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When people think Louisiana, they either think of the French Quarter (not even all of New Orleans) or areas deep in the bayous like the Henderson Swamp or the Atchafalaya Basin.
At least a third of Louisiana actually consists of deciduous forests and almost a third is actually open prairie that visually resembles parts of the Midwest.
People's image of Texas is usually a place like Amarillo, Abilene, or Lubbock.
California: LA for most people because it's the beaches and the entertainment industry. For those more in the tech world, SF. But for everyone else it's LA.
NJ: A combo between Atlantic City because it's a shore town and rundown, Newark for being improperly stereotyped as still all dangerous and rundown and ghetto, and any generic suburb full of toll roads.
As for the largest city not being what people think of, I think KY would fit that. People probably think of Lexington, not Louisville. Lexington has the flagship state university, University of Kentucky. It's the bluegrass region where most of the horses come from, even though people think of the Kentucky Derby which is in Louisville. If people don't think of Lexington, they probably think of rural, poor, mountainous, depressed small towns of Eastern KY.
When people think of Minnesotans, they are basically thinking of funny accented people that ice fish and boat all of the time. There is no one city embodying all of that, but people in the Twin Cities probably embody that stereotype the least.
When people think of Minnesotans, they are basically thinking of funny accented people that ice fish and boat all of the time. There is no one city embodying all of that, but people in the Twin Cities probably embody that stereotype the least.
LOL
Before I went to Minnesota as a kid to visit my cousins, I pictured them living in a forested area driving around in snowmobiles and yes--the ice fishing and boating. I also pictured a lot of snow but that wasn't a bad thing since I grew up in Upstate NY's snow belt region.
Of course the state wasn't like that but there was some snow and there was a lot of lakes and forests. We really looked forward to our trips out there between the nature and all of the things to do in the cities. I really enjoyed the trips up to the northern part of the state and Lake Superior as well.
Along with Michigan, it's one of my favorite Midwest states.
When people think of Minnesotans, they are basically thinking of funny accented people that ice fish and boat all of the time. There is no one city embodying all of that, but people in the Twin Cities probably embody that stereotype the least.
Agreed. The Twin Cities are the bulk of Minnesota's population, but almost none of the state's stereotypes are embodied by it's denizens. I think St. Cloud might embody the Minnesota stereotype the best. It's on the line where the woods meet the prairie, has plenty of lakes nearby, and isn't that urban. It's far enough north to get guaranteed deep freezes and heavy snows annually as well.
For my state, I don't know that any city works because I get the impression the overwhelming stereotype of Iowa is one gigantic cornfield. The county seats of rural farm counties in the flattest parts of the state probably fit the bill. Towns like Osage, Garner, Forest City, Humboldt, Algona, Jefferson etc are your "stereotypical" Iowa, but I doubt anyone outside the state has ever heard of them.
Agreed. The Twin Cities are the bulk of Minnesota's population, but almost none of the state's stereotypes are embodied by it's denizens. I think St. Cloud might embody the Minnesota stereotype the best. It's on the line where the woods meet the prairie, has plenty of lakes nearby, and isn't that urban. It's far enough north to get guaranteed deep freezes and heavy snows annually as well.
For my state, I don't know that any city works because I get the impression the overwhelming stereotype of Iowa is one gigantic cornfield. The county seats of rural farm counties in the flattest parts of the state probably fit the bill. Towns like Osage, Garner, Forest City, Humboldt, Algona, Jefferson etc are your "stereotypical" Iowa, but I doubt anyone outside the state has ever heard of them.
Funny thing also is that people think Minnesota gets a TON of snow, but most of the state gets a fairly paltry amount compared to the snow belts east of a great lake. Minneapolis-St Paul gets as much snow as Denver, CO. Duluth is the snowiest city at 80"+ (depending on where you measure and what source you look at).
It hardly melts during winter giving the illusion of a ton of snow.
Someone mentioned in another thread that when people think of “Georgia,” they’re probably thinking of a place like Macon, not Atlanta, despite the fact that Atlanta is far and away the dominant city in the state. Are there any other states that you believe might be similar to the previous example, where the largest/most dominant city may not be what most people think of when they conjure up images (whether right or wrong) of a particular state?
And the funny part is, Macon doesn't look or feel close to what a lot of people imagine it to be that has never been there,, smh.. Most think it's Country, farm animals etc., no high rise builds, no mass transit, just a small little town when that's totally not true! It's actually a mid size city Metro area in it's self. No where the size of Atlanta of course but definitely a nice size city of over 150,000 people and a CSA of over 400,000, not to mention Hood/ blighted City in spots. Back to the conversation at hand, I think our first problem when it comes to States is we tend to stereotype places off of what we think the regional make up is or an old way of thinking, history situation. You cant stereo type a whole state as being Urban or rural in your mind and we do that a lot. Example New York-automatic Urban thoughts, Alabama-automatic rural thoughts. We don't take the time to think that every state has it's Urban Cities and its Rural Country side including New York and Alabama but it's the way our minds work. Note these are two extremes but there are points in between. We will miss out on some great cities and tourist destinations thinking this way for sure. I know for a fact many have no clue a big sized urban, dense city like Louisville exist in Kentucky, they may know it's a city in KY but have no clue as to it's size or makeup honesly.. If many visited they would be surprised how it would more remind them of a city in the Northeast more than an Atlanta ever could but because it's in the state of Kentucky they have really never thought to visit.
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