Slight Hijack:
This all brings up an interesting question. There are obviously a number of regions called “the tri-state area” by the locals. Why is the term so popular? Are there any regions referred to as “bi-state” or “two-state” areas? How about “quad-state” or “four-state” areas"? If not, why not? Is it due to the vagaries of language? Map geometry? Human Psychology? I know that people use “Delmarva” for Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. This is probably becaue it’s more succinct than “the tri-state area”. Then there’s “four corners” which is the spot where Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico all meet at a single point. Do the locals refer to the region around that point as “the four corners region”?
When I lived in New Mexico it was sometimes referred to as the four corners area or some such. It is very sparsely populated so there is not a lot of call to talk about it.
As far as bi state area versus tri state area. Bi stte areas would tend to run the length of the border making it a less specific that tri state area.
I’ve heard of the 48 states called Contigual, or something like that
To real New Yorkers, “tri-state” refers to Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 
In behalf of Zette and other wonderful folks who live in the Champlain Valley, the Capital Area, the Southern Tier, the North Country, Tug Hill, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the Niagara Frontier, the Genesee Valley, the Finger Lakes Area, along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and so on, and don’t assume that the rest of the country can pinpoint them by some nebulous reference to such a reason, I’m going to have to ask that you amend that to “…of downstate New Yorkers.”
And, of course, Manhattan, you’re aware that everybody is supposed to understand a reference to Uptown, Downtown, and Midtown as referring to your namesake borough, right?
Four corners: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah. Don’t know if there are places where four states come together in the USA.
Four corners: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah. Don’t know if there are other places where four states come together in the USA
Hey, Muffin!
Hey, Muffin!
Four corners, eh?
Four corners, eh?
Just whacked a guy for repeating a post seven times…
Just whacked a guy for repeating a post seven times…
What’s with you?
What’s with you?
In the first post I forgot the word “other”, implying that I did not know of any four corners, so I corrected it in the second post.
How old was Jason Two-two?
There was(is?) a car dealership in Atlon,IL that was called Tri-State Nissan-Mazda. The problem with this is that Alton,IL is a suburb of St.Louis,MO. Ok, there is 2 states. The next closest state would be Kentucky or Iowa, niether of which is very close.
[sub]Looks like the dealership is called Auto Centers Nissan Of Alton now and is no longer a Mazda dealership.[/sub]
There is a section of geography nearby called the DelMarVa Peninsula. Technically this qualifies as a tri-state area, but I’m glad to see we refuse to call it as such.
BTW, that rhymes with “tell-martha”, stress on “mar”.
The immediate area served by Tri-State University of Angola, Indiana.
As davidm pointed out, you don’t hear about “bi-state” areas. Yet there is considerable numerical variation among aggregations of municipalities:
Twin Cities: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota is the most famous USA example
Tri-Cities: Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, Washington state
Quad-Cities: Moline, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; Davenport, Iowa; Bettendorf, Iowa
This area along the Mississippi River was earlier known as the Tri-Cities (Moline-Rock Island-Davenport). Later, East Moline’s growth inspired the change to the “Quad-Cities” designation. When Bettendorf’s population surpassed East Moline’s, some boosters argued for the adoption of “Quint-Cities”, but the Quad-Squad" prevailed. See
There’s a town near the Florida/Alabama border named Florala, so I guess there’s a “Florala area”.
“Are there any regions referred to as “bi-state” or “two-state” areas?”
Metropolitan St. Louis, which includes East St. Louis and other communities in Illinois. The St. Louis metro transit agency is called Bi-State, anyhow. http://bi-state.org/index.asp
We’re missing an important one – the area surrounding Shreveport-Bossier City: the Arklatex, sometimes called Texarkana.
I’m glad to hear someone else knows Florala, AL. Alabama also has Georgiana on the border with Georgia, though that’s not quite the same.
There’s also a city in Nevada near the Nevada-California-Arizona junction called CalNevAri.
I’ve spent tons of time in South Jersey. I’ve only heard “The Delaware Valley Region” for this little nook. I’ve only ever heard “tri-state” for NY, NJ, and CT.
Tripler
And I thought “Twin Cities” was consfusing - why not just call it “one big town”?
But where were you in South Jersey? I think “Delaware Valley” refers to a bigger region then “tri-state”. “Tri-state” would probably mean a smaller region surrounding the point where the three borders meet.
In general, “tri-state area” refers more to the area around the borders of the three states, I’d warrant. The phrase is used in areas where there is much border crossing between states. A classic is NY/NJ/CT. I suspect that the term is only used in areas around the borders of the three states; I don’t you’d hear “TSA” in upstate New York, for example.