Is Cincinnati Southern? - Page 2

Buckeye Native 001 · #21 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 12:59 AM**

Half my family is from Northern Kentucky. I don't think they think about Ohio much north of 275. Their only major hatred of anything Ohio-related is The Ohio State University Buckeyes (but that's because they're either UK, NKU or UC alum).

I think Cincinnati is too provincial and too concerned about fighting over regional cultural differences (best neighborhood chili parlor, best fish fry, best summer church festival) to give much thought about what happens outside of 275. Then again, my only experiences are from growing up in Newtown/Anderson Township and visiting family in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati's eastern suburbs every couple of years.

Handro · #22 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

minneapolis is about as far as one can get away from cincinnati in the midwest and still be in a major city.

what about racing cincy against nashville and a more equally distant midwest city like st. louis?

i'd say cincy comes a lot closer to st. louis.

True, or you could say Detroit instead of Minneapolis (about the same distance as Nashville in the opposite direction) and I would still say it has more in common with Nashville. I'd argue that St. Louis shares a common southern "twang" (not just an accent, mind you, but a cultural affiliation) with Cincinnati. Neither are fully southern, but are different from northern midwest cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, etc. As a northern midwesterner, Cincinnati felt like the south, as does much of St. Louis and its metro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

No. It's the Midwest … cold winters and all.

Who can forget such midwestern cities as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Portland.

LAsam · #23 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handro

As a northern midwesterner, Cincinnati felt like the south, as does much of St. Louis and its metro.

That's fascinating to me. When I lived in central Ohio, I never remotely conceived of Cincinnati or St. Louis as southern. Interesting to learn that people from further north look at those cities that way.

Steely Dan · #24 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handro

As a northern midwesterner, Cincinnati felt like the south, as does much of St. Louis and its metro.

as a fellow northern midwesterner, i'll have to disagree with you. cincy doesn't feel southern to me. southern tinges? yes. but overall "southern"? no.

but i have family in cincy and have been there too many times to count over the entire course of my life, so maybe that life-long familiarity biases my view.

Handro · #25 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAsam

That's fascinating to me. When I lived in central Ohio, I never remotely conceived of Cincinnati or St. Louis as southern. Interesting to learn that people from further north look at those cities that way.

I suppose it's similar (although less downright wrong, lol) to people from out west who think of Chicago as east coast. That one boggles my mind.

Similarly (but not really, I just want to tell this anecdote)--my girlfriend was on a conference call with people from Columbus, OH and at the end of the call they asked about the weather in Chicago, "Wow it must be really cold there, huh? I don't know how you guys do it!" She was a little confused... "does Columbus have warm winters or something?"

We all have weird representations of places in our heads based on god knows what, I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

as a fellow northern midwesterner, i'll have to disagree with you. cincy doesn't feel southern to me. southern tinges? yes. but overall "southern"? no.

but i have family in cincy and have been there too many times to count over the entire course of my life, so maybe that life-long familiarity biases my view.

Perhaps that (bolded) but also I should reiterate my original post that I don't think of Cincinnati as a full blown southern city, just much more southern than most other "classically midwestern" cities. From the slight accents to the higher-than-expected number of confederate flags.

park123 · #26 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:33 PM**

I grew up in metro NYC and also always thought of Cincinnati as vaguely southern. St Louis too. They weren't Midtwestern cities in the sense that Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland were. For me, true Midwest was northern, same as us (Northeast people). Cincinnati and even more so St Louis were not quite northern.

Steely Dan · #27 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 4:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Handro

I should reiterate my original post that I don't think of Cincinnati as a full blown southern city, just much more southern than most other "classically midwestern" cities.

for sure, cincy has WAY more southern tinges than minneapolis or milwaukee because it lies within a blurry border zone (like louisville), but i still don't place it in the "southern" category in mind.

to me, cincy inhabits the same realm (though on the fringes) as columbus, indy, chicago, st. louis, etc. not charlotte, atlanta, nashville, birmingham, etc.

KB0679 · #28 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 5:51 PM**

No but as a border city, it has Southern influences.

pj3000 · #29 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAsam

What about West Virginia? I didn't consider that southern either.

West Virginia is a true regional crossroads... and often mischaracterized with blanket descriptions for the entire state.

All of the state is Appalachian (which is also an oft-mischaracterized descriptor), but it is hard to characterize in broad regional terms.

