Pittsburgh IS NOT IN ANYWAY a Northeastern City (Penn: homes, standard of living)

[Copanut]

Mid-Atlantic.


Look it up.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by The King of Um

The Pittsburgh region is definitely located within the Northeast, and has some Northeastern qualities (e.g., row houses, distinct ethnic communities), but it's vastly different from anywhere else within the Northeast. I mean, what other Northeastern city has places like Fayette County as part of its metro? Here, if you take a half hour's drive outside the city, you can easily end up in places that seem like WV or TN, with people who are very countrified, the polar opposite of the traditional Northeastern "Yankee."

You can find hillbillies as far north as western Massachusetts.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

You can find hillbillies as far north as western Massachusetts.

And as far west as Beverly Hills. 'course that's due to so many houses having the ce-ment ponds.


Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song - YouTube

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

You can find hillbillies as far north as western Massachusetts.

No, respectfully, I must say that much of the population of western Massachusetts would be rural New Englanders, not hillbillies.

I was exploring a certain Ohio River Valley town recently. While walking along a narrow road on a hillside, I happened upon a property with so much junk in the yard that its owner must have been competing with Fred Sanford. There was junk everywhere, including kitchen sinks in the yard. Even stranger, there was a dog in a square cage, which began barking ferociously at me. Now, this dog, I imagine, was trained by its owner to be very aggressive; normally, I imagine it would be a gentle, benign creature. Upon hearing his dog's barking, out of the house, which was essentially a shanty shack, came a true hillbilly--camouflage baseball cap and all. He then yelled to someone inside, presumably his wife or girlfriend, "It's alright; just somebody walkin'." Now that's an authentic hillbilly, a very different sort of person than the people you might encounter in western MA, or the "swamp Yankees" of eastern CT and rural RI, or the country folks of the rural parts of NJ. You'd be hard pressed to find any other Northeastern city where, taking a short drive less than 15 miles outside of downtown, you'd encounter such a person in such an environment.

[captainmidnight]

Have Maine to Pennsylvania be labeled "1". Maryland to Florida will be "2". Central and Mountain timezones (plus Ohio and Vest Virginia) will be "3" and the whole West Coast/Alaska/Florida and the rest of the Pacific timezone will be "4".

There, nice and easy

[BarqCider]

i like to think of pittsburgh as a purple city. half the city has the vibe of the mid west(red) while the other half has a east village of NYC(blue) that has laws from a red state thats ran by a blue party.

[pman]

Originally Posted by BarqCider

i like to think of pittsburgh as a purple city. half the city has the vibe of the mid west(red) while the other half has a east village of NYC(blue) that has laws from a red state thats ran by a blue party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Rx47qrH1GRs
new mascot?

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by The King of Um

The Pittsburgh region is definitely located within the Northeast, and has some Northeastern qualities (e.g., row houses, distinct ethnic communities), but it's vastly different from anywhere else within the Northeast. I mean, what other Northeastern city has places like Fayette County as part of its metro? Here, if you take a half hour's drive outside the city, you can easily end up in places that seem like WV or TN, with people who are very countrified, the polar opposite of the traditional Northeastern "Yankee."

Also, someone mentioned earlier that one of Pittsburgh's Northeastern qualities is that its residents speak in a rhotic accent. Actually, in most of the Northeast, non-rhotic accents predominate.

You're exaggerating QUITE a bit here. I've seen enough of rural New York, New England, and New Jersey (Southern NJ, where it truly is the Garden State) to say that Pennsylvania certainly does not have the corner on the "Northeastern redneck" market.

On an aggregate level, you will likely find somewhat more poverty in rural Pennsylvania compared to the rural areas of other Northeastern states, but let's not pretend that much of Upstate New York or much of Maine, for example, are bastions of sophistication and wealth. Heck, you can find appallingly trash-strewn properties even in major metro areas.

As several other posters have noted, there are many socioeconomic and cultural attributes that allow even the most struggling rural regions of Pennsylvania to be much better off than adjacent states to the south (e.g., WV and KY).

[Aqua Teen Carl]

The poverty in rural Appalachia (in PA) is some of the worst I've seen anywhere though (in the US and abroad). I don't know if northeastern states can compare to no running water, no indoor toilet, trailers built in the 70's, and living off garden vegetables and government assistance.

Also in regards to labeling Pittsburgh as Northeast who carrreesss.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

The poverty in rural Appalachia (in PA) is some of the worst I've seen anywhere though (in the US and abroad). I don't know if northeastern states can compare to no running water, no indoor toilet, trailers built in the 70's, and living off garden vegetables and government assistance.

Also in regards to labeling Pittsburgh as Northeast who carrreesss.

That sounds a bit extreme to me. I'm not saying it's not impossible, but certainly it's not commonplace, even in the most depressed of areas. This map shows that rural poverty is pretty significant all over the country -- including notable areas of Upstate NY and Maine (please also note how relatively mild poverty there is in SWPA to WV):



http://www.planetizen.com/node/53728

In other words, rural poverty is rural poverty, and it effects practically every state.