# Geography is apparently a lost art, sorry, skill
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 1, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118 "2026-03-01T19:43:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/101 "2026-03-03T22:56:16Z")
Just look at longitude. 100 degrees pretty much splits the country. So ‘midwest’ would be between 90 and 110 degrees.
East, less than 90 degrees, west more than 110 degrees.
It’s simple.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/102 "2026-03-03T23:07:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> No, Colorado isn’t Midwest; it’s West.
Okay, now that this is (not) settled, explain how the **Midwest** is in the USA, but the **Mideast** is a whole hemisphere away, in Asia.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/103 "2026-03-03T23:09:58Z")
We also have a Far East… Where is Far West?
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/104 "2026-03-03T23:13:39Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Where is Far West?
Buffalo Wild Wings.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/105 "2026-03-03T23:15:35Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> Buffalo Wild Wings.
Their jerk wings are awesome, I can live with that.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/106 "2026-03-03T23:27:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Drains into the Gulf of Mexico or Great Lakes - mid;
Just add [Hudson Bay](https://ftp.maps.canada.ca/pub/nrcan_rncan/raster/atlas/eng/various_divers/north_america_cec_watersheds.jpg) to that (roughly the northern 1/3 of Minnesota, northeastern half of North Dakota, and a sliver of South Dakota and Montana) and we’re golden.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/107 "2026-03-03T23:32:23Z")
Huh. Never noticed that.
For such a flat area, the Great Lakes region sure has a lot of watersheds.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/108 "2026-03-03T23:40:03Z")
Yeah, the only reason I know that is I once read about the Red River, being one of the few north-flowing rivers in North America, causing problems during the spring melt - evidently, when conditions are right, the southern, warmer part of the drainage (the higher part) can start to melt before the northern area, so the water gets backed-up behind the ice, and floods.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/109 "2026-03-04T04:49:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> In my dialect (Cleveland with strong western PA influences), a “creek” and a “crick” both exist, but refer to slightly different things. A “crick” is small enough that you can step over it. A “creek”, you might be able to jump over, with a running start, or cross on stepping stones.
I’m from the east side of Cleveland, my mother has strong western PA influences, and I never heard that in my life. For reference, the waterway in question was Doan Brook just north of the Cultural Gardens.
I grew up code-switching. At home, my college-educated mother never spoke anything but standard educated English (with a few Pennsylvanian dialectal expressions learned from her mother). Outside, I learned the local vernacular of the other kids, but with that one exception, we always said _creek_. It may be that the reach of “crick” that far north is spotty.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/110 "2026-03-04T12:52:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> So, pour a glass of water on the ground:
>
> Drains into the Atlantic - east;
> Drains into the Gulf of Mexico or Great Lakes - mid;
> Drains into the Pacific or Great Basin - west?
Where do we put the [Great Divide Basin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divide_Basin) and other anomolies?
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/111 "2026-03-04T13:02:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Drains into the Atlantic - east;
> Drains into the Gulf of Mexico or Great Lakes - mid;
But the Great Lakes (naturally) drain into the Atlantic, no?
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/112 "2026-03-04T13:17:52Z")
True, but as I noted above, that’s an annoying geographic anomaly.
Besides, if we can consider the Gulf a body of water separate from the Atlantic, why not the lakes, too? It’s all arbitrary in the end.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/113 "2026-03-04T13:54:58Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> Just look at longitude. 100 degrees pretty much splits the country. So ‘midwest’ would be between 90 and 110 degrees.
But that, again runs into sociohistorically/socioeconomically/sociocultural issues, longitude 100 was traditionally the marker for the “West” in the sense of the drier lands that could not broadly sustain high density farming.
Fight the good fight, but ISTM any attempt at geolocational prescriptivist redefining of “Midwest” that puts parts of Texas or Montana or Mississippi in it is doomed IMO.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/114 "2026-03-04T13:55:55Z")
I could imagine favoring a version of your suggestion, but acknowledge the Great Lakes’ drainage to the Atlantic, and replace West/Midwest/East with Pacific/Mississippian/Atlantic.
Still leaves the question of what to do with a state that straddles a divide - like Colorado.
Strikes me as curious that anyone would advocate for CO to be Midwestern. They have mountains on their license plates, for crying out loud, and one of their pro teams is the Rockies. 😉
WRT TN, instead of East I would have East and SE, divided at the Mason Dixon line. Then I would somehow divide SW and West. Somewhere in the middle of that would be the MW.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/115 "2026-03-04T13:59:25Z")
Maryland would be southeast? Puh-leeze, MD is Mid-Atlantic!
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/116 "2026-03-04T13:59:27Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Then I would somehow divide SW and West.
SW should be easy, have Adams/Onís take over from Mason/Dixon. Used to be Mexico? You’re Southwest. Note that STILL messes up Colorado.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/117 "2026-03-04T14:03:05Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> WRT TN, instead of East I would have East and SE, divided at the Mason Dixon line.
The South only exists in the east. The western south isn’t South, it’s Southwest. I suspect the South is mostly defined by BBQ. Maybe slavery, but mostly BBQ. /s
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/118 "2026-03-04T14:03:08Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Still leaves the question of what to do with a state that straddles a divide - like Colorado.
For the sake of convenience, let’s just say that any state that features a divide, shall be counted as a state on the oceanic side of the divide. That means that Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico are all Western states, while Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont are all Eastern states.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/119 "2026-03-04T14:03:55Z")
Never mind, corrected on edit.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-is-apparently-a-lost-art-sorry-skill/1028118/120 "2026-03-04T14:05:46Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> the South is mostly defined by BBQ
When you’re right, you’re right.
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