Is Cincinnati the South? (Columbus, Cleveland: real estate, crime, upkeep)

[jkratze1]

You can get very good sweet tea at McAllister's Deli in the Cincinnati area.

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by jkratze1

You can get very good sweet tea at McAllister's Deli in the Cincinnati area.

Boom! Perfect example on how Cincinnati isn't southern ... McAllister's is based out of the state I used to live in and on the walls @ the Cincy location, they have banners up explaining sweet tea and how it's made.

[abr7rmj]

Cincinnati is certainly not southern. I have a hard time seeing Lexington as southern.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by abr7rmj

Cincinnati is certainly not southern. I have a hard time seeing Lexington as southern.

Lexington sees itself as southern.

[Ohioan58]

Cincinnati is Appalachian, not southern.

The Appalachian stuff gives the area its pig-headed stubborness, street fighter mentality, rampant conservatism, and xenophobia about anything outside the comfort zone. It's a poverty, grit and "stick to our own kind cuz we don't trust you" mentality.

This is NOT the south culturally. Southerners tend to be soft spoken and value manners, and Cincinnati's reputation for manners is hugely overrated.

It just really depends. Cincinnati is about 1/2 way there: if someone doesn't know you here, they consider you outside their clan and therefore anything goes. Even the driving style here is Appalachian - drive like crap and bully everyone, don't give an inch, total pigheadedness. I remember an old Popular Mechanix from the 70s that listed trucker's most and least favorite cities, and Cincinnati was cited near the top of the areas to be careful in when driving through for what the article called a "hell for leather, don't give an inch" attitude.

There are good Appalachian personality characteristics, like endurance of hardships, family values, etc. But the Appy stuff makes Cincinnati hard to move into or get acclimated to. In short, it's a "me, us, and everyone I know" attitude.

When you say "briar", that's the Cincinnati area in a nutshell.

[webbbj]

to the poster above are you saying being characterized as south has nothing to do w/ location on the map but characteristics of the city's people?

i would of said cincy is a hybrid. not quite south but not northern, but not eastern, or even midwestern, were just right in the middle of it all.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

But why Boston? Just because it is old, decrepit, and generally a mess doesn't qualify it for distinction. San Francisco on the other end of the continent has just as much to be admired as Boston.

I think the overwhelming majority of people that have frequented Boston would vehemently disagree with your characterization. I know I do.

[Ohioan58]

Physically, Cincinnati is east coastish. I lived outside Philadelphia for a couple of years and Cincinnati city in some ways feels like a scale model of Philadelphia. The layout of the older in town neighborhoods and the newer postwar fringe development is similar. Lots of vibe of hardcore "locals" who grew up and choose to stay in the area. The metro area straddles a river which is also a state line. They even both have a "Mount Airy" and the local area there has a German heritage (ie, a section named Germantown) just like here.

I've traveled in the south. It feels completely different than Cincinnati. The south is "how ya doing, take your time". Cincinnati is "yeah, I seen you, I don't know you, quick, make up your mind already." The Cincinnati vibe is not east coast-ish, for one reason, because education is valued much more on the east coast than in Ohio, and people here are not interested in outside the box, for another. You chisel through the personal crust of someone from New Jersey, say, and you get complex and varied opinions on interesting topics, and a degree of curiosity. You get past the defensiveness of a local and you find out that they really believe, with no reservations and no discussion allowed, in what the Tea Party stands for. People on the east coast expect you to disagree with them on some things. People here expect you to keep your opinion to yourself.

I grew up in Dayton. I see into the local soul. People in this region have their small comfort zone, and they have certain loyalties that aren't exactly southern or midwestern. It's more clannish and expecting others to be like you and expecting others to fit in, by force if necessary.

Cincinnati socially == briar. Appalachian. Physically, east coast like, with really old factories and industrial zones, housing stock dating to the late 1800s, and compact neighborhoods with strict dividing lines (IE, Hyde Park home owners having aneurysms because their neighborhood is being confused with eeeeerwww, Oakley!!!! (there, that's some hillbilly provincialism thrown in...)

[j2011]

Nothing in Ohio is "southern." I don't even consider West Virginia "southern." To be honest...I have my doubts about Kentucky at times. Virtually all true southern states have:

1.) Strong black-American presence that predates the Great Migration
2.) Lots of Scots-Irish descended white people with some mix of German (Polish and Czech included in Texas)

3.) Some redneck hillbilly culture along with the genteel "uppity" culture...both have to be represented.

4.) A propensity towards spicy foods...not just for show..but ingrained into the culture..like putting hot sauce on fries and not making a big deal about it.


Cincy may have the conservative wannabe rednecks...but Southern they ain't. If Texas can be questionably southern..Ohio is Canada.

[webbbj]

Originally Posted by j2011

Nothing in Ohio is "southern." I don't even consider West Virginia "southern." To be honest...I have my doubts about Kentucky at times. Virtually all true southern states have:

1.) Strong black-American presence that predates the Great Migration
2.) Lots of Scots-Irish descended white people with some mix of German (Polish and Czech included in Texas)

3.) Some redneck hillbilly culture along with the genteel "uppity" culture...both have to be represented.

4.) A propensity towards spicy foods...not just for show..but ingrained into the culture..like putting hot sauce on fries and not making a big deal about it.


Cincy may have the conservative wannabe rednecks...but Southern they ain't. If Texas can be questionably southern..Ohio is Canada.

not sure when the great migration was but cincy does have a well represented african american population and german population

i think cincy has the uppity culture not sure about redneck hillbilly, probably the exception and ot the majority

i love spicy foods. i put it on any deli sandwich i make.

i dont know i think cincinnati is a tweener. not quite southern but really they dont fit in w/ any other geographc location.

but also cincy is an urban town i associate the south w/ rural.

so is Atlanta or Miami the south? i know geographically they are but what im learning from this thread it may not be all geographical.

what about texas, or arizona. i mean they are south georgraphically but also western. im not sure of the cultural differences btw the eastern south and the western south since i have never experienced them first hand.