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As someone who has lived in all 4 regions of the U.S.A...in addition to living in London and Amsterdam for 2 years each, I think I'm qualified to confirm or dispel any misconceptions or stereotypes of the midwest for almost a decade....specifically dealing with Illinois/Wisconsin/Indiana natives and living in the Chicagoland area.
1 of the biggest misconceptions about the Midwest is....FRIENDLINESS....no...it's not true....Midwestern friendliness is the biggest misconception you'll hear....A lot of them are passive aggressive and they like to display a lot of micro aggressions with a sinister smile...foul body language with a smile is another tool they use ...their friendliness is also a very calculated rehearsed kind of friendliness...It's not genuine friendliness...It's only on the surface and robotic....It's forced...manufactured...It's actually harder to befriend midwesteners on a deeper level besides the "surface" play-pretend stuff is too much....I also feel that Midwesterners don't form deeper relationships based on common interest, goals, and lifestyle like on the East or West....Deeper Friendships here are based on family ties, "best friend of a close friend" situations, "We grow up together" situations, and "We worked together for XXX amount of years at such and such company" situations.....With that being said, if you're not from the midwest, it will be very hard to get a heart to heart genuine friendship with them....They'll be friendly to your face but you'll constantly be made to feel like "You're not one of us" in subtle calculated ways...and you'll also be discussed once you leave the room.....and it's usually a not so nice discussion about you eventhough they were friendly to you lol.......There is also a lot of racial segregation and race related dynamics to navigate through....so if your not white, you'll really have a tough time....and it doesn't matter how well spoken...or how well dressed....or how much money you have....or how attractive you are....Your race will play a role in how when it comes to friendships and how friendly people are towards you....I never felt the need to pick friends based on race prior to moving to the midwest but after a few years of coming to understand the culture, I've come to a conclusion that race is a big deal here....It's normal here and everyone seems to accept the racial dynamics but as a transplant, I was disgusted for the first 2 years....I've never gotten used to it but I don't let it me bother me as much because I don't anticipate on building a future here in the midwest. On the east coast, ppl are blunt, unfiltered, and straight to business..You know where they stand...WHICH I LIKE.....On the west coast, people are relaxed but they love to talk about themselves so it's easier to know a west coaster on a deeper level for a connection....WHICH I LIKE....In the MIDWEST, people are incredible calculated...from the smile on their faces to the twinkle in their eye....to their tone of voice....to the image they portray....in a very secretive kind of way....you never know what's on their mind or what eggs they're planning to hatch but they make it an aim to ask you personal questions they have no business asking.....they do a lot of friendly talking but it's just meaningless small talk or petty gossiping that never leads to any that matters in life....It can be exhausting dealing with a lot of them....and to be honest, dealing with midwesterners has taught me how to have patience....because that is the only way a transplant from a different region can keep their sanity around these types of people.....You need a lot of patience and a lot of tolerance to be able put up with them for YEARS.....oh....1 last bit.....STARES....Midwesterners like to stare....constantly staring at you from the corner of their eye.....Even if your car windows are tinted, they'll keep staring to see if they can hopefully get a glimpse of who is driving....sheepish stares....goat-ish glares....and when you turn around to establish eye contact, they avert their eyes to pretend they were not looking....just ridiculous, phony, and UNFRIENDLY.....and quite sad.....they whole eye aversion thing they do is an experience I've only tasted here in the midwest.....No where else.....
Wow, you sure are painting with a broad brush, here. Not sure who you ran into, but they certainly don't exemplify the people that I know from the Midwest. By your use of the word "they", you have lost credibility, because people aren't clones, nor do they walk in lockstep.
No midwestern linguistics in the Pittsburgh accent. We say "bag" as in baa baa black sheep; they say "bayg". We say "bawttle" (bottle), they say "baahttle" (as in "say ahh for the doctor"). Etc.
Maybe so, but it's a pretty big area, and, everything is not the same, everywhere. I know you know that, but your response on the "pop" thing to Katarina Witt was a typical misconception.
"Pop" is not a Midwestern thing. In Wisconsin, everyone I know says "soda." Must be a misconception that everyone in the Midwest says "pop."
There are maps which show the "soda/pop/cola" boundaries, and yes, Wisconsin has both soda and pop areas ( with soda being dominant in eastern WI, and I'd say Madison ( from having lived there), but pop just about everywhere else...
There are maps which show the "soda/pop/cola" boundaries, and yes, Wisconsin has both soda and pop areas ( with soda being dominant in eastern WI, and I'd say Madison ( from having lived there), but pop just about everywhere else...
And the "pop" sound can be a bit nasal, too...
I've seen that map. I live in an area, right now, that shows "pop", but everyone (and I mean everyone) that I've talked to, says "soda." Not that it's important, but maps aren't always reliable.
"Midwest" stems from the first frontiersmen who ventured past the Appalachians. Essentially to the Ohio River Valley. Anything past that was the "West". It was never meant as a literal geographical representation of the US.
So I've heard....a few hundred times.
There are a lot things people did and said in the 1800's that don't make sense today. Why is calling a region "Midwest" that could much more accurately be described as northeast still a thing?
I don't, but yeah, lost of Pittsburghers do. They also say "pop" in some of upstate NY.
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