# Artificial regions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164 "2020-03-24T10:15:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/41 "2020-03-29T20:59:01Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Ecotopia (the coastal redwood region) somewhat encompassing the State of Jefferson (NorCal and SoOre). Never heard of that, but I hear about Cascadia (W. Wash\W. Oregon\BC) all the time. [It’s got its own flag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_Cascadia.svg/1200px-Flag_of_Cascadia.svg.png), a couple of businesses are named that, and the local MLS teams compete for the Cascadia Cup. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/42 "2020-03-29T22:27:42Z")
Silicon Valley. Although it has some correspondence with the Santa Clara Valley, it’s not the same thing. Some cities not in the Santa Clara Valley are included, while some cities in the valley are not. The boundary is based more on the demographics of the businesses there. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/43 "2020-03-30T01:51:42Z")
Hmm. [Chicagoland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_metropolitan_area)? It’s how advertisers refer to the area surrounding Chicago. It’s boundaries are nebulous but generally refer to a multiple county and municipality region that all look to Chicago for leadership/economic center of gravity. What about the [Lowcountry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_Lowcountry) here in South Carolina. It’s the area along the Atlantic Coast that encompasses several counties are cities ranging from Georgetown in the north (sometimes Myrtle Beach but not often) all the way down through Charleston, Hilton Head and Bluffton. If it could it would include Savannah. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/44 "2020-03-30T12:43:13Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Silicon Valley. Although it has some correspondence with the Santa Clara Valley, it’s not the same thing. Some cities not in the Santa Clara Valley are included, while some cities in the valley are not. The boundary is based more on the demographics of the businesses there. This reminds me of the silly attempts to latch onto the “silicon” prefix. E.g., Around Portland is the “Silicon Forest” of tech companies. There’s a whole list [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_technology_centers#Places_with_%22Silicon%22_names). Note: there are apparently 4 “Silicon Prairies”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/45 "2020-04-01T12:25:30Z")
Here, “The Cape” is an ill-defined region. It’s larger than Cape Town, or the Cape Penisula, but doesn’t encompass all of the Western Cape province, either. Sometimes it’s used in the sense of “The coastal bits of the WC province”, especially by upcountry tourists, but other times also encompasses inland areas too (“the Cape winelands”, for instance). It’s all very confusing. > [@Baker](#): > > - > > I’m going to conquer the entire tri-state area!\* _I’ll get you, Perry The Platypus!_ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/46 "2020-04-01T18:54:26Z")
The area around here used to be The Valley of the Sun but in the past few decades that seems to have been replaced by Phoenix Metro. Yawn. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/47 "2020-04-01T19:03:54Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “Golden Horseshoe” is a term applied to the stretch of cities around Toronto and abutting Lake Ontario, more or less. People also talk about “Cottage Country” which generally refers to the area around Lake Muskoka. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/48 "2020-04-01T19:22:23Z")
duplicate ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/49 "2020-04-08T18:41:29Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > - > > I’m going to conquer the entire tri-state area!\* “Tri-state” to me suggests New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. But in general I think it’s used to refer to the areas closest to NYC itself. When the term Tri-State is used, do people usually mean to include, say, Camden (NJ), Buffalo (NY) and Hartford? When I lived in Charlotte. NC, the term “Metrolina” was used fairly regularly; I think it tended to include the suburbs on the other side of the SC border. And I do not actually live in the Department of Motor Vehicles - the term DMV has (in the past few years) become somewhat common for DC, Maryland and Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164/50 "2020-04-09T05:21:45Z")
**Alaska** - the Pan American Highway’s highest stretch in Guatemala. **Fredlandia** - that region containing Fred Meyers superstores.\* **Under the Smogberry Trees** - greater Los Angeles. **American Heartland** - the last-settled states. **Bible Belt** - a wide swathe of states. **Rust Belt** - obsolete states. - Sam Walton copied Fred Meyers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artificial-regions/850164.md?page=2)