This is clearly a person that is looking at a map and then using the literal definition of the word mid-west, but is naive to how the regions are officially classified.
"South" is a cultural identifier, not a geographic term. We don't say that San Diego is in the South even though it's not far from the border. And Texas' eastern part is definitely in the South, but the rest of the state is definitely not.
I distinctly recall variations in the classifications in school textbooks. I'm from Kansas and it's usually considered midwest, but I saw at least one textbook that counted it as part of the south. It's entirely possible this person experienced something similar, especially if they're from Texas; I wouldn't put it past the textbook authors there to downplay Texas's involvement with the Confederacy.
Wow, I am genuinely shocked by this. I used to live in Oklahoma and have always considered Oklahoma and Kansas to be part of the Midwest. I’d probably lump Texas in there as well. It definitely does not feel like it should be part of the “South,” which I consider to be states like Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky (basically, what they classify as the South Atlantic and East South Central).
Basically, I always thought the Midwest was the Dust Bowl states, and the South was primarily the southern states pre-Louisiana Purchase, plus Louisiana itself.
As a midwesterner of many decades, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, and Minnesota are kind of the platonic ideal of the Midwest. As you get further from those they start to take on additional characteristics of the surrounding areas.
While we Wisconsinites do describe the region as the Midwest it's more accurately/ officially called the "Upper Midwest"; Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska are also called the "Midwest" but are culturally and ecologically totally distinct. Iowa and Illinois are transition states.
That said, Texas is not Midwestern, it is Southwestern.
That said, Texas is not Midwestern, it is Southwestern.
Texas is big enough that it has several distinct cultural regions. Far east TX is very "southern", northern TX and especially the panhandle is part of the great plains, west TX is very desert southwest along with Arizona and New Mexico, South TX is tex-mex with an emphasis on the mex, and central TX is pretty much it's own thing with a strong German and Czech heritage.
It’s true, though as someone born and raised in Arizona, I thought it was odd when I first read something about Texas being in the Southwest. Growing up, I considered it The South, although I recall an old TV ad campaign for Texas touting “It’s like a whole other country!”
I'm a Minnesotan who went to college in Ohio and I definitely thought of it as an "East Coast school." My classmates from the actual East Coast thought I was insane.
Second. Although I’m a New Yorker and I made the grave mistake (I understand now) of saying that Pittsburgh is pretty much a Midwest city - in the context of how large PA is and how Philly and NYC are 100 miles apart. Several Chicago-adjacent people put me right. So I don’t know what counts, but yes, I consider Wisconsin to be Midwest, and I think I am on to something.
Technically PA is in the Mid-Atlantic region, but culturally there's not a whole lot of difference between western PA and Ohio.
I would say that about 80% of what I've seen as "midwestern things" completely apply to my experience growing up in western PA, and many are things my friends and family members in other regions have found odd or unfamiliar, so they aren't just universal American things. But that other 20% can be very different, and so can the accents and word choices.
After having lived there for a few years, I do now agree that rural Ohio is definitely NOT East Coast. The college town feels pretty similar to the Northeast (probably mostly because it draws A LOT of students from New England and New York), but the second you leave town, it's veeeeeery Rust Belt.
In general, I just think it's kinda silly to put much stock in these regional identities. Even within Minnesota, there's a huge difference in feel between the southwestern part of the state, which is all Friday Night Lights and soybean farms as far as the eye can see, and the Northeastern part of the state, which has economically never been good for much other than fur trapping, logging, mining, and now wilderness tourism.
Definitely depends on the region in Ohio. Cleveland is a lot more like a northeastern city than most other Midwest cities. Rural Ohio is either Appalachia or Midwestern. Cincy is in Kentucky, so that's in the south.
You could make an argument that it's midwestern though it's more like great lakes/mid Atlantic IMO. The core midwest is Iowa and any state that borders Iowa, the further you get from that core the harder it is to argue it's midwestern.
I grew up in the Rocky mountain states and when to college in NJ. Someone once asked me where I grew up and I just said "Out West" which in context usually means the western united states. The person (a grad student) looked at me in confusion before responding, "Ohio?"
We need to separate out upper and lower Midwest. Kansas and Michigan are just too far apart in so many ways to be the same region. The northeast would fit into the Midwest like 6 times. Minnesota to Omaha is like NYC to South Carolina, and the latter is three separate regions.
I used to live in eastern Midwest, now I’m in the western Midwest, and they’re totally different. There are like 4 different Midwest accents. It’s too big. They don’t make pierogis in KC and they don’t make BBQ in Dayton. Sure, there’s a German thread running through a lot of the Midwest, but we’re much more Scandinavian on the north west side, doncha kno.
Maybe you're right, there should be some kind of dividing line. The Midwest is super food based so here's my argument. You're part of the Midwest I'm familiar with if you make pierogis, Pączki, or Pasties.
I don't even know what big cultural foods they make in the other section of the Midwest you're talking about, but I think that should be the dividing line.
None of that over here. We’ve got hotdish, Chislic, wild rice. Going south into Nebraska, it gets a little more German, they have Runza, and lots of sausage in KC.
Kinda like how we divide towns into sections with names based on other countries, like Chinatown, etc. I propose we just append the name of the country our most popular foods are from onto the beginning. So like, my area would be the Polish Midwest because of both Pączki and Pierogies.
As a guy who grew up in the deep south and worked and lived all across the US Texas is part of the South but they aren't Southron, they are Texan. Very similar to how about half of Lousiana is part of the South but are not Southron, Cajun/Creole.
I put it down to similar reasons like the Lousiana has swamp French, Texas is what happens when you put Germans in the dry flat hot Climate of Texas. A similar process to the creation of Afrikaaners, but with Germans as the starting point.
The core cultural Southron areas are Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Florida North of Orlando.
I would also put in most of the Gulf Coast South of I10 and the Atlantic Coast as distinct cultural regions but not as strongly individuated as Texas nor Lousiana. The Gulf Coast being highly aligned to the Parrot Head pan Carribean sphere of influence.
West Virginia is firmly Appalachian as are frankly numerous arreas across those mountains reaching down into Alabama. Virginia used to be Southron i am told but has melded into the Eastern seaboard for the most part. Arkansas is part of the Midwest transition with the southern and Eastern half being firmly southron and the southerness fading out into Missouri
As a foreigner naturally clueless in such fine details, I usually approach the matter purely geographically - or alternatively, from where I hear the kinds of stories/incidents that are stereotypically associated with the Midwest of the US.
