Do you consider Ohio "Midwest" or "Back East?" (Columbus: interior, drive)

[CaliWestCoast]

IMO Ohio is only midwestern by culture, but geographically it is more of a central Northern State since it's east of the Mississippi River

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by saba2r

The lower half is midwest. The upper half is northeastern.

my grandmother spent her whole life in wooster and i'm fairly certain she does not feel nor act "northeastern" haha.

the lower half is southern / Appalachia if nothing else.

[warren zee]

Originally Posted by Mrs. P

I work for a huge shipping company, we own the largest container boats in the world. It's all import export. I work not only with people in my office from all over the world and US, but also on the phone. I deal with people everywhere everyday, and have done this for 37 years. I pretty much know lots about our country as well as other countries.

NO TIME AND I MEAN NEVER WILL I EVER CONSIDER the thought that OHIO and any single solitary part of it has anything to do with the North east...I consider that a huge slam. Please don't ever put Ohio in with the category of NY, NY, PA, ME, CT, and so forth ....EVER.

There is a huge difference in Mid-westerns and Northeasterners....and people from Ohio are most assuredly Mid-westerners.

Also, having to deal with FUEL and FUEL SVC CHGS, and the Dept of Energy (DOE Fed Govt) pricing for fuel averages based by sectors of the USA....OHIO is considered MIDWEST.

End of story, no further arguments will be entertained

I guess you are one of the owners of your company since you said "we own the largest container boats in the world."
I am a former New Yorker and now live in Warren, Ohio, Trumbull County- which is part of the "Western Reserve" and was owned by Connecticut, a North Eastern State. Parts of N.E. Ohio is similar to Long Island where I'm from without the crazy prices in homes and mostly friendly people. There are friendly people all over the place including New York.
One place I didn't find any friendly people was in N.E. Pa. They all kept to themselves and in three years living there, I never made one friend. Here in N.E. Ohio, living here only a year and a half we've made several good friends.

[qwertyasdf]

I was raised in Indiana and we were taught in grade school Ohio is a Midwestern state. I never thought of it as anything else, but Cleveland did seem like it was far away from Indiana. I never been to Cleveland but in my head I related it to Eastern cities like Balitmore, Pittsburgh and Buffalo more so than I related it to Cincinnati.

Cincinnati seemed like it was more like Louisville and Indianapolis. All 3 towns feel similar to me. The accents in West Central and Southwest, Ohio, do have sort of a Southern drawl, kinda like East Central and Southern Indiana.

I attribute that accent because there are so many people from Kentucky and Tennessee who moved to the smaller cities and towns of Indiana and Ohio to work in the factories, it diluted the accents until it's almost like an accent of it's own. I don't know really how to describe it, but it's not Southern, but it sounds like it could be Southern. The best description I can come up with is broken English. But it seems to be all along about a 75 to a hundred mile stretch north of the Ohio River, and maybe a 50 mile stretch south of the Ohio River, a line that parallels a little north of Lexington. It is a much different accent than those from the Northern 3rd of those states, where a Northern, or Upper Midwest accent most definitely predominates, with accents similar to accents of people from Iowa and Minnesota all the way to Pennsylvania and Western New York.

[Townes Van Zandt]

I've probably already posted in this thread but I'll post again for good measure.

It's all a matter of perspective. To people on the east coast Ohio is as Midwest as Iowa. To people west of the Rockies Ohio is "back east". Obviously there are exceptions but this has been my experience when talking with people from different parts of the country.

And as has been mentioned many times in this thread, Ohio is not a very homogenous state. You can't pigeonhole Ohio and label the entire state like you can with certain states like Maine(New England) or Georgia (Southern). Clevelanders are going to have a very different definition of what being an "Ohioan" means versus someone from near the WV border. Some of you will claim I'm splitting hairs but I don't care. Too many southeast Ohioans are Stillers fans and I'll be damned if I'm going to associate myself with that kind of garbage.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by ksu sucks

I've probably already posted in this thread but I'll post again for good measure.

It's all a matter of perspective. To people on the east coast Ohio is as Midwest as Iowa. To people west of the Rockies Ohio is "back east". Obviously there are exceptions but this has been my experience when talking with people from different parts of the country.

