoy]

I agree, my family lives in the southwest of Mo (Gainesvillle) and it seems very southern to me. I am going for a visit next week, I cant wait!

[southernjewishgal]

I was born and raised mostly in rural Misouri except a few years in Louisiana as a kid. I absolutely consider Missouri the south. Esp. rural Missouri- I'm from Gasconade County and have also lived in Phelps and Crawford counties. All the south to me. When I lived up north in Baltimore for a few years as soon as I walked in in cowboy boots and opened my mouth people would laugh and ask where I was from!
Currently dating a Yankee from Boston and there are HUGE differences in accents,wording, way of life. Everything.
St.Louis I think has southern influences but isn't as southern as Jeff or Springfield.
I certainly chug the sweet tea, eat everything fried or covered in gravy. Definitly have an accent although not as thick as some places. Divorced from a family of south Texans. The accent really is much more similar to that one than a northern accent.
I go outside and look around and can spot numerous confederate flags right away. I love it here. Absolutely southern.
ajf131 seems to get a little worked up about this. You don't think it's southern? Good for you. Stay in the city!!!!

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by southernjewishgal

I was born and raised mostly in rural Misouri except a few years in Louisiana as a kid. I absolutely consider Missouri the south. Esp. rural Missouri- I'm from Gasconade County and have also lived in Phelps and Crawford counties. All the south to me. When I lived up north in Baltimore for a few years as soon as I walked in in cowboy boots and opened my mouth people would laugh and ask where I was from!
Currently dating a Yankee from Boston and there are HUGE differences in accents,wording, way of life. Everything.
St.Louis I think has southern influences but isn't as southern as Jeff or Springfield.
I certainly chug the sweet tea, eat everything fried or covered in gravy. Definitly have an accent although not as thick as some places. Divorced from a family of south Texans. The accent really is much more similar to that one than a northern accent.
I go outside and look around and can spot numerous confederate flags r
right away. I love it here. Absolutely southern.
ajf131 seems to get a little worked up about this. You don't think it's southern? Good for you. Stay in the city!!!!

St. Louis has no more Southern influences that I can see than any other Midwestern city, nor does Jeff City...Jeff City seemed pretty Midwestern the last time I was there....could not find sweet tea in any restaurants there...heard virtually no Southern accents. And I have lived in Missouri all my life. I've been to all the areas in question that you describe...how those are VERY Southern I have no clue. I have a friend from Louisiana, Missouri, in fact. He sounds just like a Midwesterner (like myself), and so does his whole family and all the friends of his he introduced me to. My own family has its roots from Joplin and Mexico, Missouri...they are no different from anybody else originally from those areas...they are without a doubt Midwesterners in speech patterns, tradition, religion, etc. as are most of the people they know. My father lived in Joplin for 20 years, my grandmother about 30 years in Mexico. Sweet tea, fried chicken and gravy are not big in Missouri the way you are describing them except maybe Cracker Barrels. Restaurants certainly don't seem to be gigantic on those things in most of Missouri, likely meaning that most of the people in Missouri are not. I don't start to see it being heavily favored until maybe around Springfield or Cape Girardeau. Worked up? No. Certain of my experiences? Yes. I have hardly seen ANY Confederate flags in Missouri...and I've visited all of Missouri, including Gasconade County, which I have passed through multiple times on my way to Jeff City. Stopped and talked with the locals...no noticeable Southern accent and certainly saw no Confederate flags unless they took them all down before I got there This is roughly where the Southern accents are in Missouri. Having some relatives from Louisiana, I have heard a Southern accent more than enough to know when it is either a Southern accent or a pretty flat accent with a "country twang" which more or less exists in all of the Lower Midwest. Most of Missouri definitely fits the latter type. Just about every source I've come across as well as my own experiences confirm this. Go on believing what you believe though....i'm not challenging your beliefs, just giving my account. (Southern accent map of Missouri depicted below....pretty much any source will give an accent map very similar to this one)
Image:Southern American English.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Gramma Becca]

I was born and raised on the Missouri/Arkansas border in the center of the Ozarks but have lived all over the state and most of the states west of Mighty Missouri since I became of age. Here's the way it is. The Ozarks are a totally unique region that is more closely attuned to the Mountains in Kentucky/Tennessee. We are Southern Hill folk. Southern Missouri is more southern than Midwestern- we hold more family values and less big city ideas. We are indeed more closely related to the Arkansas hills than to the people who live in the big cities of KC STL etc. I am NOT a midwesterner- I am a Southerner. I live in Iowa now and HATE most of the midwestern ideas. Can't wait to be able to move back home to the dear old OZARKS and southern cooking-living. Will probably move to Arkansas since it has less expensive property. Nothing is a pretty as the OZARK HILLS and the south.