Therefore, it's really interesting to hear some insider insights into where the boundaries of these regions lie from a historical/cultural point of view.
Glad you enjoyed it! A lot of the cultural similarities and differences come down to who settled where and when.
For example the New Orleans accent sounds a LOT like a New York Accent because both had similar nationalities settle there in the late 1800s, lot of Italians.
Or one of the big regional differences is how alcohol is used and viewed. A lot of the south is evangelical protestant so dont like alcohol and have a lot of laws to restrict jt. The county is grew up in is still a dry county to this day. But areas with strong Catholic backgrounds usually Spanish, French, and Irish influence have a drinking culture. The Gulf Coast, Lousiana, and Appalachia. The Gulf Coast also celebrates Mardi Gras, a Carnival leading up to Fat Tuesday and Lent. Also in Texas Beer is a Very big thing, bunch of Bavarians settled there who would have guessed.
Also you get some modern differences. For example from Cape Canaveral down to Miami is basically an extension of New York while simultaneously being the Capitol of Latin America.
If you seceded from the Union, you're certainly southern. Out of politeness, I wouldn't say that to a Texan or Oklahoman's face. If you didn't secede and still had slaves, probably southern. Then it becomes just HOW MUCH slavery?
West Virginia had very few slaves and seceded from Virginia and returned to the union. But I'd call it southern-ish.
Delaware and, to a degree Maryland, had relatively fewer slaves and stayed in the union. Maryland even abolished slavery before the 13th amendment.
As someone who grew up in Texas, the Southwest. It fits with the Cowboy image, but it wasn't a western state. We liked to distance ourselves from the confederacy as if we were just bystanders to that whole civil war thing rather than a slave state. (I didn't even find out that the war with Mexico for independence was essentially about slavery until I was an adult.)
Yeah the whole Juneteenth holiday is derived from when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free - effectively ending slavery. (At least for non incarcerated people per the 13th Amendment)
This seems to me to be saying more about Texas being a bit full of it. Bystanders to the Civil war? Battle of Galveston anyone, also Sam Houston might have something to say about that. Also, the pretense that the whole Alamo thing wasn't about protecting slave owners is a pretty big part of the myth of Texas.
This is kind of what I was thinking, it’s the eastern most edge of the American Southwest. It definitely doesn’t fit with the south, nor the Midwest. Far more in common with New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
As someone who grew up in New Mexico, lived in Texas and married a Texas girl, and now lives in Arizona, only west Texas has anything in common with the rest of the Southwest. Central and east Texas are not southwestern
Yeah that’s what I was thinking too, but if we’re realistic Texas is so darn big it could be 2-3 states so trying to pigeonhole it into one description is impossible unless you just describe it as texas. California has the same issue, it’s got all the climates but everyone thinks it’s sunsets and beaches.
That’s Pretty accurate for sure. The Northern California is a little dubious but I guess you could chalk it up to the coast.Texas is literally 3 different zones it’s so massive. That was my experience too, I went from South, to Corpus Christi and then west and it was very different
Eastern Texas is the south, western Texas the southwest. It's a huge state, El Paso is closer to San Diego than it is to Louisiana. South Texas is kind of southwest but kostly it's own thing.
It very much depends on who you ask as to whether you get a yes for that question. Southerners, not Texans consider it the south. Most call it part of the Southwest
It really depends on the state. East Texas was heavily settled from the Deep South, and is pretty similar geographically. Central and northern Texas were more settled from the mid-south. The western state is obviously more Southwest. Blend that all together and you get Texas.
I'd say Dallas is more Great Plains than Southwest. And if you consider Kansas/Nebraska/Oklahoma as part of the Midwest, then Dallas is too. Although I personally think those states are their own thing compared to the midwest. By the time you get even with the panhandle though, then you're firmly in the Southwest.
The problem here is Missouri is a Midwest state in the south. All of it is southern, some of it is Midwest. Texas is the south. Wisconsin is Midwest north. This is confirmed when you live in Missouri then Wisconsin then visit Missouri one time. Everyone in Wisconsin refers to MO as “the south” and at first you think they’re crazy, then you visit and you’re like “oh god”.
Yeah I was just gonna say, Texas didn't fight a whole revolution against Mexico to keep slavery legal, followed by immediately joining the confederacy, only to be considered "not part of the south" by some yokel online
Texas is Texas. It's about half the size of all the other southern states combined and has way more cultural influences than strictly "southern" (most notably western).
Texas does not claim the south, and the south doesn't claim Texas.
There's definitely a southern character to the state, but it's really just its own thing.
I mean, US regions aren't really well named by their actual geographical location. That said, Texas is as southern as it gets and I bet any proud Texan would fight someone who says otherwise.
*Edit: To those saying Texas views itself as it's own thing. That's fair, I probably could have worded that better.
I’m from Texas, originally. I’ve also lived in Oklahoma, Missouri, and New Jersey. I don’t think most Texans consider it to be part of The South™️. It’s certainly southern, but not in the same way as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. As others have said, it’s a big state. East Texas has more of a South culture. North Central Texas is more midwestern, in many ways. And West Texas (not to be confused with West, Texas, which isn’t in West Texas) is clearly Southwestern.
I've lived in Moline, Illinois, Oklahoma City and now Dallas. I wouldn't call either Oklahoma or anywhere in Texas Midwest at all. In OKC and Dallas, my Midwestern accent is constantly teased about and I had to explain to my girlfriend what snow pants are.
Right, many Southerners don’t consider Texas “the South.” Only non-Texans and non-Southerners consider the whole of Texas the South. Each region within Texas is very distinct.
Yep, and the way the regions are officially classified has little to do with how we consider it. Although, I would’ve said “southwest” if you asked me (Alabama) to describe Texas’s region. Not that it isn’t Midwest, just not where my mind jumps.
Im from Texas, we dont consider ourselves as part of "The South" culturally but certainly would never identify as mid-western either. Texas is so big and has many different cultures its kind of its own thing.
Ive never lived in Texas and hate Texas's whole "we're special and superior and live in our own little world separate from the rest of the country we don't give a shit about" mentality, but Texas is definitely its own thing.
Maybe eastern Texas specifically, but the overall cultural imagery around Texas to most of the country is firmly Southwestern. Like they have major sports teams called the Cowboys and the Spurs lol
As a Californian I see Texas as its own thing the same way I see California as it's own thing, but they're similar things. Two states full of bullshit areas with nothing in them but 3 metro centers filled to the brim with selfish assholes that define the rest
I’d say we consider ourselves southern in the general sense, but we definitely wouldn’t lump ourselves in with Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, or Louisiana. We have more in common with Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee I think. Less Backwoods / Swamp southern and more Cowboy, Rancher southern.
