# What's a 'Panhandle town' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035 "2003-03-09T04:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bender)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/1 "2003-03-09T04:14:01Z")
From this CNN link about the recent Jet crash in Florida [http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/03/08/jet.crash.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/03/08/jet.crash.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > The plane hit two houses in this _Panhandle town_ outside of Eglin Air Force Base Any clues on what a panhandle town is ??? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/2 "2003-03-09T04:17:32Z")
If you take a look at Florida, you’ll see that it’s a penninsula that sticks down into the ocean, and then, in the western part of the state, there’s this long stretch of coast stretching west. The western part of Florida is called the Florida Panhandle, because it looks like a pan handle. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/3 "2003-03-09T04:29:11Z")
Oklahoma and Idaho have similar panhandles. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/4 "2003-03-09T04:30:33Z")
As **Captain Amazing** has pointed out, it is geographic rather than descriptive. Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho each have sections that extend out in a narrow “handle” as if the rest of the state was a cooking utensil that could be grasped by the narrow section. I believe (although I am to tired to look it up, right now) that the first use of “pan handle” was in reference to the section of Oklahoma that extends out over Texas. Oklahoma actually looks vaguely like a deep dish pan with a handle. Once the term became generally understood, it was then applied to the other three states’ narrow extensions. I have never heard the phrase applied to the section of West Virginia wedging up between Ohio and Pennsylvania. I have heard it applied to the section of Alaska where Juneau is found, but I do not know whether or not that is common. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/5 "2003-03-09T04:36:56Z")
**Nebraska** also has a panhandle. **tomndebb** – apparently West Virginia has an [Eastern Panhandle](http://www.wvexplorer.com/Regions/Eastern-Panhandle.asp). It looks more like a frog’s leg to me. ---
**Author:** ![bender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bender)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/6 "2003-03-09T04:42:46Z")
Cheers team - figured CNN wouldn’t use a derogatory term ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/7 "2003-03-09T04:42:48Z")
So what’s the Texas panhandle I occasionally hear about? Is it the part of Texas that is close to the Oklohoma panhandle? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/8 "2003-03-09T05:11:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sigene \* > \*\*So what’s the Texas panhandle I occasionally hear about? Is it the part of Texas that is close to the Oklohoma panhandle? \*\* Yep. It includes such places as Amarillo, Dalhart, Texline, Texico, Texoma, Turkey and Plainview. To name but a few. TV ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/9 "2003-03-09T05:23:22Z")
I am from West Virginia and I used to live in the Northern Panhandle. Aka, the Upper Ohio Valley ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/10 "2003-03-09T08:29:55Z")
Right, West Virginia has not one but two panhandles. When I was living in Pittsburgh, the term “the WV panhandle” was understood to mean the much closer northern one. Wonder if people in Maryland and Virginia use it to mean the eastern panhandle? Once or twice I’ve heard a weatherman use the term “Pennsylvania panhandle” to describe the bit of PA that sticks up to touch Lake Erie, but Pennsylvanians themselves seem to call it the “chimney corner” or just Erie County when they refer to it at all. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/11 "2003-03-09T14:22:36Z")
Actually, the original usages of **panhandle** in the US were to the two odd-shaped parts of **Virginia** , present day **West Virginia**. Before the Civil War, there was just a bigger Virginia. And, in a Congressional speech, the speaker referred to the _Eastern and Western_ panhandle of Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/12 "2003-03-09T15:01:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bender \* > \*\*From this CNN link about the recent Jet crash in Florida > > [http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/03/08/jet.crash.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/03/08/jet.crash.ap/index.html) > Any clues on what a panhandle town is ??? \*\* Well, when I lived in the panhandle of Florida, we(the USAF) called it LA because it really isn’t Florida. At least not the Florida you see when you go to Miami or Disney World. LA of course stands for Lower Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/13 "2003-03-09T17:08:08Z")
Missouri has a “bootheel” in the Southeast Corner. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-panhandle-town/160035/14 "2003-03-09T17:33:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*I have heard it applied to the section of Alaska where Juneau is found, but I do not know whether or not that is common. \*\* Yes. It is called Southeast Alaska or The Panhandle interchangeably.