Missouri...Southern or Midwestern? (St. Louis, Springfield: rent, business, art)

[rollagirl]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

IMHO, trying to force an entire state to be this or that is for the most part kinda silly. As mentioned before, Missouree has parts and flavours of the midwest, of the south, of the east, and even of the plains states. It is truly an area with many transitions. The boothill area, while flat w/ endless blue skies similar to that found in the northern parts, is culturally very different. KC and StL, while both cities of good sizes, are also more different than similar. Meanwhile, it seems to me that Columbia and Springfield, while in two different distinct areas, have more in common than not. In any case, quite interesting and cool to see different thoughts of what different people have to say about the same place . Reminds me of the tale of the blind men and the elephant; different viewpoints + different experiences gives different perspectives regarding the same 'creature'.


btw, as to StL not getting terrible winter weather,,, ummm,,, I would disagree there. I will gladly take the snows here in NE Indiana vs. what my folks got recently and I recall getting of the freezing rain and snow mixtures. Guess depends upon what you mean by 'horrible'.

Love the comment. I guess it's me who needs to change. Hmmm....thx...Missoureee it is....Bye Ya'll....hahahha...I guess I'm more southern than I'd like to be.

[daisymae19]

Originally Posted by rollagirl

Well somebody misspelled it then.

that often happens with foreign words...another Missouri example of this is Rolla...it was supposed to be Raleigh...and of couse the pronunciations of the Missouri towns of Versailles, Milan, Haiti, Cairo, Nevada, Lebanon...and don't forget Maries County...

[daisymae19]

While South of the Missouri River is southern..the Ozarks (which includes Springfield btw) are Southern Hill...not plain ol' southern...very similar to the Appalachians..the accent, the word usage (y'uns instead of yall, drownded instead of drowned..the collequisms, etc) along with the weather(ice in the winter and hot humid summers), etc all line up very closely with the towns and people in Appalachia...when we moved to Cola SC for 5 yrs I didn't really notice much difference in the summer weather except for it lasting longer..but lord were those winters nice out there and as for accents..they knew my dh was midwestern (from the Hannibal area) but most placed me as being from Tennesee....

[JohnKing67]

Originally Posted by rollagirl

Actually, I hate when people pronounce it Missoura....that is not the correct way to pronounce it. My mother pronounces Missoura...and I pronounce it Missoureee. We live 20 miles from one another. She lives just slightly north of me, but not by much. It's a mix where I live, on I44, almost exactly southcenteral in the state. I live 100 miles from STL and 100 miles from Springfield....give or take a couple miles on either end.

Just like I hate it when people pronounce IL....with an S on the end. This is a French word and the S is silent. ILL-short I-noy(ILLINOIS)...

The S pronounced it sounds like ILL-short I-noise.

I have a grandmother in northern Missouri who calls Iowa, "Ioway". I'm not sure how common that is though.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by JohnKing67

I have a grandmother in northern Missouri who calls Iowa, "Ioway". I'm not sure how common that is though.

My mother in law said it the same way. Nita

[JohnKing67]

Originally Posted by rollagirl

Here I go again....As a person who has been raised with highly educated parents(mother RN+ and father was a contractor), I find that education has some to do with it. Since both my parents were born and raised in Illinois, they have called Missouri....Missourah....all my life, and yet, I say Missouree. I wonder why. I am as educated as they are(were). My father just passed away recently. The correct pronunciation of Missouri....has the E on the end....but dont tell anyone that if they say Missourah....that they are wrong. That wouldn't be nice. I think it is clearly location and not education which dictates the pronunciation of this word and others as well. So hands up for those of you in the south who pronounce it correctly......yeah..!!....Of course there's always the Ya'll....too. Can't seem to shake that one. Definately Southern. And yet my mother tries to correct me on the Ya'll....I'll have to correct her on the Missourah issue..hehehehe

I've tried to correct my Dad before as I'm from Ohio and always say "Missouree" and he's from Missouri and says "Missourah". There's no way to convince him that he's wrong though.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by daisymae19

While South of the Missouri River is southern..the Ozarks (which includes Springfield btw) are Southern Hill...not plain ol' southern...very similar to the Appalachians..the accent, the word usage (y'uns instead of yall, drownded instead of drowned..the collequisms, etc) along with the weather(ice in the winter and hot humid summers), etc all line up very closely with the towns and people in Appalachia...when we moved to Cola SC for 5 yrs I didn't really notice much difference in the summer weather except for it lasting longer..but lord were those winters nice out there and as for accents..they knew my dh was midwestern (from the Hannibal area) but most placed me as being from Tennesee....

South of the Missouri River is NOT Southern, are you kidding me? That would mean St. Louis and Kansas City are Southern. they are definitively Midwestern. Here is a map of Southern dialect. frankly i find this to be more accurate than the definitions anyone else has suggested. Missouri is nowhere near semi-Southern. iSpringfield I would agree is Southern. Missouri is not truly Southern except in its Southern quarter. Other than that, there is no reason to exclude it from the Midwest and include it in the South, certainly not today.

Image:Southern American English.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by daisymae19

Kansas City and Northern Missouri are Midwestern..

The Ozarks, the Bootheel, St. Louis and South of the Missouri River are very Southern.

St. Louis is very Southern ROFLMFAO! St. Louis is Midwestern to the core. You would honestly group St. Louis in with Louisville before you'd group it in with KC, Cincy, and Indy? I've never found the Southern half of Missouri to be very Southern for the most part. The Southern quarter of Southern Missouri is southern. Springfield is Southern i will agree there and Rolla could be considered semi-Southern. But Dixie dominates only the southern quarter of Missouri.

[daisymae19]

Originally Posted by ajf131

St. Louis is very Southern LMFAO. Are you kidding me? St. Louis is Midwestern to the core. I've never found the Southern half of Missouri to be very Southern for the most part. The Southern quarter of Southern Missouri is southern. You have taken the Mason-Dixon and moved it 100 miles north.

after growing up in the Ozarks and then moving to Columbia SC I would completely disagree. St. Louis and South of the Missouri River are extremely southern in culture and mindset.

[daisymae19]

Originally Posted by ajf131

South of the Missouri River is NOT Southern, are you kidding me? That would mean St. Louis and Kansas City are Southern. they are definitively Midwestern. Here is a map of Southern dialect. frankly i find this to be more accurate than the definitions anyone else has suggested. Missouri is nowhere near semi-Southern. iSpringfield I would agree is Southern. Missouri is not truly Southern except in its Southern quarter. Other than that, there is no reason to exclude it from the Midwest and include it in the South, certainly not today.

Image:Southern American English.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

obviously you have a great need not to see Missouri as southern, care to share why the dislike of the south?