In fact, I’ve heard more Texans describe themselves as “Western” than Southern. Not Midwestern. Just Western in the country sense. And by country, I mean country culture. Like the aesthetic, music, etc.
But even at that, Texas is definitely its own thing. The majority (like 80% or more) of Texans don’t even have the typical southern accent.
Deep South would be the Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and northern Florida. Other Southern States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia are all still in the "South" but culturally different than the Deep South too.
East Texas is definitely the South. You've got forests and swamps, humidity, and the legacy of large scale plantation agriculture. Louisiana does not border the Southwest.
Any single category for Texas is nonsensical. El Paso is closer to the Pacific and Beaumont is closer to the Atlantic than they are to each other.
East Texas is southern in a cultural sense. It's not "the south" in a regional identity sense. It's more connected to the rest of Texas than it is to the rest of the south.
Nah Texas isnt part of the south lol even Texans will tell you that. Their "southern" culture is a lot closer to like colorado cowboys then south carolina rednecks you know what I mean? That other guy who said 'Texas is its own thing' is 100% right
Wisconsinites are midwesterners deep in their soul and are proud of it.
Texans identify as Texan. They dont object to being part of the south. They understand the geography. But so much of the culture was built by things unique to Texas.
The distance thing is worth noting. As a Texan, why would I identify as a southerner when my family is in Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio? Thats a Texas family, not a southern one. As a chicagoan, my family is in Chicago, Milwaukee, st Louis, Indianapolis. Thats a Midwestern family
I live in one of the biggest cities in Texas and not only do I rarely hear southern accents, we're not culturally similar at all. Texas is divided into regions, with only the east having a culture id consider truly southern. The north is weird too, but I don't know what they'd be described as.
So many people think Midwest is a region measurable by a compass and knowledge of the Geographical center of the US, and not a historical term for a largely definable area of the country.
Yup. Americans are mental. California and New Mexico aren’t in the south even though they’re clearly in the south. The region they call the mid west is in the north-north-east of their country.
“I’ve just glanced at a map but never read anything or participated in any discussion about how this term is colloquially used. You’re wrong I’m right.”
Maybe there's a combo where they could combine parts of each. We could take Mid-West, but it's not really mid so remove that. But it's really south. Let's call it... the Southwest! By golly, I think we've got it!
Texas was part of what was called "The Solid South" which was post confederacy and held power until the 1960's civil rights movement.
Geographically southern, politically Southern, seceded at the start of the civil war, became part of the solid south after the civil war to maintain southern power and to this day, fights against civil rights on a national level.
Texas is a southern state in location, history and politics.
There is no “mid-north” and Texas isn’t mid-west.
NOTHING about Texas is mid-west.
They’re pompous jackasses who think they’re better than everyone else and have no desire to cooperate with the rest of the country. That’s not the mid-western values I grew up with…
It’s land stolen from Mexico by a bunch of white supremacists who seceded from both Mexico and the US in order to keep slavery legal.
Slavery was never legal in the mid-west.
Don’t you dare besmirch my beloved Mid-west by lumping Texas in with us!
parts are apart of the southern region, parts are apart of the southwest region, parts are apart of the plains region, and parts are uniquely Texas region
Yeah, Wisconsin is definitely Midwest. Texas is southwest, though.
Midwest is like Ohio to Wiscon. Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa are also included. When we get to Colorado/Wyoming, it gets tricky. I guess we could call that the old west.
I’m so confused by my own sense of geography now. You can’t get anymore Midwest than WI. Unless you’re Ohio, I guess.
Texas is literally on the southern border. That said, I’ve seen it repeated online all over the place that southern states consider Texas its own thing. Which is probably due to all the times Texas unsuccessfully tried to become its own country? Like this is how southerners say ‘fuck you’ to Texans?
Texas is part of the southwest. It isn't really Southern per se but it's more Southern than other places. Texas really has its own culture and for the most part isn't really too connected to traditional Southern Culture which is mostly limited to the southeast.
No one would ever consider Texas part of the Midwest though. Honestly the Midwest is a whole as a descriptor is pretty poor because they group too many states together and so most of the time they wind up at least splitting the Midwest into two different sections. East North Central and West North Central. And while there is some argument about which states are included in the Midwest and which are not Texas is never on that list. About the furthest south that anyone ever claims is Midwest is Oklahoma even if it's not really. There are people that claim Montana is part of the Midwest when most people will consider it a purely Western State.
The first thing I saw in the comments is one person saying that Texas is in the west, one saying it’s southwest, and one saying it’s south. Are two of them confidently incorrect? Are all three? Since the nation isn’t officially divided into those categories, there’s no real way to answer it. And Texas is so big that you could make a decent argument for all of those groups.
They're all incorrect. Texas is Texas. And the reason that is, is because yes, South, West, Southwest are all a part of that one state. It doesn't belong to any of them. It's just its own thing.
No.
Texas is NOT midwest.
Wisconsin is solidly midwest
Think old school big ten as your midwest footprint.
I will argue Missouri is not midwest (and have with my wife who lived there a while). They're a weird border state, like Kentucky, which slides south.
The stack from Dakotas down is plains states.
Texas is lumped into southwest, if anything. Not deep south, not really plains.
OK is same boat but I think gets lumped with TX just cuz their hatred of each other binds them.
I get that these terms come from a time before states like Utah and Colorado were a thing, but man we really need to re-label because the south excludes southern states and the mid-west is mid-east
Moved to Nebraska from Wisconsin. Some crazy weather happened on day (rain, sunshine, heavy winds, then snow) I said the weather is nuts today. My cousin said welcome to the Midwest. I replied, thanks I've been living here since before you were born.
Started a years long argument about weather or not WI is Midwest state. Proof doesn't bother her opinion.
To be fair I don't think there is any sort of official definition. People called The Confederate States of America "the south" because it was to the south, and Texas was officially part of that. Saying "the south" is relevant today because their politics is still often racist and deferential to the rich.
"Mid-west" is a lot more ambiguous. I think the name is simply because it was the middle area between the west coast and the part of the country with 90% of the people (at the time they invented the name, excluding native Americans because people at the time excluded them). Which is the same as saying "fly over country" without referencing air planes.
Most of Texas is Southwest. And becomes the straight up South as you get closer to Louisiana.
