Do you consider Ohio "Midwest" or "Back East?" (Columbus: how much, elementary school)

[natininja]

^ Or the legs, if you want to be more charitable. (Doesn't Mexico get pooped on enough? )

[natininja]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

No, the midwest doesn't get to claim the lake cities to pass itself off as interesting. Not midwest in the least. Pittsburgh isn't a great lakes city, but it sure is a lot more similar to Cleveland than it is to anything else.

Like Cleverfield mentioned, I've met people from St. Louis and KC who completely agree with me, that we are not even close to midwest.

I don't consider Cincinnati midwest either.

Most Clevelanders would say Cincinnati is the south. I tend to just think of it as an outlier, but physically located in the Midwest and more Midwestern than any of its other constituent components.

I think there are two camps of thought about the Midwest. One holds that the Great Lakes states are the "true" Midwest, and the other holds that the Great Plains states are the "true" Midwest. Usually, it's people from the Great Lakes states claiming the former and Plains folks claiming the latter (which would explain people from the Plains agreeing with you). You seem to be in the opposite camp.

IMO, they are very distinct regions, but both join together to form the Midwest. In that sense, I think of the Midwest as a rather useless concept. The region is too big and too diverse to be a region. I would be in favor of scrapping the whole Midwest as a name (the name doesn't even make sense, given it consists mostly of states east of center and none west of center). Then just make the two subregions regions of their own. But until the term Midwest is scrapped entirely, I will maintain that Ohio's cities are all a part of it.

East North Central States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West North Central States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just looking at the population densities of these two regions shows they are way different. The least dense of the Great Lakes states (Wisconsin) is much more dense than the most dense of the Great Plains states (Missouri).

[CountryGirl1023]

When I was living in Pgh we always say heading west to Ohio. I guess it is just what you see depending on what state you are in. Like my in laws living in NJ they would say back west. I now live far west of Ohio Northwestern to be exact in Auglaize county.

[sheena12]

I think Ohio is the best of both worlds.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Midwest = boring, farms, nothingness

Cleveland is a Great Lakes city. So are Buffalo, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee. We are nothing like the "midwest." I'm not proud of something that I'm not.

Interesting discussion. I've never thought of Cleveland (or any part of Ohio for that matter) as being anything other than the Midwest (with the exception of parts some might consider Appalachia). What makes it not Midwestern in your view?

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Interesting discussion. I've never thought of Cleveland (or any part of Ohio for that matter) as being anything other than the Midwest (with the exception of parts some might consider Appalachia). What makes it not Midwestern in your view?

Cleveland people, in general, talk faster and are faster paced than the majority Ohio. There are actually quite a few New Yorkers in cleveland.

Have you been to Buffalo or Rochester? It's far more comparable to Cleveland than say Cincinnati. Ohio is unique in that regard. Basically, since moving here, it's pretty evident that Cleveland is far more 'eastern' mentality and politically than the rest of the state.

It's just silly really..would you think Cleveland is more like Des Moines, Iowa than Buffalo, NY just because both are located in the Midwest? Heck no!

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by WeSoHood

Cleveland people, in general, talk faster and are faster paced than the majority Ohio. There are actually quite a few New Yorkers in cleveland.

Have you been to Buffalo or Rochester? It's far more comparable to Cleveland than say Cincinnati. Ohio is unique in that regard. Basically, since moving here, it's pretty evident that Cleveland is far more 'eastern' mentality and politically than the rest of the state.

It's just silly really..would you think Cleveland is more like Des Moines, Iowa than Buffalo, NY just because both are located in the Midwest? Heck no!

I've never heard anyone group Cleveland with Buffalo or Rochester. Coming from the East Coast, that's not a connection I can say I've ever made. Perhaps others do. I've always mentally put Cleveland in the Detroit/Chicago category.

[bjimmy24]

Trust me, Buffalo and Rochester are much more like Cleveland than Columbus or Cincinnati. Everyone here makes the connection (provided they have been to Rochester and Buffalo). You are right though, Cleveland is also kinda Detroity and kinda Chicagoey. Like I said, I regard Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester as similar types of cities (sizes vary of course, but they are from the same mold, I would argue).

Cleveland, in my opinion, is not "midwestern" because of the lake. Because of that resource, our city developed differently. We were a port city, not a farming midwestern town. Port cities are also older than the midwestern cities, like Columbus, Indianapolis, etc. We are heavy industrial places. We are the Rust Belt (a term I like, by the way). We have smaller city limits and higher population density. Compare 70 square miles of Cleveland to over 350 square miles of Indianapolis. We have more snow. It's colder. Also, and very importantly, we share more or less the same accent- the Northern Cities accent. I can ALWAYS tell when someone is from a Great Lakes city. My first guess is always Cleveland (because I always hope I meet Clevelanders in other cities) but when I guess wrong, it's almost always one of these cities.

I really see very few similarities between Cleveland and Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Cleveland and Indy, Cleveland and Omaha, etc. Those are Plains cities, we are Great Lakes cities.

Anyone else agree?

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Trust me, Buffalo and Rochester are much more like Cleveland than Columbus or Cincinnati. Everyone here makes the connection (provided they have been to Rochester and Buffalo). You are right though, Cleveland is also kinda Detroity and kinda Chicagoey. Like I said, I regard Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester as similar types of cities (sizes vary of course, but they are from the same mold, I would argue).

Cleveland, in my opinion, is not "midwestern" because of the lake. Because of that resource, our city developed differently. We were a port city, not a farming midwestern town. Port cities are also older than the midwestern cities, like Columbus, Indianapolis, etc. We are heavy industrial places. We are the Rust Belt (a term I like, by the way). We have smaller city limits and higher population density. Compare 70 square miles of Cleveland to over 350 square miles of Indianapolis. We have more snow. It's colder. Also, and very importantly, we share more or less the same accent- the Northern Cities accent. I can ALWAYS tell when someone is from a Great Lakes city. My first guess is always Cleveland (because I always hope I meet Clevelanders in other cities) but when I guess wrong, it's almost always one of these cities.

I really see very few similarities between Cleveland and Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Cleveland and Indy, Cleveland and Omaha, etc. Those are Plains cities, we are Great Lakes cities.

Anyone else agree?

Well, maybe my East Coast schooling has biased me, but we were always taught that the Great Lakes and the Plains were part of the Midwest. It's similar to how the Catskills, Poconos and Adirondacks are all part of the Northeast even though they're nothing like Brooklyn and Philadelphia. They're just variation within the greater region called the Northeast.

That said, we think of Cleveland and St. Louis as Midwestern cities. They may not be exactly alike, but they're both recognized as the Midwest.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Well, maybe my East Coast schooling has biased me, but we were always taught that the Great Lakes and the Plains were part of the Midwest. It's similar to how the Catskills, Poconos and Adirondacks are all part of the Northeast even though they're nothing like Brooklyn and Philadelphia. They're just variation within the greater region called the Northeast.

That said, we think of Cleveland and St. Louis as Midwestern cities. They may not be exactly alike, but they're both recognized as the Midwest.

I hear ya, but practically, I don't see similarities between plains and lake cities. Geographically, CLE and St. Louis are 558 miles apart. Brooklyn, on the other hand, is 468 miles from Cleveland.

You should really see first hand what I'm talking about. I think most people who have traveled to these various cities would agree for the most part.

But I disagree, I don't think of NYC as northeast, and certainly not Philly. Cleveland is farther north than both those places. For me, northeast = New England (Boston). East coast = Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, DC. I never think of the Adirondacks.