How "southern" is Kansas City? (Springfield, Poplar Bluff: how much, live)

[TarHeelTerritory]

How "southern" do you consider Kansas City, Missouri to be? Given its jazz and barbecue heritage, association with and location within the historic "Little Dixie" region of Missouri (first settled by migrants from areas such as Tennessee and Kentucky), and other cultural markers, I assume KC has had its fair share of influence from the South. As such, how much of a role does Southern culture play in KC's identity? Do you consider Kansas City more Midwestern than Southern or more Southern than Midwestern (and by how much), or about equal?

[kipfilet]

Feels much more like Nebraska or Iowa than Tennessee and Kentucky to me. St Louis feels more Southern.

[MarketStEl]

Even though Kansas City and Memphis barbecue are kissing cousins, and even though the migratory path of jazz led from New Orleans* to Kansas City on its way to New York, and even though the Kansas City Southern Railway's premier passenger train was called "the Southern Belle," the cultural vibe one gets in KC IMO is far more Midwestern than Southern.

Sheesh, when Kansas Citians want to say "F**k you," they say "f**k you."

*New Orleans is one Southern city that in some key ways departs from "the ways of the South".

[RadioSilence]

When people (rarely) say "bless your heart" in Kansas City, they don't intend it to be an insult. Midwestern all the way...

[James Bond 007]

There's definitely a bit of a Southern influence here, but still more Midwest than South. So I voted the 2nd option. I'd call it 75% Midwest and 20% South, plus maybe 5% West.

[CatHerder]

My friend who is originally from Minnesota said Missouri seems like the South to her. On the other hand, she's never been to the real South, such as AL, MS, SC, and so on. I have, and it's like a different country. On the other hand, the areas around the MO Ozarks and Poplar Bluff and the bootheel cities feel more like AR to me than the rest of MO. Just like northern MO feels more like IA.

[Craziaskowboi]

As somebody who's lived in both the North and the South and has a basis for comparison, Kansas City doesn't seem Southern to me at all.

[GraniteStater]

KC has southern influences for sure, I'm not getting where people are seeing no influences. With that said, KC will appear more like the Midwest from those that are from geographically more southern areas of the US, and will appear to be more of a mixture of the Midwest and South from those that are from geographically more northern areas of the US.

[Mattks]

Kansas City has southern influence for sure, but its significantly more midwestern then southern. Even Springfield south of Kansas City is more midwestern then southern.

[TabulaRasa]

Definitely more Midwestern than southern, but I'm a transplant from the upper Midwest, and it's significantly different than that, too.

There is also a hint of a drawl that lends people a southern edge in their speech (I noticed it lots when I first moved here, but my ear has adjusted and it isn't as obvious anymore in the intervening decade), but you also get that in my native Illinois once you go further south than about Bloomington-Normal, and nobody seriously considers Illinois "southern."