I have family in Wisconsin, it’s in an area that’s hard to categorize imo. That awkward area like right in the middle of the PNW and the Northeastern states. It’s closer to the eastern side too so I’ve always just called it Northern U.S. along with Michigan and the Dakotas
Second most south state in the US after Florida. (From what I can tell on the map)
Not a Southern State.
...uhm.
EDIT: You don't have to keep telling me there's cultural differences or whatever...You made your point after the first five comments. I'm just pointing out the idea of naming a region "Southern" and then not including the states that are about as far south as it gets is kinda silly.
I'm not American. I don't actually care that much. Quit spamming my inbox to tell me what 5 others already said.
Maryland and Delaware are southern states. Washington DC is a southern city.
Texas isn't as old as the other southern states. Its culture and foods are closer to the Southwest. Texmex is a food style that dominates the Southwest including California because the Southwest has a massive Hispanic population.
Its not so objective and there are not true correct answers, there are tons of ways to accurately draw the lines based upon tons of different metrics. Although calling it the Midwest is 100% wrong, calling it the south isnt neccisarily 100% right.
In the 19th century, basically anything west of the Appalachians was basically the frontier and considered West or Midwest. You'd think a university called Northwestern U. would be in Washington or Oregon, but it was founded in the mid-19th century in Illinois.
Yeah the Midwest in general is geographically pretty east. Chicago is 1000 miles closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific and only just barely in the central time zone, and it’s a whole state west of Ohio’s western border. It’s because of the history of how the US was colonized.
I generally think of the Midwest as starting with Michigan and Ohio and ending at the Mississippi, but I can get on board with including states bordering the Mississippi.
I'm pretty sure the Mississippi is one of the big regional dividers. I can think of a couple of reasons why the Mississippi marks where the country is divided, but it would just be speculation.
When people say "Southern state", do they really mean geography though? I feel like it's mostly a cultural and historical region.
Arizona, New Mexico, and a good chunk of California are all further south than North Carolina, but they're not part of the south.
As a European I'd associate Texas with the West or Southwest before I'd associate it with the South. Southern States are like Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, that kind of deal. The big slave states, I guess.
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This is clearly a person that is looking at a map and then using the literal definition of the word mid-west, but is naive to how the regions are officially classified.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_the_United_States
I think there's also some confusion with the term 'Mid-Western' and the Western genre going on.
Mid-western states are clearly the ones where the most "mid" westerns are produced.
So that probably means California.
Hey I take offense to that! You're right though (I'm from California)
are they counting mexico in their consideration of whats mid and south? because thats the only way you think texas is not south
"South" is a cultural identifier, not a geographic term. We don't say that San Diego is in the South even though it's not far from the border. And Texas' eastern part is definitely in the South, but the rest of the state is definitely not.
Wow there are so many more regions than I thought
I distinctly recall variations in the classifications in school textbooks. I'm from Kansas and it's usually considered midwest, but I saw at least one textbook that counted it as part of the south. It's entirely possible this person experienced something similar, especially if they're from Texas; I wouldn't put it past the textbook authors there to downplay Texas's involvement with the Confederacy.
I remember Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma being grouped together as "Southwest" when we learned about regions of the USA in school.
Wow, I am genuinely shocked by this. I used to live in Oklahoma and have always considered Oklahoma and Kansas to be part of the Midwest. I’d probably lump Texas in there as well. It definitely does not feel like it should be part of the “South,” which I consider to be states like Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky (basically, what they classify as the South Atlantic and East South Central).
Basically, I always thought the Midwest was the Dust Bowl states, and the South was primarily the southern states pre-Louisiana Purchase, plus Louisiana itself.
Wisconsin is probably the second state I think of when I think of the Midwest
Is the first Texas?
Nah, Texas is third. First is obviously Iowa.
You may be on to something
s/to//
As a midwesterner of many decades, Iowa, Michigan, North Dakota, and Minnesota are kind of the platonic ideal of the Midwest. As you get further from those they start to take on additional characteristics of the surrounding areas.
Where i live, Wisconsin is referred to as " upper Midwest. See? Even my spellchecker capitalized it.
As a guy from Kansas: … yeeeeeah.
LMAO
lol, no. Was gonna say Illinois
This is the only answer 🤓
[deleted]
While we Wisconsinites do describe the region as the Midwest it's more accurately/ officially called the "Upper Midwest"; Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska are also called the "Midwest" but are culturally and ecologically totally distinct. Iowa and Illinois are transition states.
That said, Texas is not Midwestern, it is Southwestern.
Tbh Texas is just Texas
Yeah, what other state complains about immigration when shootings are more common
Probably a lot of them
Texas is big enough that it has several distinct cultural regions. Far east TX is very "southern", northern TX and especially the panhandle is part of the great plains, west TX is very desert southwest along with Arizona and New Mexico, South TX is tex-mex with an emphasis on the mex, and central TX is pretty much it's own thing with a strong German and Czech heritage.
This is accurate, but also would not recommend going to Texas and telling them they’re “not southern”.
Yup. That's pretty accurate.
It’s true, though as someone born and raised in Arizona, I thought it was odd when I first read something about Texas being in the Southwest. Growing up, I considered it The South, although I recall an old TV ad campaign for Texas touting “It’s like a whole other country!”
Missouri is borderline. Nebraska and Kansas are plains states.
Eastern Texas is southern, the rest is Southwest
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska
... ohio?
Probably Illinois for me, but mostly because it has Chicago which is like THE Midwestern city to me.
I live in Southern Illinois. After moving here from the deep south, I can tell you that the entire state is thoroughly Midwestern.
My FIL pronounces the word fork "fark"
I got told I pronounce garlic 'gahlic' by my texan friend, said it was the most midwest I had ever sounded
Southern IL has an actual accent, the rest really doesn’t very much (have lived in every midwestern state, now in Iowa)
imo Ohio is the least Midwest Midwestern state (from someone from Minnesota)
I'm a Minnesotan who went to college in Ohio and I definitely thought of it as an "East Coast school." My classmates from the actual East Coast thought I was insane.
Yeah, uhh, East Coaster here, please don't lump Ohio in with us, having Florida is bad enough.
Second. Although I’m a New Yorker and I made the grave mistake (I understand now) of saying that Pittsburgh is pretty much a Midwest city - in the context of how large PA is and how Philly and NYC are 100 miles apart. Several Chicago-adjacent people put me right. So I don’t know what counts, but yes, I consider Wisconsin to be Midwest, and I think I am on to something.
