The Definitive Solution to the Upstate NY Question

[MarzNC]

What is a cultural region? Accent?

Way more than accent in my opinion.

Look that the different areas in California. The more extreme accents are all along the east coast because that's been settled for far longer. There isn't the same extreme accent differences between Oregon and Southern CA as between Maine and Georgia, but certainly different "cultures."

 

[Harvey]

Way more than accent in my opinion.

Look that the different areas in California. The more extreme accents are all along the east coast because that's been settled for far longer. There isn't the same extreme accent differences between Oregon and Southern CA as between Maine and Georgia, but certainly different "cultures."

So then what is that map showing?

 

[tirolski]

Looks like Rochester and Buffalo were allowed in Upstate for the Round 3 revision in yer map.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ibjf82

 

[MarzNC]

So then what is that map showing?

Think about the areas in the northeast. Do those make sense to you? The way most people think and act who live in NYC Metro certainly isn't remotely like other parts of NY or New England.

Note that NC is in two regions. The mountains in the west the common element for Southern Appalachia. That makes sense to be in comparison to the Piedmont and coastal areas of the state.

The different areas of the midwest also make general sense to me based on a few visit to the region. Southern Indiana and Ohio certainly don't feel like Minn./St. Paul and northern MN. Meaning the people, not the geography. The history of settlement in a given area is key. The cultural differences evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries, not the 20th.

 

[MarzNC]

The way this version is labeled makes it a little more obvious what divides neighboring "cultures." Clearly a combination of geography, meaning mountain chains and coastal regions. CA and FL have a lot of people, especially in comparison to the Great Plains and Rockies. So it makes sense that those areas and NYC metro have smaller areas that are considered to have a separate culture, or more accurately, sub-culture. There is clearly something different between American culture vs. Canadian or Mexican or any other country of the world.

When I took my friend's teen son to NM in March to ski Taos, he immediately noticed that the houses near the airport looked very different than what he's seen in the southeast or northeast. NM food is certainly different from traditional NC food.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Upstate starts wherever it is people actually stop for a red light.

 

[Ripitz]

Upstate starts wherever it is people actually stop for a red light.

and step on the brake not the gas when it turns yellow.

 

[Ripitz]

Upstate may also be wherever you see signs for night crawlers at the convenience stores. I worked with a woman from the hood who thought the signs were for malt liquor.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

Upstate starts wherever it is people actually stop for a red light.

Gotta exclude Albany then.

mm

 

[Brownski]

Upstate may also be wherever you see signs for night crawlers at the convenience stores. I worked with a woman from the hood who thought the signs were for malt liquor.

That’s pretty good but you’re falling into a common trap here- equating upstate with rural. Most upstaters live in depressing little rust belt cities whose best days were in the 60s.