askchapo

The "Midwest" would more accurately be named the "Middle East" and the "Middle East" would be more accurately named "West Asia."

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Western Pennsylvania is a special economic zone

The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

so that's the official answer. yes, it includes ohio.

but the real answer is that it's wherever people call carbonated beverages "pop" instead of "soda" or "coke", which means it actually extends eastward to buffalo, ny and definitely still includes ohio.

"The Midwest" are the sacred lands where his holiness St. bhagavan shree Matt Christman (PBUH) was born one glorious day.

Chicago and all the lands which pay it fealty

As far as I'm concerned, all west is "mid" west

Ohio is the leaky reactor core of the midwest, I have no idea what those people are talking about

people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call [...] "greater minnesota"

Those people are perhaps just minnesotans, I think. Also minnesotans actually already use that exact term inside MN because people who aren't from the twin cities get offended when referred to as "outstate" or "rural" minnesota.

I've taken to calling that area, (MN, WI, IA, MI, maybe a couple more if I'm feeling generous) Upper Midwest so as to not confuse anyone who thinks ohio is the epitome of midwest. The only time I've really spent in Ohio was in steubenville of all places so maybe that's partly why I don't think of Ohio as being particularly midwestern.

Midwest is outdated, imo. More meaningful is to roughly split it into Great Lakes (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and Great Plains (the other ones). But really even that's insufficient. We can get a lot more detailed doing cultural mapping of the US. Like, Ohio is Great Lakes (the north), Appalachia (southeast), upper South (southwest), and great plains (Columbus and west). Most of the other states cross a few different distinct vibes: Southern Illinois is more like Missouri than it is Chicago, but St Louis is more like Chicago than it is the rest of Missouri!

Fuck historical context and tradition. Look at a map of the US. Divide it in half vertically down the middle. See the left side? That's the West. Now look at the middle of the West: there's the Midwest.

The Mideast can fuck off. You wanna call yourself Midwest while being in the central and eastern time zones??? Midmid is more accurate in every way.

I’ve met people from Oklahoma who were mortified to learn the rest of the country considers them part of the South and not the Midwest

Midwest is a state of mind

The US Census Bureau defines the Midwest like this, but I think the Dakotas and most of Kansas and Nebraska are Great Plains, not tha Midwest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States#/media/File:Map_of_USA_Midwest.svg

I have heard the term Midwest before. Upbear because I want to know more US lore as an ameriboo

In a mild hell. Seriously though, your assessment of Ohio is on point. I'd say everything surrounding the Great Lakes and throw in Iowa. Some people consider the great plains states like the Dakotas and Nebraska, even Missouri and Kansas but those all have a very different vibe ino.

Syria

The midwest is the southeast imo.

Ohio is one state away from the Atlantic Ocean, it clearly shouldn't be Midwest.

The most Midwestern State is Iowa.

It's literally mid.

Culturally it's Western PA (Pittsburgh and west), Southern Michigan (like everything south of Grand Rapids), through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, including Iowa Nebraska Wisconsin Missouri and the South eastern parts of South Dakota. Geographically who knows or cares the only real reason to track this stuff is for cultural reasons.