Technically PA is in the Mid-Atlantic region, but culturally there's not a whole lot of difference between western PA and Ohio.
I would say that about 80% of what I've seen as "midwestern things" completely apply to my experience growing up in western PA, and many are things my friends and family members in other regions have found odd or unfamiliar, so they aren't just universal American things. But that other 20% can be very different, and so can the accents and word choices.
After having lived there for a few years, I do now agree that rural Ohio is definitely NOT East Coast. The college town feels pretty similar to the Northeast (probably mostly because it draws A LOT of students from New England and New York), but the second you leave town, it's veeeeeery Rust Belt.
In general, I just think it's kinda silly to put much stock in these regional identities. Even within Minnesota, there's a huge difference in feel between the southwestern part of the state, which is all Friday Night Lights and soybean farms as far as the eye can see, and the Northeastern part of the state, which has economically never been good for much other than fur trapping, logging, mining, and now wilderness tourism.
Yeah, we’ll accept Ohio on a technicality, but we’re not happy about it
Fuck that, not until they tell JD to fuck off. They can go join Pennsyltucky.
As someone who has lived in Ohio, and now lives in PA, accurate.
I've also lived in Indiana and am originally from Tennessee, so no region loyalty here either xD
Believe me, we tell JD to fuck off extensively, at length. So far it hasn't helped 😡
Definitely depends on the region in Ohio. Cleveland is a lot more like a northeastern city than most other Midwest cities. Rural Ohio is either Appalachia or Midwestern. Cincy is in Kentucky, so that's in the south.
Bagagwa
Merv has a Reddit account?
ChaaAAArrrllzzzz!
In one week I've gone to zero knowledge of Merv to...absolute ubiquity
You could make an argument that it's midwestern though it's more like great lakes/mid Atlantic IMO. The core midwest is Iowa and any state that borders Iowa, the further you get from that core the harder it is to argue it's midwestern.
I grew up in the Rocky mountain states and when to college in NJ. Someone once asked me where I grew up and I just said "Out West" which in context usually means the western united states. The person (a grad student) looked at me in confusion before responding, "Ohio?"
I always think the Midwest starts at Ohio and then moves left
We need to separate out upper and lower Midwest. Kansas and Michigan are just too far apart in so many ways to be the same region. The northeast would fit into the Midwest like 6 times. Minnesota to Omaha is like NYC to South Carolina, and the latter is three separate regions.
I thought Kansas, NE, OK were considered the Great Plains but I’m old and that may not be correct anymore?
I live in Kansas, that’s what I say. We’re not the Midwest, we’re the Great Plains.
See, I would agree with you geographically, but culturally I completely disagree.
I used to live in eastern Midwest, now I’m in the western Midwest, and they’re totally different. There are like 4 different Midwest accents. It’s too big. They don’t make pierogis in KC and they don’t make BBQ in Dayton. Sure, there’s a German thread running through a lot of the Midwest, but we’re much more Scandinavian on the north west side, doncha kno.
Maybe you're right, there should be some kind of dividing line. The Midwest is super food based so here's my argument. You're part of the Midwest I'm familiar with if you make pierogis, Pączki, or Pasties.
I don't even know what big cultural foods they make in the other section of the Midwest you're talking about, but I think that should be the dividing line.
None of that over here. We’ve got hotdish, Chislic, wild rice. Going south into Nebraska, it gets a little more German, they have Runza, and lots of sausage in KC.
Kinda like how we divide towns into sections with names based on other countries, like Chinatown, etc. I propose we just append the name of the country our most popular foods are from onto the beginning. So like, my area would be the Polish Midwest because of both Pączki and Pierogies.
Seconded. From The Hotdish Midwest.
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Bro do NOT tell them that
ETA: also the census
This is some r/asablackman stuff
As a guy who grew up in the deep south and worked and lived all across the US Texas is part of the South but they aren't Southron, they are Texan. Very similar to how about half of Lousiana is part of the South but are not Southron, Cajun/Creole.
I put it down to similar reasons like the Lousiana has swamp French, Texas is what happens when you put Germans in the dry flat hot Climate of Texas. A similar process to the creation of Afrikaaners, but with Germans as the starting point.
The core cultural Southron areas are Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Florida North of Orlando.
I would also put in most of the Gulf Coast South of I10 and the Atlantic Coast as distinct cultural regions but not as strongly individuated as Texas nor Lousiana. The Gulf Coast being highly aligned to the Parrot Head pan Carribean sphere of influence.
West Virginia is firmly Appalachian as are frankly numerous arreas across those mountains reaching down into Alabama. Virginia used to be Southron i am told but has melded into the Eastern seaboard for the most part. Arkansas is part of the Midwest transition with the southern and Eastern half being firmly southron and the southerness fading out into Missouri
As a foreigner naturally clueless in such fine details, I usually approach the matter purely geographically - or alternatively, from where I hear the kinds of stories/incidents that are stereotypically associated with the Midwest of the US.
Therefore, it's really interesting to hear some insider insights into where the boundaries of these regions lie from a historical/cultural point of view.
Glad you enjoyed it! A lot of the cultural similarities and differences come down to who settled where and when.
For example the New Orleans accent sounds a LOT like a New York Accent because both had similar nationalities settle there in the late 1800s, lot of Italians.
Or one of the big regional differences is how alcohol is used and viewed. A lot of the south is evangelical protestant so dont like alcohol and have a lot of laws to restrict jt. The county is grew up in is still a dry county to this day. But areas with strong Catholic backgrounds usually Spanish, French, and Irish influence have a drinking culture. The Gulf Coast, Lousiana, and Appalachia. The Gulf Coast also celebrates Mardi Gras, a Carnival leading up to Fat Tuesday and Lent. Also in Texas Beer is a Very big thing, bunch of Bavarians settled there who would have guessed.
Also you get some modern differences. For example from Cape Canaveral down to Miami is basically an extension of New York while simultaneously being the Capitol of Latin America.
I dont know what Texas is, but its definitely not considered "the South" by southerners...
Its just... Texas.
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I have always thought the same. The other regions of the country are more vaguely defined in my head.
Mine is similar.
If you seceded from the Union, you're certainly southern. Out of politeness, I wouldn't say that to a Texan or Oklahoman's face. If you didn't secede and still had slaves, probably southern. Then it becomes just HOW MUCH slavery?
West Virginia had very few slaves and seceded from Virginia and returned to the union. But I'd call it southern-ish.
