Mastodawn

Rob Ricci 1d ago

@dev whoever is answering yes to this lives on a much smaller planet than I do

Dan Ports 1d ago

@ricci @dev that was my first reaction, but then someone pointed out to me that Pittsburgh is only about 30 miles from the border with Ohio which is clearly in the midwest so now I am confused

@dan @ricci @dev for real you've just answered the question-- Pittsburgh is not quite the midwest

@dan @ricci @dev to me the more interesting question is how far west the midwest goes. for ex I've always considered Kansas to be the midwest but there are those who disagree

@regehr @dan @ricci @dev Oof, that's a tough one. I lean towards the definition that "the midwest" refers to the Old Northwest — i.e., the territories platted and settled under the Northwest Ordinance — once western expansion made the name a misnomer. That ends at the Mississippi, so Iowa and Missouri are excluded, never mind Kansas and Nebraska.

John Regehr

@wollman @dan @ricci @dev yeah there are people who think this! but I suspect incorrectly

@regehr @dan @ricci @dev I don't believe there is a "correct" here. This question has been the subject of some study by linguists and geographers and there is no consensus.

@wollman @regehr @dan @ricci @dev I feel like there is an opportunity to give folks an unlabeled US state map and ask them to shade New England, The South, The Midwest, The Southwest, and The West … and watch as hilarity ensues.

@purp @regehr @dan @ricci @dev It has been done!

@wollman @regehr @dan @ricci @dev oh thank God. I’m definitely not up to coding it, and now I’m hoping that they handed it to a set of folks after many drinks and videoed the whole series.

@purp @regehr @dan @ricci @dev The usual experimental subjects are undergraduates, so getting them drunk probably would not pass IRB.

@wollman @regehr @dan @ricci @dev fair. Maybe we have to limit it to drunk celebs like they did for Drunk History?

@purp @wollman @dan @ricci @dev when I was a kid, my aunt, who lives in Atlanta, sent my folks a letter asking how things in New England were going. we lived in Delaware.

@regehr @wollman @dan @ricci @dev ooo .. I would have included that in my NE map, so I clearly have things to learn.

@purp @regehr @dan @ricci @dev New England is the most strictly defined US region, the only one that was actually a political entity at one time!