Is the WV pandhandle any more southern than Ohio?

[Orwelleaut]

Enjoyable thread!! I would agree absolutely and completely that the Northern Panhandle is Midwest Appalachian. Having lived in both Western MD and out in Toledo as well as NE Ohio, I think "Midwest Appalachian" is an excellent way to describe a basic region that is made up of Eastern Ohio, Western PA, Northern WV and Western NY. We are "flatlanders" to folks from Morgantown or Cumberland, MD, but live in a region of gorgeous hills to folks from West of Cleveland.

Having grown up with a Grandmother and many older relatives in Western PA and being married to a lovely woman who was born and raised in greater Pittsburgh, I think Midwestern Appalachian is the best way to describe this region which feels Midwestern compared to the Northeast, but a little different from places West of Cleveland. My wife and I have spent quite a bit of time around the Wheeling area, and we really enjoy it. Wheeling is definitely part of this Midwestern Appalachian region in speech pattern, culture, and way of life. I don't hear any Southern in the speech pattern, but Western PA with some of the flatter sounds of the midwest. Restaurants are also Western PA, with a lot of Polish and Italian selections.

Having visited Morgantown and Parkersburg, I'd have to say that The Panhandle is the only section of WVA that does not feel a little Southern. Even around Morgantown, I could hear the speech pattern sounding quite a little more Southern than in PA. We heard "y'all" a little, while Wheeling seemed to be "yinz" territory, and were noticing the Southern twang in words like "out" or "announcement" sounding to us like "eaaut" and "aneaaouncement". We were surprised, in fact, that we heard this much of a speech pattern difference this close to the PA border, and concluded that Wheeling definitely speaks Pittburghese, not Southern. Parkersburg sounded even more Southern than Morgantown.

The thing about The Panhandle vs. Southeast Ohio we've noticed is that SE Ohio sounds more Southern than The Panhandle. There is more of a drawl to the speech around Marietta and Cambridge than around Wheeling, a sound more like Morgantown and Parkersburg where folks go "deaownteaown" and say "y'all" instead of "yinz". Wheeling and vicinity definitely has the "dahntahn" of Western PA.