Ohio is not “midwest”. Michigan is not “midwest”. Midwest is an archaic term that was only relevant when 90% of the American population lived on the Eastern Seaboard.
Take a look at the fucking map once in a while. I live in Minneapolis. We straddle the Mississippi river at the top center of our nation’s landmass. If anything, we are “north central”, not middle fucking west. Ohio is, to most Americans, EAST. Hell, to the people of Texas and California, is may as well be called the NORTHEAST.
“Midwest” is a general term to describe the region of the continental United States that is flat, yellow-brown, hot in the summer and cold in the winter, routinely flooded once or twice a decade, and in which all permanent homes have a basement shelter where you go when the tornado sirens go off. It also has bland Mexican food, boiled vegetables, deep-fried Chinese takeout, and a drive-in with soft serve ice cream (or frozen custard in Wisconsin) in every small town. People in the Midwest get all excited about cars going round and round in a circle really fast, but don’t understand all the excitement about football (which they call “soccer”). The TV programming in the Midwest is one hour earlier so they can go to bed quicker. People in the Midwest look at suspicion at any state that has a city named “Portland”, and are morally convinced that their Springfield is the one true Springfield. There are a lot of Civil War reenactments in the Midwest in which neither side wins, but the Indians always lose, and they still name their sports after terrorists and vanished native nations. In the Midwest, the gas is cheaper, the corn is taller, and the cows have the vote. The Midwest is full of pleasant, clean, generic mid-sized cities that are named confusingly after a potpourri of Romans, Greeks, Germans, Poles, Indians, and cities in other states. Escape From New York was filmed in the Midwest. Sailing in the Midwest consists of towing your Sunfish out to the local reservoir and going around and around in circles until the wind dies, then skulling your way back to the boat ramp. People in the Midwest live in fear of some very odd things, such as (but not limited to) hummus, electric vehicles, sharks, New York-style pizza, Eastern Europeans, Donald Trump, arugula, Red Army troops hiding in salt mines under Lake Michigan, dark chocolate, Japanese tourists, and bug-eyed aliens mutilating their livestock.
You may naysay me, but sir, I have lived in the Midwest. I know of what I speak. And as flat and uninteresting as it is, I’d rather live there than in the South. Especially Florida. That place is messed up.
hummus - good sir, I live in Southeast Michigan. We have hummus. If it’s from the Middle East, we have it here.
electric vehicles - yes
sharks - no? There are no sharks in the Great Lakes
New York-style pizza - I know not of what you speak.
Eastern Europeans - I think the fine people of Chicago would disagree with you.
Donald Trump - who doesn’t fear Donald Trump?
arugula - who’s scared of a leafy green?
Red Army troops under Lake Michigan - those are groundhogs. Easy to make that mistake.
dark chocolate - a life without is a sad thing.
Japanese tourists - truly, a trial we all much endure.
bug-eyed aliens mutilating our livestock - I only learned about the danger of cattle mutes here on the SDMB. I now keep my eyes peeled, constantly aware of the danger. As should we all.
I was given to understand that Pittsburgh is in the “Midwest”, which is obviously further east than Ohio. Didn’t make sense to me when I heard it, but neither does National League division alignment. I mean, the Braves in the East, and Pittsburgh in the Central? What up wit’ dat?
BTW, you must have a GREAT life for this to rate as a pit topic. Can I be you? I’d be a good Chimera, Chimera. I would uphold the good Chimera name.
Okay, long shot but I’m taking it. Many years ago, someone started a thread about something that perplexed him, and I don’t think anyone else understood either. Or if they did, I don’t remember it.
He and his wife had recently relocated to a place that was regarded as Midwestern, but I don’t remember where. At Christmas, he’d given token gifts to a neighbor couple and their two kids. The kids’ gifts were generic toys, and were returned with the explanation that the kids were not allowed to have toys. The guy’s wife, who was apparently from that general area, sighed profoundly and said, “It’s a midwestern thing, and try as you might, you’ll never understand.”
That’s certainly the only time I’ve heard of kids not having toys as a “midwestern thing.” Anyone else?
Only because it’s being lumped in with the rest of Pennsylvania in the linked-to categorization (the U.S. census bureau’s), which treats each state as a whole. But there’s definitely call to treat Pittsburgh as more akin in some ways with Ohio than, say, Philadelphia. It’s a point of nexus, but it’s not entirely unreasonable to consider it as right up against the Midwest.
But, anyway, more to the point, even the linked-to U.S. census bureau classification treats Ohio and Michigan as part of the Midwest.
Huh. My father’s side of the family is from Pittsburgh and its environs ( Export and Greensburg mostly ) and I can’t say I’ve ever considered it midwestern. It was always distinctly eastern to me. And I lived in Michigan for a time, which I did consider the Midwest.
I’m from Pittsburgh myself, and I’ve always been iffy with the idea of Pittsburgh as the Midwest. I guess I see the point of the Wiki article I linked to, as many things in life have no clearly defined borders. I suppose it all depends on what you use to base your “Midwest” definition on: historical, cultural, or as in the OP, geographical references. There are likely still other ways to define it.