Delaware and, to a degree Maryland, had relatively fewer slaves and stayed in the union. Maryland even abolished slavery before the 13th amendment.
I was here for this. If you seceded, you might also be any of a number of other things, but you're always part of The South.
As someone who grew up in Texas, the Southwest. It fits with the Cowboy image, but it wasn't a western state. We liked to distance ourselves from the confederacy as if we were just bystanders to that whole civil war thing rather than a slave state. (I didn't even find out that the war with Mexico for independence was essentially about slavery until I was an adult.)
Yeah the whole Juneteenth holiday is derived from when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free - effectively ending slavery. (At least for non incarcerated people per the 13th Amendment)
This seems to me to be saying more about Texas being a bit full of it. Bystanders to the Civil war? Battle of Galveston anyone, also Sam Houston might have something to say about that. Also, the pretense that the whole Alamo thing wasn't about protecting slave owners is a pretty big part of the myth of Texas.
Even Sam Houston was against the Confederacy, not enough to fight against it, just retire.
This is kind of what I was thinking, it’s the eastern most edge of the American Southwest. It definitely doesn’t fit with the south, nor the Midwest. Far more in common with New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
As someone who grew up in New Mexico, lived in Texas and married a Texas girl, and now lives in Arizona, only west Texas has anything in common with the rest of the Southwest. Central and east Texas are not southwestern
Yeah that’s what I was thinking too, but if we’re realistic Texas is so darn big it could be 2-3 states so trying to pigeonhole it into one description is impossible unless you just describe it as texas. California has the same issue, it’s got all the climates but everyone thinks it’s sunsets and beaches.
I went looking and found the map I think is probably the best representation of the regions of the US here
That’s Pretty accurate for sure. The Northern California is a little dubious but I guess you could chalk it up to the coast.Texas is literally 3 different zones it’s so massive. That was my experience too, I went from South, to Corpus Christi and then west and it was very different
This is ridiculous, Texas is absolutely the south wtf else would it be?
Like this shouldn't even be a conversation lol
Eastern Texas is the south, western Texas the southwest. It's a huge state, El Paso is closer to San Diego than it is to Louisiana. South Texas is kind of southwest but kostly it's own thing.
It very much depends on who you ask as to whether you get a yes for that question. Southerners, not Texans consider it the south. Most call it part of the Southwest
Fought for the confederacy = the south
We fought 2 WARS to keep slavery alive.
It really depends on the state. East Texas was heavily settled from the Deep South, and is pretty similar geographically. Central and northern Texas were more settled from the mid-south. The western state is obviously more Southwest. Blend that all together and you get Texas.
We're more South West. You know, any state associated with cowboys, gunfights and mustaches.
Southerner here (well really Appalachia - it's a unique region too).
I think a lot of east Texas is Southern, but at some point it becomes more "Southwest" and in the realm of states like Arizona/New Mexico
I'd say the line goes through Texas. Dallas is Southwest. Houston is South.
I'd say Dallas is more Great Plains than Southwest. And if you consider Kansas/Nebraska/Oklahoma as part of the Midwest, then Dallas is too. Although I personally think those states are their own thing compared to the midwest. By the time you get even with the panhandle though, then you're firmly in the Southwest.
Keep talkin' that shit and cheeseheads are gonna beat your ass, man.
The problem here is Missouri is a Midwest state in the south. All of it is southern, some of it is Midwest. Texas is the south. Wisconsin is Midwest north. This is confirmed when you live in Missouri then Wisconsin then visit Missouri one time. Everyone in Wisconsin refers to MO as “the south” and at first you think they’re crazy, then you visit and you’re like “oh god”.
Texas isn't the south. Texas is Texas.
I've lived in Texas all my life, I've never once heard anyone call Texas Midwest.
You are right Texas is Texas, it's where the south meets the west meets Mexico. It's all and none of those things.
From an actual Midwesterner (Illinois) no the fuck Texas is not the Midwest lol. Go ahead and ask some Texans though if you’re confused.
Who doesn't consider Arkansas part of the South?
People from Wisconsin consider themselves midwest, both in terms of physical and human geography
During the American slavery era, Texas had the largest slave port in the country. Because of that, I’ve always thought of it being a southern state.
Any thoughts?
Yeah I was just gonna say, Texas didn't fight a whole revolution against Mexico to keep slavery legal, followed by immediately joining the confederacy, only to be considered "not part of the south" by some yokel online
Texas is Texas. It's about half the size of all the other southern states combined and has way more cultural influences than strictly "southern" (most notably western).
Texas does not claim the south, and the south doesn't claim Texas.
There's definitely a southern character to the state, but it's really just its own thing.
I mean, US regions aren't really well named by their actual geographical location. That said, Texas is as southern as it gets and I bet any proud Texan would fight someone who says otherwise.
*Edit: To those saying Texas views itself as it's own thing. That's fair, I probably could have worded that better.
I’m from Texas, originally. I’ve also lived in Oklahoma, Missouri, and New Jersey. I don’t think most Texans consider it to be part of The South™️. It’s certainly southern, but not in the same way as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. As others have said, it’s a big state. East Texas has more of a South culture. North Central Texas is more midwestern, in many ways. And West Texas (not to be confused with West, Texas, which isn’t in West Texas) is clearly Southwestern.
I've lived in Moline, Illinois, Oklahoma City and now Dallas. I wouldn't call either Oklahoma or anywhere in Texas Midwest at all. In OKC and Dallas, my Midwestern accent is constantly teased about and I had to explain to my girlfriend what snow pants are.
Right, many Southerners don’t consider Texas “the South.” Only non-Texans and non-Southerners consider the whole of Texas the South. Each region within Texas is very distinct.
Yep, and the way the regions are officially classified has little to do with how we consider it. Although, I would’ve said “southwest” if you asked me (Alabama) to describe Texas’s region. Not that it isn’t Midwest, just not where my mind jumps.
Im from Texas, we dont consider ourselves as part of "The South" culturally but certainly would never identify as mid-western either. Texas is so big and has many different cultures its kind of its own thing.
"Texas is its own thing" is probably the most texan sentence there is
My thoughts as well. Texas may think it's it's own thing, but the rest of the country sees it as super Southern
Ive never lived in Texas and hate Texas's whole "we're special and superior and live in our own little world separate from the rest of the country we don't give a shit about" mentality, but Texas is definitely its own thing.
