What is an "Appalachian Culture" (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: live in, association)

[Blackbeauty212]

Let me start by saying I'm from Pittsburgh born and bread and still identify closely with my hometown...I live in NYC, have lived in Philadelphia, and have lived in DC for a short period

Coming from a native Pittsburgh and probably speaking for all common man Pittsburghers that don't study regionality like CD regulars...

WHAT THE HELL IS AN APPALACHIAN CULTURE, and how does it apply to Pittsburgh specifically and definitively head-on and not beat around some bush...Then I will shut up....But your continuation of "Pittsburgh is an Appalachian culture" without even know what the hell an Appalachian culture is yourself is laughable.

- Being slower paced than the Bigger Coast cities does not make culture, that has more to do with Pittsburgh having a much smaller population.

- Yinzer Speak again doesn't make for a distinct regional Culture

What is this "Culture"???

I still retain the notion that such "Appalachian" region that Pittsburgh is suppose to be apart of is more-so made-up simply by the "Coasters" trying to restrict the term "Northeast" to the Bos-Wash corridor and exclude Pittsburgh because its not Coastal. BS!

No One outside of City Data.com even uses the term Appalachia to describe a region let a lone try to lump Pittsburgh into it.....Pittsburghers themselves (from the brightest to the dumbest) don't even know f*ck an Appalachia culture is, you don't even hear the term used no one is going to tell you Pittsburgh is "Appalachian" over Northeast, "East Coast", Midwest..... and they're going to look at you like you have 3 heads when you try Pittsburgh is Appalachian.

again I lived in Pittsburgh, NYC, DC and Philadelphia...and there are differences between all 4 of the cities, but the underlying foundation of them are more a less the same

So is there really an Appalachian Culture that Pittsburgh is apart of?????

[ForYourLungsOnly]

ah...ignore my answer again so you can make a thread! nice! no reply?

[Blackbeauty212]

Because your answer wasn't an answer at all...it was a history lesson that AGAIN! does nothing to explain this supposed "Appalachian" Culture of the 21st century.

[BrianTH]

Appalachian Culture definitely refers to something, but it doesn't necessarily have that much to do with Pittsburgh--I think it is mostly has to do with the southwestern part of the Appalachian region (the northeastern part of the Appalachian region has a different migration history than both the Northeast Coast and southwestern Appalachia).

[ForYourLungsOnly]

lol..so because you weren't born...you dont care about a region's history and how it was influenced? talk about laughable. you do realize that culture doesn't just HAPPEN. it takes years and years to develop. what do you want me to say? Northeastern people do THIS and THAT makes them Northeastern. People from San Francisco do THIS and THAT makes them from the West Coast. NO..... the same goes for Pittsburgh. It has it's OWN cultural identity and has been developed and created through history by people, many of whom migrated to the city from RURAL AREAS IN APPALACHIA during the industrial boom...that doesn't mean people here do one certain "activity" that makes them this or that. You wan't me to tell you how you can "see" culture? You CAN'T. Much of culture is intangible. It's the city, the suburbs, the rural areas and surrounding areas and cities' people that make up a place. Ever go to the Laurel Highlands? Are you familiar with Appalachian Literature? Some has been written about areas like the Laurel Highlands and areas surrounding, including places like Cumberland, MD and 'Accident', MD. What chip do you have on your shoulder that you become so vehement when I say that Pittsburgh is not the SAME as a place like Boston or New York, both culturally and geographically? It just isn't the same, and to deny that is absurd

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

No One outside of City Data.com even uses the term Appalachia to describe a region let a lone try to lump Pittsburgh into it.....Pittsburghers themselves (from the brightest to the dumbest) don't even know f*ck an Appalachia culture is, you don't even hear the term used no one is going to tell you Pittsburgh is "Appalachian" over Northeast, "East Coast", Midwest..... and they're going to look at you like you have 3 heads when you try Pittsburgh is Appalachian.

Well, one of the most prominent PG columnists wrote a book about Pittsburgh entitled "The Paris of Appalachia",
Home: Paris of Appalachia
so I'm pretty sure at least this point is demonstrably false.

The Appalachian Region - Appalachian Regional Commission

Barnestormin: Pittsburgh: Urban Appalachia

[BrianTH]

Also this:

Appalachian Studies Association :: ASA

Edit: By the way, the particular culture of a group is defined in reference to that group (it is whatever culture characterizes that group). So the question is whether there is a group that can be meaningfully defined such that it could be said to have a common culture, and then its culture is whatever it is. You can't do it the other way around (try to define a culture, then see what people fit).

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Lobick

Well, one of the most prominent PG columnists wrote a book about Pittsburgh entitled "The Paris of Appalachia",
Home: Paris of Appalachia
so I'm pretty sure at least this point is demonstrably false.

The Appalachian Region - Appalachian Regional Commission

Barnestormin: Pittsburgh: Urban Appalachia

We may be Appalachian based on topography, but not in many other ways. I don't hear people question other parts of PA as Appalachian like they do Pittsburgh just because we are close to WV. Once you get south of the Mason Dixon line, things change quickly and I don't feel any connection to those areas (as with 95% of Pittsburghers) at all.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

We may be Appalachian based on topography, but not in many other ways. I don't hear people question other parts of PA as Appalachian like they do Pittsburgh just because we are close to WV. Once you get south of the Mason Dixon line, things change quickly and I don't feel any connection to those areas (as with 95% of Pittsburghers) at all.

I think the Pittsburgh thing is more likely an urban/ rural divide more than anything else. I've been in Potter County, PA and it doesn't feel very different than Lawrence County, KY. There are differences of course, but this Pittsburgher found something familiar about Birmingham, AL.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Lobick

I think the Pittsburgh thing is more likely an urban/ rural divide more than anything else. I've been in Potter County, PA and it doesn't feel very different than Lawrence County, KY. There are differences of course, but this Pittsburgher found something familiar about Birmingham, AL.

Birmingham was called the 'Pittsburgh of the South' 100 years ago and it was the industrial center of the South too so I'm not surprised you say that.