- Northern WV is rustbelt, interior northeastern/mid Atlantic; very similar to SW Pennsylvania and Central Pennsylvania (even on up to the southern tier of NY to an extent)... river valley small cities and towns shaped by heavy industry historically

- Eastern WV has elements of earlier, colonial America, being more shaped and influenced by the Piedmont/DC/northern VA

- Southern WV is heavy coal country, where it does start to feel more interior "southern"; a noticeable regional dialect and accents have more of a drawl with odd mispronunciations of common words; Bible Belt

- Western WV/Ohio Valley is a mix of Northern then Southern as you head downstream; exactly as you would experience on the other side of the river in Ohio... Steubenville down to Huntington, for example

pj3000 · #30 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by park123

I grew up in metro NYC and also always thought of Cincinnati as vaguely southern. St Louis too. They weren't Midtwestern cities in the sense that Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland were. For me, true Midwest was northern, same as us (Northeast people). Cincinnati and even more so St Louis were not quite northern.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

for sure, cincy has WAY more southern tinges than minneapolis or milwaukee because it lies within a blurry border zone (like louisville), but i still don't place it in the "southern" category in mind.

to me, cincy inhabits the same realm (though on the fringes) as columbus, indy, chicago, st. louis, etc. not charlotte, atlanta, nashville, birmingham, etc.

Yeah, both above pretty much sum up how I feel. I don't know Cincinnati, specifically, well enough to comment on the predominant culture of the city.

But in my limited experience there and with significant time spent in the Dayton area, it didn't really feel "southern" per se, to me. Though it did feel to have a certain interior south/midwestern vibe like St. Louis has to it more than Cleveland or Detroit does. Great Lakes cities are just simply "more northern" and to me, Lakes cities like Chicago and Cleveland feel very little like the rest of their own states which stretch down into "the South".

The overly-broad blanket descriptors of "The South" and "The Midwest" are so general to the point of being useless. Though there is a certain "southern-ness" (or is it just "midwestern-ness"?) I get when in Columbus, or Indianapolis, or St. Louis. Take the drive west from Pittsburgh to St. Louis on I-70 (it's an awful drive and I wouldn't really recommend it) and there's a fully apparent change once you get to Columbus which continues through western OH, thru IN, and southern IL... the landscape flattens and becomes massive agriculture on an seemingly endless industrial scale.

Steely Dan · #31 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj3000

there's a fully apparent change once you get to Columbus which continues through western OH, thru IN, and southern IL... the landscape flattens and becomes massive agriculture on an seemingly endless industrial scale.

that's the great north american corn belt, and it's quintessentially "midwest" in every possible way.

why do you think that some form of corn makes it's way into just about every single american processed food product.

it's because there's this incomprehensibly MASSIVE corn farm that constitutes the heart of the midwest that grows more corn than than there are stars in the night sky.

ATXboom · #32 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:48 PM**

Growing up in Toledo we called it Cinciltucky... southern accents start to pop up there. It's proxies are Louisville and St. Louis IMO. Its a transition zone.

pj3000 · #33 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that's the great north american corn belt, and it's quintessentially "midwest" in every possible way.

For sure. Traveling that route was quite informative for me in understanding where the "midwest" (with all of its skewed interpretations) actually begins.

Obadno · #34 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that's the great north american corn belt, and it's quintessentially "midwest" in every possible way.

why do you think that some form of corn makes it's way into just about every single american processed food product.

it's because there's this incomprehensibly MASSIVE corn farm that constitutes the heart of the midwest that grows more corn than than there are stars in the night sky.

When you look at the actual amounts of agricultural product the US Midwest produces (not including other agriculture in the west or south) its absolutely astounding.

edale · #35 Posted **Feb 21, 2020, 6:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj3000

Take the drive west from Pittsburgh to St. Louis on I-70 (it's an awful drive and I wouldn't really recommend it) and there's a fully apparent change once you get to Columbus which continues through western OH, thru IN, and southern IL... the landscape flattens and becomes massive agriculture on an seemingly endless industrial scale.

True, except Cincinnati is probably the hilliest city in the entire Midwest, or number 2 if Pittsburgh counts as a midwestern city. The hills hug the river, and it flattens out about 30 miles to the north of Cincinnati, and stays flat the rest of the way. Eastern Ohio and the area around the river all the way to Louisville (and maybe past there even) are quite hilly.