And as has been mentioned many times in this thread, Ohio is not a very homogenous state. You can't pigeonhole Ohio and label the entire state like you can with certain states like Maine(New England) or Georgia (Southern). Clevelanders are going to have a very different definition of what being an "Ohioan" means versus someone from near the WV border. Some of you will claim I'm splitting hairs but I don't care. Too many southeast Ohioans are Stillers fans and I'll be damned if I'm going to associate myself with that kind of garbage.

Exactly.

[sheena12]

Geographically, Ohio is located in the Eastern half of the US. However, it is very Mid Western in culture, attitude and style.

As with many states, there are different aspects to Ohio. I currently live in North Eastern Ohio, and even in this part of the state, there are descendants of Appalachians who moved north to work in the automobile industry. They tend to add a southern, conservative and mini-Bible belt element to the area. Their presence in quite strong. They tend to be Evangelical Christians.

Yes. There are ethnic Catholics, Lutherans and Orthodox Christians here. How this makes Ohio "North Eastern", is a beyond me.

Chicago has a large population of Irish, Polish, Italian, and various other Slavic groups. Minneapolis-St.Paul is known for it's huge Scandinavian and to a lesser extent; German population. Many people are Lutheran, but there is also a large Catholic population. There is also a healthy Jewish population in both Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Does that make Chicago and Minneapolis-St Paul "North Eastern cities"? No. That's preposterous.

There are areas of upstate NY, Central and Western PA that seem "Mid Western". But they aren't.

All regions have a geographical beginning and end.

The Mid West begins in Ohio on it's eastern side. It ends at the Dakotas, in the northern and western border.

This is really not up for debate.

[abr7rmj]

Originally Posted by sheena12

Geographically, Ohio is located in the Eastern half of the US. However, it is very Mid Western in culture, attitude and style.

As with many states, there are different aspects to Ohio. I currently live in North Eastern Ohio, and even in this part of the state, there are descendants of Appalachians who moved north to work in the automobile industry. They tend to add a southern, conservative and mini-Bible belt element to the area. Their presence in quite strong. They tend to be Evangelical Christians.

Yes. There are ethnic Catholics, Lutherans and Orthodox Christians here. How this makes Ohio "North Eastern", is a beyond me.

Chicago has a large population of Irish, Polish, Italian, and various other Slavic groups. Minneapolis-St.Paul is known for it's huge Scandinavian and to a lesser extent; German population. Many people are Lutheran, but there is also a large Catholic population. There is also a healthy Jewish population in both Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Does that make Chicago and Minneapolis-St Paul "North Eastern cities"? No. That's preposterous.

There are areas of upstate NY, Central and Western PA that seem "Mid Western". But they aren't.

All regions have a geographical beginning and end.

The Mid West begins in Ohio on it's eastern side. It ends at the Dakotas, in the northern and western border.

This is really not up for debate.

No part of Ohio resembles or shares much in common with any part of the Dakotas. Washington, D.C. is an easy drive from virtually anywhere in Ohio. How long would it take to drive to Bismark or Rapid City? Most of Ohio has much more in common with West Virginia and Pennsylvania than it does with South Dakota and Nebraska. And people in the Dakotas or Nebraska would scoff at the notion that Ohio is in their region.

Ohio is odd in that it can't be easily categorized into any region. Great Lakes? Yea, sure. Northeast? An argument can be made. Midwest? Makes sense. Appalachian? In many ways.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by abr7rmj

No part of Ohio resembles or shares much in common with any part of the Dakotas. Washington, D.C. is an easy drive from virtually anywhere in Ohio. How long would it take to drive to Bismark or Rapid City? Most of Ohio has much more in common with West Virginia and Pennsylvania than it does with South Dakota and Nebraska. And people in the Dakotas or Nebraska would scoff at the notion that Ohio is in their region.

Ohio is odd in that it can't be easily categorized into any region. Great Lakes? Yea, sure. Northeast? An argument can be made. Midwest? Makes sense. Appalachian? In many ways.

I've never felt that Ohio has anything in common with Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, or even Indiana for that matter. The term "midwest" is almost completely meaningless.

[muppethammer26]

I do consider Ohio a Northeastern State due to Ohio's location on the US map. I do not like the term "midwest" either. The Great Lakes States would be a better sub region name for the sub region where Ohio is located.