"The South always begins ten miles south of wherever you happen to be standing."

[muckefuck]

If you have a moment, why not join febrile's poll of what cultural regions certain US states belong to? (And I say this because I'm genuinely curious to see what the results of a larger sample would be, not just because I'm trying to rectify any specific imbalances in responses. After all, I'm sure several of you reading this are ignora independently-minded enough to place Missouri in "the South" as well.) As grahamwest's participation testifies, American citizenship is not necessary!

At the risk of prejudicing the results, I've always found attempts to draw borders between cultural regions following state lines to be somewhat silly. After all, political borders, unlike cultural boundaries, are absolute, arbitrary, and fixed. For that matter, any attempt to set up categories based on a single "sufficient and necessary criterion" is bound to fail, as I've tried to explain before in this journal. Not only do the data resist it, but our own heads don't even work that way.

Edit: In fact, whether to spite me or what, the votes of those I redirected have decreased the number of respondents who consider Missouri "Midwestern" from fourth-fifths to two-thirds. Way to go, East Coast freaks!

Comments

[febrile.livejournal.com]

It's worth noting that I purposefully resisted adding the category of "plains state" or, worse, "heartland."

Partly because they don't mean anything, partly because I think they would be a cop-out, mostly because I hate them.

Bless you.

[humpingbears.livejournal.com]

Heartland is a horrible, horrible, horrible word. It should be taken out back and shot.

Re: Bless you.

[grahamwest.livejournal.com]

Costellos sells a very nice sandwich called the Heartland, so the word can't be all bad.

Let me amend the statement, then.

[humpingbears.livejournal.com]

Even though I've never heard of Costello's, if you're taking the time to comment about it, it must be good.

When uttered by a politician in any way shape or form other than ordering a sandwich by that name, the word "Heartland" is a horrible, horrible, horrible word. It should be taken out back and shot.

Re: Let me amend the statement, then.

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Why not just eliminate the middleman and take the kind of politician who would use that word out back and shoot them instead?

[grahamwest.livejournal.com]

And I've never been to any of the states in question!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

After all, I'm sure several of you reading this are ignora independently-minded enough to place Missouri in "the South" as well.

My head is drooping, hanging down in the pure shame.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

When you're bluer than blue, all shades of purple are bound to appear red.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I blame my almost total ignorance of geography, actually. When I'm not really thinking about it I tend to confuse Missouri and Mississippi.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I knew people from Maine were sloppy, but I didn't expect that!

howda:

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

The code is bad, but the test is good

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

I'm not hanging my head in shame: I really do think of Missouri as being more midwestern than southern. That may be, however, because I am highly prejudiced against fried ravioli.

Also, unsurprisingly, I Have Opinions About Texas.

(The most firm of which is that I would like to move out of it.)

[bunj.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious to see a poll on Ohio. I always thought of it as eastern, but others, particularly those from the east coast, have called it midwestern (as do many Ohioans themselves).

Maybe the midwest should be broken into Prairie and Great Plains states?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Or Inner and Outer Midwest?

Actually, I tend to think of the Great Lakes as a region with common characteristics (as long as one is comfortable splitting states like Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in half or more).

[his-regard.livejournal.com]

Screw 10 miles -- it's more like 10 blocks. The South starts at Roosevelt Road, and everyone knows it.

It all depends on where you mobile home is!!

[cuore-felice34.livejournal.com]

I can say this because I lived in one when our house was being built when we first moved to the proud southern state of Arkansas, I cling to her bosom. Proud of each an every farm, mobile home, cow, and 3-story building. People like to paint the south one color, but it is not my friends, there are at least 3 colors to the south, more depending on the area.

BUT, to even consider Missouri as a southern state goes against everything Holy and Good. Near-do-wells, copycats, frauds!!!! Branson was our idea, although the name Dog Patch never caught on. I will say on Missouri's behalf, it depends on where your at in Missouri. Branson = scary south, basically Alabama with a shiny coat!!! St. Louis = South, with the attitude of midwest or the notion that they will one day be considered the "Chicago of the Mississippi Vally". Kansas City = Midwest in the center and, like a rock distorting water, southern the more removed you become. Everything else, midwest, as dry, dull, and tasteless as flat tea. No culture, no upbringing, no southern heritage.

I may be biased, but I think there is something to say about state that could not really make up its mind during the "Great War". So I might have to agree with Muck. Boundaries don't mean much, shucks in a certain light my home town of Clarksville could be considered East Coast (You should see us all on Peach Night).

Fun test, I had problems placing Texas? I have issues with that state as well.