# What I hate about the Midwest. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599 "2007-04-25T15:36:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/41 "2007-04-25T19:05:55Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] I think Texas is simply too big to make this kind of generalization about. Now Houston, where I live, is definitely Southern. When I moved here in 2005, I expected big cowboy hats and belt buckles, and long white cars with bull horns on the hood. Turns out the only cowboy hats I really see around here are on Mexicans. šŸ™‚ Houston has a lot more in common with Louisiana than it does with Lubbock or El Paso. [/QUOTE] But southern culture isnā€™t all cowboy hats and big belt buckles, itā€™s more to do with manners and food and the like is one way to put it, though not that simple either. All the Texans I have spoken to (from different parts of Texas) refer to themselves as southerners. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/42 "2007-04-25T19:09:21Z")
Yeah, well, thereā€™s people in Maryland who think they live in the South too. Texas doesnā€™t have much in common with the Deep South - I suppose itā€™s most correct to say itā€™s a whole nother country. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/43 "2007-04-25T19:11:11Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Texas is the South. Tell that to them folks in El Paso. > [@bannerrefugee](#): > > The cows stink. Not so. What you may mean is ā€œThe feedlots stink.ā€ I agree, nobody should come to the Midwest. Itā€™s one big red flyover place, nowhere to land. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/44 "2007-04-25T19:12:38Z")
Sounds like **bannerrefugee** is feeling nostalgic for the big city. Sounds like he could use a nice song about driving in town ā€¦ \*What I like about you, you drive just right Yelling like an asshole, flip me the bird tonight. Youā€™re honking in my ear, Travelling a half foot from my rear, 'cause thatā€™s true Thatā€™s what I like about you What I like about you, you really know how to drive When youā€™re uptown, downtown, you donā€™t take no jive! Youā€™re honking in my ear, Travelling a half foot from my rear, 'cause thatā€™s true Thatā€™s what I like about you Thatā€™s what I like about you Thatā€™s what I like about you ā€¦\* Now then, doesnā€™t that want to make you move right on back to New York City? šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/45 "2007-04-25T19:18:54Z")
What I have come to realize, as a small(ish) town midwesterner ā€“ particularly from the past two elections ā€“ is that the people who complain most about the midwest are most often the people we would like the least to live here anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/46 "2007-04-25T19:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] But southern culture isnā€™t all cowboy hats and big belt buckles, itā€™s more to do with manners and food and the like is one way to put it, though not that simple either. All the Texans I have spoken to (from different parts of Texas) refer to themselves as southerners. [/QUOTE] I think he meant he was expecting _Texas_ culture to be all big hats and belt buckles (itā€™s not, FWIW), not Southern culture. And no true Texan would refer to themselves as a ā€œSouthernerā€, they is Texans šŸ˜‰ Says Duke, who was once described by an English gent (who happened to live in Houston) as an ā€œunintelligible redneckā€. ---
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/47 "2007-04-25T19:23:12Z")
A guyā€™s job transfers him to a new town. His first day there he goes to a local bar. He asks the bartender, ā€œHey, what are people like around here?ā€ The bartender says, ā€œI donā€™t know, what were they like back home?ā€ ā€œThey were all assholes,ā€ says the guy. ā€œWell,ā€ said the bartender, ā€œTheyā€™re probably all assholes here, too.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/48 "2007-04-25T19:23:44Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] I think he meant he was expecting _Texas_ culture to be all big hats and belt buckles (itā€™s not, FWIW), not Southern culture. And no true Texan would refer to themselves as a ā€œSouthernerā€, they is Texans šŸ˜‰ Says Duke, who was once described by an English gent (who happened to live in Houston) as an ā€œunintelligible redneckā€. [/QUOTE] Actually, I meant that I thought of Texas as Western and was surprised to find that Houston, at least, is Southern. El Paso, I imagine, would be another matter entirely. I find it hard to imagine someone who lives within sniffing distance of New Mexico self-identifying as a Southerner. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/49 "2007-04-25T19:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] I think he meant he was expecting _Texas_ culture to be all big hats and belt buckles (itā€™s not, FWIW), not Southern culture. And no true Texan would refer to themselves as a ā€œSouthernerā€, they is Texans šŸ˜‰ Says Duke, who was once described by an English gent (who happened to live in Houston) as an ā€œunintelligible redneckā€. [/QUOTE] Well, that too of course. Went without saying. But I had more than one say ā€œIā€™m southern, and in the South we do it _this_ way.