this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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47
Where is ‘the Midwest’? (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by rootsbreadandmakka@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Contentious issue I know, but recently I’ve encountered a number of people who believe that Ohio (and sometimes Indiana and Michigan) is not truly part of the Midwest. Which to me is preposterous since I’ve always considered Ohio the most quintessentially Midwestern state. Midwest to me has always been very nearly synonymous with rust belt, but it seems there are a fair number of people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call the Great Plains, or Greater Minnesota. So I’m wondering where do you all place the Midwest.

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[–] context@hexbear.net 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I'm definitely a midwesterner, born in MO, lived all over the place, and now live in MN.

I've called it "soda" my whole life. "Coke" was definitely confusing in the southeast. "I'll take a coke." "What kind?" "Wtf?"

I think the real lexicological definition is "ope"

Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.

[–] context@hexbear.net 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"I'll take a coke." "What kind?"

i know a poor soul who moved from the north atlantic seaboard to rural deep southern appalachia and then once worked a drive thru at mcdonald's and had to parse "errinj coke" into a sensible order for an increasingly impatient customer

Do you ope?

as a kind of semi apologetic interjection, right? like "ope! look at the time!"

[–] bananon@hexbear.net 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

“Ope, let me just squeeze by ya right here”

[–] Smeagolicious@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

"Ope, lemme squeeze past ya and steal the ranch"

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

as a kind of semi apologetic interjection, right? like "ope! look at the time!"

That's pretty much it. Although it can also be used like a less aggressive "hey!"

Nearly bump into someone in the hall? "Ope!"

Someone examining the spices for 5 minutes when you just need to grab the salt? "Ope, scuse me, just gotta sneak by ya there."

Etc.

Having spent some years in the south, clearly "errinj coke" is a fanta orange, or Sunkist if you're lucky.

[–] context@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

sunkist in this case, yeah

[–] Lemmygradwontallowme@hexbear.net 6 points 2 months ago

Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.

I ope, when in trouble

[–] 2Password2Remember@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

wtf is ope

Death to America

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago

An interjection that can mean something along the lines of "Oh, sorry, excuse me" or "Hey, you ran into me!" Etc. depending on context.

Death to Traffic

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

I'm definitely a midwesterner, born in MO, lived all over the place, and now live in MN.

I've called it "soda" my whole life. "Coke" was definitely confusing in the southeast. "I'll take a coke." "What kind?" "Wtf?"

I think the real lexicological definition is "ope"

Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.