Maybe eastern Texas specifically, but the overall cultural imagery around Texas to most of the country is firmly Southwestern. Like they have major sports teams called the Cowboys and the Spurs lol
and Tex-Mex food
As a Californian I see Texas as its own thing the same way I see California as it's own thing, but they're similar things. Two states full of bullshit areas with nothing in them but 3 metro centers filled to the brim with selfish assholes that define the rest
I'm from the Appalachian South. Most of us tend to view parts of Texas as "southern" but not all of it. Texas really is just 'it's own thing.'
It's like Alaska in some ways. You could say Alaska is "the north", but it's much more it's own thing.
Nope. I live in Georgia. Texas is not the south, Texas is Texas.
No doubt, if you don't live in the south or in Texas, you probably see Texas as the south.
In my mind Texas is where the "Southwest" begins.
East Texas is Deep South, RGV/West Texas is South West, Houston/Austin/Dallas are all their own cultures that incorporate a bit of everything.
I’d say we consider ourselves southern in the general sense, but we definitely wouldn’t lump ourselves in with Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, or Louisiana. We have more in common with Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee I think. Less Backwoods / Swamp southern and more Cowboy, Rancher southern.
In fact, I’ve heard more Texans describe themselves as “Western” than Southern. Not Midwestern. Just Western in the country sense. And by country, I mean country culture. Like the aesthetic, music, etc.
But even at that, Texas is definitely its own thing. The majority (like 80% or more) of Texans don’t even have the typical southern accent.
"The South" has some splits within it as well.
Deep South would be the Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and northern Florida. Other Southern States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia are all still in the "South" but culturally different than the Deep South too.
Facts. If you consider Texas "The South" you dont live in Texas or the South.
THIS.
No one in the South thinks Texas is the south. Nearly no one in Texas thinks of Texas as the South. Texas is the Southwest.
East Texas is definitely the South. You've got forests and swamps, humidity, and the legacy of large scale plantation agriculture. Louisiana does not border the Southwest.
Any single category for Texas is nonsensical. El Paso is closer to the Pacific and Beaumont is closer to the Atlantic than they are to each other.
Texas isn't one or the other, it's several.
East Texas is southern in a cultural sense. It's not "the south" in a regional identity sense. It's more connected to the rest of Texas than it is to the rest of the south.
People in the "deep south" dont even consider Virginia part of the South.
Nah Texas isnt part of the south lol even Texans will tell you that. Their "southern" culture is a lot closer to like colorado cowboys then south carolina rednecks you know what I mean? That other guy who said 'Texas is its own thing' is 100% right
Texas fought two wars to maintain slavery within its borders. It's Southern.
As someone from IL I use the following criteria:
Did your state fight for the Confederacy? If yes - you're in the 'South'.
Its more about culture then geography.
Ive lived 15 years in both states.
Wisconsinites are midwesterners deep in their soul and are proud of it.
Texans identify as Texan. They dont object to being part of the south. They understand the geography. But so much of the culture was built by things unique to Texas.
The distance thing is worth noting. As a Texan, why would I identify as a southerner when my family is in Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio? Thats a Texas family, not a southern one. As a chicagoan, my family is in Chicago, Milwaukee, st Louis, Indianapolis. Thats a Midwestern family
"The Midwest will rise again!" doesn't have the same ring to it.
I live in one of the biggest cities in Texas and not only do I rarely hear southern accents, we're not culturally similar at all. Texas is divided into regions, with only the east having a culture id consider truly southern. The north is weird too, but I don't know what they'd be described as.
I'd describe Dallas as the "traffic region". Seriously though, Dallas is weird because hardly anyone here seems to be from here.
I'm from there. North Texas is North Texas, not the South, Midwest, Southwest, or anything else.
So many people think Midwest is a region measurable by a compass and knowledge of the Geographical center of the US, and not a historical term for a largely definable area of the country.
We all know it's measured in casserole
As a native Midwesterner, until Texans can drive in snow they can't be Midwestern state.
Really flexing that southern US education system.
*midwest
Canadian here. They're all Yankees, IMO.
Elbows up.
Yup. Americans are mental. California and New Mexico aren’t in the south even though they’re clearly in the south. The region they call the mid west is in the north-north-east of their country.
It's based on where everything was at at the time it got "locked in" and now it's basically the vibes.
“I’ve just glanced at a map but never read anything or participated in any discussion about how this term is colloquially used. You’re wrong I’m right.”
regions in the USA are more about culture than actual geographical location.
According to the official U.S. census bureau, Texas is not considered a part of the Midwest and is considered a Southern State.
Anyone who considers Arkansas “Midwest” is an idiot
Texas usually gets thrown into one of 3 regional categories:
Maybe there's a combo where they could combine parts of each. We could take Mid-West, but it's not really mid so remove that. But it's really south. Let's call it... the Southwest! By golly, I think we've got it!
People and their geography, man...
Texas was part of what was called "The Solid South" which was post confederacy and held power until the 1960's civil rights movement.
Geographically southern, politically Southern, seceded at the start of the civil war, became part of the solid south after the civil war to maintain southern power and to this day, fights against civil rights on a national level.
Texas is a southern state in location, history and politics.
There is no “mid-north” and Texas isn’t mid-west. NOTHING about Texas is mid-west. They’re pompous jackasses who think they’re better than everyone else and have no desire to cooperate with the rest of the country. That’s not the mid-western values I grew up with…
It’s land stolen from Mexico by a bunch of white supremacists who seceded from both Mexico and the US in order to keep slavery legal. Slavery was never legal in the mid-west. Don’t you dare besmirch my beloved Mid-west by lumping Texas in with us!
Yeah, the Midwest was built the old-fashioned way - by pushing out and/or slaughtering the natives!
Are you not allowed to study geography and look at maps there?
listen bub, wisconsin IS the midwest. everyone else is just along for the ride
Texas, our southern-most contiguous state, is not the south
Texas is not polite enough to be in the mid-West and bless their dear hearts if they think they are Southern.
Texas is Texas…..
parts are apart of the southern region, parts are apart of the southwest region, parts are apart of the plains region, and parts are uniquely Texas region
Yeah, Wisconsin is definitely Midwest. Texas is southwest, though.
Midwest is like Ohio to Wiscon. Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa are also included. When we get to Colorado/Wyoming, it gets tricky. I guess we could call that the old west.
To be fair, the Midwest is not a very accurate name anymore but calling Texas a part of anything but the Southwest is insane.
I’m so confused by my own sense of geography now. You can’t get anymore Midwest than WI. Unless you’re Ohio, I guess.