ā€ to describe cultural differences. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/50 "2007-04-25T19:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Actually, I meant that I thought of Texas as Western and was surprised to find that Houston, at least, is Southern. El Paso, I imagine, would be another matter entirely. I find it hard to imagine someone who lives within sniffing distance of New Mexico self-identifying as a Southerner. [/QUOTE] Yep, East Texas is what Iā€™d call closest to ā€œSouthernā€ in Texas. ā€œUrban Cowboyā€ was filmed at Gilleyā€™s in Pasadena (Houston area), so lots of people imagine Houston to be like that I guess. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/51 "2007-04-25T19:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] I think he meant he was expecting _Texas_ culture to be all big hats and belt buckles (itā€™s not, FWIW), not Southern culture. And no true Texan would refer to themselves as a ā€œSouthernerā€, they is Texans šŸ˜‰ Says Duke, who was once described by an English gent (who happened to live in Houston) as an ā€œunintelligible redneckā€. [/QUOTE] My step dad is from Houston and he certainly would call himself a Texan even though he has lived in SC for like 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/52 "2007-04-25T19:36:46Z")
[QUOTE=AHoosierMama] So are you incarcerated? Move then. Is it just me or does anyone else consider Texas the south - not the midwest? [/QUOTE] I consider Texas to be the southwest. Itā€™s more like New Mexico and Arizona than it is like Louisiana or Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/53 "2007-04-25T19:38:34Z")
Yes, Texas (in my brain) is Western, along with New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and everything to the west of those save Idaho, Washington and Oregon, which are The Northwest. But California isnā€™t Western. California isā€¦California. Tennessee is, oddly enough, also Western. I believe itā€™s connected through one of them space-time wormhole thingies. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/54 "2007-04-25T19:43:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Texas is the South. [/QUOTE] Texas is Texas. The South is next door. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/55 "2007-04-25T19:45:14Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Well, that too of course. Went without saying. But I had more than one say ā€œIā€™m southern, and in the South we do it _this_ way.ā€ to describe cultural differences. šŸ˜‰ [/QUOTE] I grew up in a tourist town. A lot of the tourist would come down to Myrtle Beach and lecture us on how they did things in NJ. It was very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/56 "2007-04-25T19:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I consider Texas to be the southwest. Itā€™s more like New Mexico and Arizona than it is like Louisiana or Alabama. [/QUOTE] See? This is what I thought before I moved here. Turns out, this part of TX is a _lot_ like Louisiana - especially since 2005, when apparently 1/3 of New Orleansā€™s population showed up on out doorstep. I thought Texas would be dry, dusty and cowboy. Houston is hot, humid and Cajun. Itā€™s the birthplace of zydeco, for hellā€™s sake. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/57 "2007-04-25T19:52:12Z")
I thought the OP was talking about South Dakota until he mentioned the atomic bomb thing. Iā€™ve lived in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami by way of big cities; Iā€™d go back to small town South Dakota in a heartbeat if my ex would only vaporize. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/58 "2007-04-25T19:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=bannerrefugee] I grew up in a tourist town. A lot of the tourist would come down to Myrtle Beach and lecture us on how they did things in NJ. It was very annoying. [/QUOTE] It wasnā€™t that they were expecting me to adopt their ways of doing things, more we were comparing notes is all. Not a big deal really, and I think we each came away with alternate ways of doing things ā€œjust for gigglesā€. ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/59 "2007-04-25T20:28:58Z")
How can the southernmost state in the union (aside from maybe a tiny portion of Florida) bordering Mexico not be South? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599/60 "2007-04-25T20:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=AHoosierMama] How can the southernmost state in the union (aside from maybe a tiny portion of Florida) bordering Mexico not be South? [/QUOTE] Because ā€œSouthā€ isnā€™t about geography, but about culture. How can the southern end of Indiana, a state which touches the Northern border of the country, be South? 'Cause it is, thatā€™s how. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-hate-about-the-midwest/401599.md?page=4)