# Quick US Geography Opinion ( pad your post count ) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428 "2000-07-13T13:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tymp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Tymp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tymp)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/21 "2000-07-13T15:28:42Z")
Ahh. That’s better. The world is set right again. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/22 "2000-07-13T15:29:36Z")
I should charge for my services. Regards, MR ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/23 "2000-07-13T16:09:57Z")
I’m in SF. There’s California, Nevada, the west coast, the midwest, the south, the south-west and the east-coast and the other stuff we don’t think about California and Nevada are pretty self explanatory, the west coast is Washington and Oregon, the midwest is Chicago, the south is Alabama, the south-west is Texas and Arizona and New Mexico, the east-coast is New York, and everything else is the other stuff. MD is the other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/24 "2000-07-13T16:13:05Z")
Maryland was a slaveholding state, IIRC, with whom the United States had to cut some major deals in order to keep Washington from being situated entirely in enemy territory. So politically, it’s the South. Of course, its border with Pennsylvania _is_ the Mason-Dixon line, generally regarded as the dividing line between North and South. So geographically, it’s in the South. Economically, I don’t know. If it was a slaveholding state then it depended more on agriculture and cash crops than industry for its income, which is a mark of the South. Just a WAG here. So from where I’m sitting (DC right now, but live in Arlington), I’d say Maryland is the Thule of Dixie. But then again anything south of Connecticut to me might as well be Dixie, since I was born in Vermont and grew up in New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![greatsatan666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@greatsatan666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatsatan666)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/25 "2000-07-13T16:14:35Z")
Maryland is part of the a) East Coast (specifically, Mid-Atlantic seaboard) b) South A native Washingtonian living in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/26 "2000-07-13T16:19:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Jayron said: > Rural Maryland is definately southern, but Baltimore and Annapolis are “northern” cities in their political leanings. Oh, and Western Maryland is neither north nor south, it’s Appalachia. I have to agree with this one. I live in Baltimore, just for the record. And it IS Mid-Atlantic…it’s in the middle, between Maine and Florida! ---
**Author:** ![Edwardina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Edwardina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edwardina)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/27 "2000-07-13T16:32:20Z")
Mid-Atlantic, or Northeast, whichever floats your boat, but never South. I’m from California. ---
**Author:** ![tradesilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tradesilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tradesilicon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/28 "2000-07-13T16:38:12Z")
Maryland is East of the Rockies ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/29 "2000-07-13T16:38:13Z")
Missy2U: > [@](#): > > \*\*I’m from Chicago. > I’m also an idiot. 😃 \*\* HAHAHAHA!! That was cute. 😃 I think that’s an oxymoron, though. 😉 (my s.o. is from chitown :)) What does Falcon have to say about this? (Falc’s reply will probably already be there by the time I hit “submit” 🙂 ) Maryland - begrudgingly, Southern state (it’s sort of in limbo to me. not really north, not really south. I think we should just flood it and make it a big marsh. Then we won’t have to worry about it.) Raleigh, but originally from Richmond, VA. talk about hangin’ some Union soldiers… Montfort: > [@](#): > > I like knowing there’s a river separating me from a state where they still proudly bear signs stating that “Union soldiers were hanged here in 186\_”. That’s really important to me when I decided to live in Maryland rather than Virginia. I think that, since the river is touching both states, there is electricity running through the water, so you still have Virginia’s cooties. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/30 "2000-07-13T17:33:43Z")
The question is more of a cultural than a geographical one. Poll the Marylanders! ---
**Author:** ![mikehardware](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mikehardware](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikehardware)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/31 "2000-07-13T18:29:58Z")
Maryland was a border state during the Civil War, and is south of the Mason-Dixon line, so it’s technically South. However, after living in Laurel, MD for 3 years, I can tell you that shoveling two feet of snow a few times every winter definitely makes it a Northern state in my opinion. Now loving it in Alabama, where the school system sometimes shuts down if snow is forecast. ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/32 "2000-07-13T18:35:52Z")
TheThill > [@](#): > > \*\*Poll the Marylanders! \*\* Yeah, baby!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/33 "2000-07-13T18:42:00Z")
I’m a Coloradoan, and I always considered it part of the North. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/34 "2000-07-13T18:49:13Z")
Speaking of that late unpleasantness called the “Civil War” I’d have to say it’s a Yankee State. Geographically, it may be considered Mid-Atlantic. Of Course, being in Mississippi, I have to consider Virginia a yankee state these days. Perhaps a difference between “Deep” South, and Southern should be made? ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/35 "2000-07-13T18:50:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheThill \* > \*\*The question is more of a cultural than a geographical one. Poll the Marylanders! \*\* And this Marylander says we ain’t in the south. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Myndephuquer_ > **I think that, since the river is touching both states, there is electricity running through the water, so you still have Virginia’s cooties.** Maybe, but at least I don’t have to pay property taxes. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/36 "2000-07-13T19:11:53Z")
Well I’ve lived in MD all my life and we are a mixture of both. the only real slave parts of the state was the south east, east of DC. yes there where slaves in other parts of the state, but not many. MD is really a part of both even though we did side with the North in the Civil war. we’ve got so many CW battlefields around here it’s not even funny. IIRC the potomac river belongs entirely to MD as does DC. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/37 "2000-07-13T19:26:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Edward The Head \* > \*\*IIRC the potomac river belongs entirely to MD as does DC. \*\* Well, DC belongs to the Federal government, but the land it comprises is 100% from Maryland. The 31 square miles that were donated by Virginia were returned in the 19th Century. But, the Potomac, on the other hand, is half-and-half Maryland and Virginia, I believe. The parts of the river that flow alongside the District belong entirely to DC, but the 50/50 split exists for the Potomac alongside MD and VA. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/38 "2000-07-13T19:31:39Z")
oops I was being sarcastic about the DC part and ment to put it in another sentence. but the potomac IS all part of MD as VA wanted to do some work in the potomac and MD didn’t want them to because it MD owns the water. sorry I don’t remember any of the particulars now though. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/39 "2000-07-13T21:19:02Z")
I’m in California, so all I care about is that Maryland is somewhere east of Reno. More seriously, I guess Maryland is kind of southernish, but I just can’t wait 'til people put nationalism behind them, much less the North/South regionalism. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428/40 "2000-07-13T22:50:42Z")
I vote for mid-Atlantic, although if the choice is limited to either north and south, I’d say more north than south. In particular, the western part of Maryland has far more in common with Pennsylvania than with the south. I currently live in North Carolina, but I grew up just across the Potomac River from Maryland in Northern Virginia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-us-geography-opinion-pad-your-post-count/25428.md?page=3)