Texas is literally on the southern border. That said, I’ve seen it repeated online all over the place that southern states consider Texas its own thing. Which is probably due to all the times Texas unsuccessfully tried to become its own country? Like this is how southerners say ‘fuck you’ to Texans?
Any southerners want to chime in?
Texas is part of the southwest. It isn't really Southern per se but it's more Southern than other places. Texas really has its own culture and for the most part isn't really too connected to traditional Southern Culture which is mostly limited to the southeast.
No one would ever consider Texas part of the Midwest though. Honestly the Midwest is a whole as a descriptor is pretty poor because they group too many states together and so most of the time they wind up at least splitting the Midwest into two different sections. East North Central and West North Central. And while there is some argument about which states are included in the Midwest and which are not Texas is never on that list. About the furthest south that anyone ever claims is Midwest is Oklahoma even if it's not really. There are people that claim Montana is part of the Midwest when most people will consider it a purely Western State.
The first thing I saw in the comments is one person saying that Texas is in the west, one saying it’s southwest, and one saying it’s south. Are two of them confidently incorrect? Are all three? Since the nation isn’t officially divided into those categories, there’s no real way to answer it. And Texas is so big that you could make a decent argument for all of those groups.
That said, it’s definitely not midwestern.
They're all incorrect. Texas is Texas. And the reason that is, is because yes, South, West, Southwest are all a part of that one state. It doesn't belong to any of them. It's just its own thing.
Wisconsinite here. I’ve heard some wild takes on what other states are in the Midwest but Texas is a new one
No. Texas is NOT midwest. Wisconsin is solidly midwest Think old school big ten as your midwest footprint.
I will argue Missouri is not midwest (and have with my wife who lived there a while). They're a weird border state, like Kentucky, which slides south.
The stack from Dakotas down is plains states.
Texas is lumped into southwest, if anything. Not deep south, not really plains. OK is same boat but I think gets lumped with TX just cuz their hatred of each other binds them.
✋ Born & raised in WI, lived in TX - Wisconsin is the Upper Midwest, Texas is Texas.
That is neither a compliment nor insult to TX, just true. 🤷♀️
I get that these terms come from a time before states like Utah and Colorado were a thing, but man we really need to re-label because the south excludes southern states and the mid-west is mid-east
Moved to Nebraska from Wisconsin. Some crazy weather happened on day (rain, sunshine, heavy winds, then snow) I said the weather is nuts today. My cousin said welcome to the Midwest. I replied, thanks I've been living here since before you were born.
Started a years long argument about weather or not WI is Midwest state. Proof doesn't bother her opinion.
IMO every state bordering lake Michigan has to be Midwest.
To be fair I don't think there is any sort of official definition. People called The Confederate States of America "the south" because it was to the south, and Texas was officially part of that. Saying "the south" is relevant today because their politics is still often racist and deferential to the rich.
"Mid-west" is a lot more ambiguous. I think the name is simply because it was the middle area between the west coast and the part of the country with 90% of the people (at the time they invented the name, excluding native Americans because people at the time excluded them). Which is the same as saying "fly over country" without referencing air planes.
Most of Texas is Southwest. And becomes the straight up South as you get closer to Louisiana.
I have family in Wisconsin, it’s in an area that’s hard to categorize imo. That awkward area like right in the middle of the PNW and the Northeastern states. It’s closer to the eastern side too so I’ve always just called it Northern U.S. along with Michigan and the Dakotas
Arkansas? Not the south? Hahahah I dont think this person is from the south
How is Arkansas not a southern state?
Texass is in the south!
The must be from MS.
gues what the north central (northern counterpart of south central) was renamed to in the year literally 1984
Texas is southwest. And in what world is Arkansas a midwest state?
As an Arkansan it weirds me out when I see people say this. Like, in what way is that midwest? Lol
Second most south state in the US after Florida. (From what I can tell on the map)
Not a Southern State.
...uhm.
EDIT: You don't have to keep telling me there's cultural differences or whatever...You made your point after the first five comments. I'm just pointing out the idea of naming a region "Southern" and then not including the states that are about as far south as it gets is kinda silly.
I'm not American. I don't actually care that much. Quit spamming my inbox to tell me what 5 others already said.
Hawaii erasure
r/mapsWithoutHawaii
Being in the southern US and being a Southern State aren’t the same.
Yep, no one would call Arizona part of the south. That said, Texas is definitely a southern state.
What part of Texas? It’s split between the south and the southwest imo.
You have to start with their foundation.
Maryland and Delaware are southern states. Washington DC is a southern city.
Texas isn't as old as the other southern states. Its culture and foods are closer to the Southwest. Texmex is a food style that dominates the Southwest including California because the Southwest has a massive Hispanic population.
Going by that logic, you would also be saying that he's right that Wisconsin is the north state and not the Midwest
HerHere's the map of the regions. Wisconsin is Midwest. Texas is Southern.
A map of the regions not the map of the regions.
here's a different map with five regions. which places texas in the southwest instead of the traditional south.
Its not so objective and there are not true correct answers, there are tons of ways to accurately draw the lines based upon tons of different metrics. Although calling it the Midwest is 100% wrong, calling it the south isnt neccisarily 100% right.
I always thought it was weird that Ohio is considered midwest. Culturally it fits, but geographically it's pretty east
In the 19th century, basically anything west of the Appalachians was basically the frontier and considered West or Midwest. You'd think a university called Northwestern U. would be in Washington or Oregon, but it was founded in the mid-19th century in Illinois.
Yeah the Midwest in general is geographically pretty east. Chicago is 1000 miles closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific and only just barely in the central time zone, and it’s a whole state west of Ohio’s western border. It’s because of the history of how the US was colonized.
I generally think of the Midwest as starting with Michigan and Ohio and ending at the Mississippi, but I can get on board with including states bordering the Mississippi.
I'm pretty sure the Mississippi is one of the big regional dividers. I can think of a couple of reasons why the Mississippi marks where the country is divided, but it would just be speculation.
As a bred and born Texan, what the actual fuck? I gotta get out of this state soon, this kind of stupidity might be contagious.
Texas is about the most south a state can get. Wtf are they smoking?
Hawaii would like a word
When people say "Southern state", do they really mean geography though? I feel like it's mostly a cultural and historical region.
Arizona, New Mexico, and a good chunk of California are all further south than North Carolina, but they're not part of the south.
As a European I'd associate Texas with the West or Southwest before I'd associate it with the South. Southern States are like Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, that kind of deal. The big slave states, I guess.
Obviously, Wisconsin is the Northwest.
Arkansas is very much a Southern state.