# Where is Oklahoma? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735 "2007-09-27T21:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/61 "2007-09-28T12:56:32Z")
According to Messrs. Rodgers and Hammerstein, it’s where the winds come sweepin’ down the plain. It’s also where many western Arkansas 18-20 year olds would go buy 3.2 beer, back in the day… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/62 "2007-09-28T13:13:25Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] It’s also where many western Arkansas 18-20 year olds would go buy 3.2 beer, back in the day… [/QUOTE] What did I miss out on? We drove to Memphis when I was eighteen to buy liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/63 "2007-09-28T13:18:56Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] I don’t know about that. It’s the place the Southern Indian tribes were sent, there was a large migration there from the Southern states, you can hear Southern accents there, they’re football-crazy, and you can get grits for breakfast and barbecue for dinner. Seems pretty southern to me. [/QUOTE] Plus lots of them wear cowboy hats and boots, but they’re not Texans, so that makes them Texas Lite. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/64 "2007-09-28T13:49:09Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What did I miss out on? We drove to Memphis when I was eighteen to buy liquor. [/QUOTE] Nothing. 18 y.o.'s could only buy 3.2 beer in Oklahoma, IIRC. You were better off going to Memphis (can’t believe I typed that sentence). Also, Texas was 18, but in Texarkana, the Arkansas side was wet, but 21, the Texas side was dry. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/65 "2007-09-28T13:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=VernWinterbottom] I’m from eastern Massachusetts. _Everything_ beyond Worcester, MA, or Providence, RI, is simply “out West.” [/QUOTE] Heh. Reminds me of this [classic cartoon](http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/72-the-world-as-seen-from-new-yorks-9th-avenue/). ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/66 "2007-09-28T14:06:45Z")
I’ve always defined the Midwest as (from east to west): Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Pittsburgh straddles the Midwest/Northeast boundary and Louisville straddles the Midwest/South. Oklahoma, along with Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, the Dakotas and eastern Montana are the Plains or the Great Plains. I’m fine with east Texas being the South, west Texas the Southwest and northcentral Texas the Plains. As for Missouri, St. Louis is in the Midwest but Kansas City is in the Plains. MO is not in the south as far as I am concerned. YMMV, of course. By the way, I was born in the Pacific Southwest (SoCal), grew up in the Northeast (Massachusetts), lived 13 years in the Midwest (Chicago), and have lived for seven years in the south (Tennessee). ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/67 "2007-09-28T14:24:49Z")
[QUOTE=T\_SQUARE] Add Utah and Nevada and you’ve got it. [/QUOTE] Utah and Nevada (not to mention Idaho) are in the Intermountain West. I swear to God. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/68 "2007-09-28T14:45:16Z")
I’m fairly disappointed that the usual suspects haven’t popped into this thread about Oklahoma to declare how much they hate Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/69 "2007-09-28T15:00:08Z")
[QUOTE=Skammer] As for Missouri, St. Louis is in the Midwest but Kansas City is in the Plains. MO is not in the south as far as I am concerned. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard it said that St. Louis is the westernmost Eastern city, and Kansas City is the easternmost Western city. Here in Kansas City we think of ourselves as being in the Midwest. The Plains don’t start until you hit the Flint Hills of Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/70 "2007-09-28T15:10:11Z")
[QUOTE=Gary T] I’ve heard it said that St. Louis is the westernmost Eastern city, and Kansas City is the easternmost Western city. Here in Kansas City we think of ourselves as being in the Midwest. The Plains don’t start until you hit the Flint Hills of Kansas. [/QUOTE] I knew St Louis was the starting place for Westward exploration, Lewis & Clarke for example. Does Kansas City gets the moniker from the cattle business and shipping Eastward by rail? Perhaps he plains don’t start big time until Kansas, but they begin in my [fair state.](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropmap/arkansas/maps/AReco3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropmap/arkansas/maps/AReco3.html&h=291&w=306&sz=10&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=2Befvnj57KjQ-M:&tbnh=111&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Darkansas%2Bplains%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/71 "2007-09-28T15:13:07Z")
FWIW I have always thought of Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma as being kind of their own little region separate from the Midwest, or the South, or the West. While I had never heard the term before this thread, South Central states probably works as good as any for me. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/72 "2007-09-28T16:07:32Z")
My regional categories…but I’m kind of isolated up here in the PNW from the rest of the country’s goings-on, so this may not be agreaable to everyone that may live in the other states: Wet (OR, WA) Beach (CA) Desert (AZ, NM, UT) Corn (OK, KS, OH, IA) Fargo (Dakotas, Mich, Minn, Wisc) Huck Finn (FL, Miss, Misso, Alabama, LA) Syrup (New England states) New York (NY, Illinois, NJ, Maryland, Virginia, NC) Oklahoma is corn country. I know that because Ruprecht lives there _bangs pots and pans_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/73 "2007-09-28T16:23:34Z")
FWIW, I grew up in small town about 40 miles south of Oklahoma City until I was 12. We always refferred to ourselves as a Great Plains state. Also a funny little side note. Once a bison charged my dad’s truck because we were trying to get close to a herd so my dad could take pictures. It stopped about 10 feet away and snorted and stared at us. So my dad backed up a good ways then did a quick u-turn and hauled ass out of there. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/74 "2007-09-28T16:52:26Z")
The editors of **Southern Living** magazine include it in the South (not that they’re authorities on the matter - but it does get included and I’ve never heard of anyone complain). ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/75 "2007-09-28T16:57:32Z")
[QUOTE=GargoyleWB] Oklahoma is corn country. I know that because Ruprecht lives there _bangs pots and pans_ 🙂 [/QUOTE] _Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma!_ [YouTube – Ruprecht The Monkey Boy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFUv2KO8So) ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/76 "2007-09-28T17:07:59Z")
I would agree generall with Chronos’ scheme. I think of OK as the Southern Plains, the Midcontinent, or the Floor of Hell. No way the midwest, southwest, or south. It’s more of a half-assed version of northern Texas, with the same geographic/cultural changes as you go from east to west. And to clarify what Hippy Hollow said, Texas football fans don’t get their scrota (scroti? scrotums?) cut open here, the locals tear them open with their bare hands. And they wonder why I don’t want to talk about sports. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/77 "2007-09-28T17:10:46Z")
Y’see this is the problem with living in a thumping ginormous country. Y’all don’t know where it is you’re at. Now in Merrie England… ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/78 "2007-09-28T17:11:20Z")
Oklahoma’s geographic classification depends greatly on which part of Oklahoma you are talking about. The Tulsa area (northeast) feels pretty midwestern. Southeast OK is definitely southern. Southwest is southwestern. Northwest is Plains. But of course, my Tulsa high school’s theme song opened with the line, “Dear Booker T. Washington High School, the pride of the great Southwest.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/79 "2007-09-28T17:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=groman] What part of the Rocky Mountains is in Nevada? [/QUOTE] It is surrounded by them. IMO, because all the little hills East of Amarillo are the Rocky Mountains no matter what the locals call their pet hill in their back yards… Actually to me, it is the Western desert, that whole basin that has chunks of NV, AZ, CA. Fly around out there is small plane and you will see what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735/80 "2007-09-28T17:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=papaw] I have heard Oklahoma referred to as “our untended backyard” by some high society Dallas folks. [/QUOTE] And I’ve heard Dallas referred to as “Baja Oklahoma” by some low society Oklahoma folks. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-oklahoma/420735.md?page=5)