Texas has cowboys and cowboy boots, ranches and long horn cattle. Does anyone associate those things with the South or the East? That is definitely Western stuff.
If Hawaii is included, New Mexico is the center state, and Texas is in the East.
If Hawaii is excluded, Kansas is the center state, and Texas is in the South.
What happens if you include Alaska?
If Kansas is the center, then Texas is definitely mostly West. If you call Texas “South,” why don’t you call New Mexico “South?”
I often wonder why Ohio is considered Midwest because it’s very close to Pennsylvania, which is East coast. But somebody told me, not sure if he’s pulling my leg, is that we already have Middle East and that would be confusing, that’s why it’s called Midwest.
This is all to keep the foreign invaders confused.
“What happens if you include Alaska?”
If Alaska is included then Montana is the center state, and Texas is still a southern or eastern state.
Pennsylvania is not on the east coast. It is also not part of the north east…which is NY state and North.
But what difference does it make?
There is a huge difference between Charlotte NC and more rural cities outside of Charlotte. There is a huge difference between Chicago and Toledo…both Midwest cities. There is a huge difference between the large metro areas in the southern states, and the more rural towns. Heck…there is a huge difference between Atlanta and Biloxi, both considered “Deep South”. Big difference between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh…even though both are in PA.
If Montana is the center, then even Colorado is partially an eastern state!
Texas is definitely located in the southern part of the US (as is NM and AZ), but is it part of what people think of as “The South?” It is not to me, and is not as clear.
And what about Kentucky? lol
I recently drove the 880 mile trek through Texas along I-10. You start off on the eastern end with a swamp. By the time you get to San Antonio the terrain is very different. It is vastly different about an hour or two west of San Antone. Very dry and desolate and western looking.
To me, Texas is both South and Southwest. Having driven across the more northerly route, you have a similarly drastic change of terrain. It’s just a big state!
I will have to finish reading the article. At the moment I am stuck on the author’s use of the word, if it is in fact a word, “mystagogies” since I can’t find a definition for it. It really annoys me when authors unneccesarily use obscure words to either impress or confuse readers, but when they misuse, misspell or make up those obscure words it really makes me not want to even read what they have written. Here is the entire sentence: “In a wish to get to grips with local mystagogies and obfuscations I have spent the past three years traveling in the Deep South,” so it’s not just “mystagogies” (plural), but it’s “local mystagogies”… Does the author mean “mystagogue” ? and not the primary, but secondary definition, “2. One who holds or spreads mystical doctrines.” ?
The places I’ve been in Texas (Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth) felt more similar to Albuquerque on the West than New Orleans on the East, but obviously that is just one opinion.
Gosh, I sure hope no one tests me on non-US geography!!! Are we even talking geography here? Or cultural Geography? Florida is geographically Deep South, but not culturally.
Mcat you are right that the east coast was first to be populated by immigrants from Europe. So it is the “oldest”, from Boston down thru VA.
Then they started spreading West. And Texas is its own thing. I think they may be reluctantly still part of the Union (she said half-joking:). I’m not sure they are west, south, etc. it’s just Texas.
Ohio is Midwest. It is by PA, yes. But PA is huge in width!! And I would say people in Philly consider themselves East Coast. But Pittsburgh, not so much!!
Um… can we get back on topic?
@NJRes, thanks for the entertaining post. I assume Theroux intended a plural of “mystagogy”: the interpretation of a mystery (though more typically within a religious or mystical context).
I just considered this a freebie vocab lesson as I was inclined to look up the word.
Florida and other Spanish colonies are actually the “oldest” in terms of European colonization. Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the US, not Boston.
I think Mr. Theroux was an English major and a traveling writer. He likely knows more big words than the average American does, definitely much more than me.
Everything is relative: Before I came to the US and just found my first job after college (not in the US – this was 35 - 40 years ago), my supervisor thought my English (in reading and writing only because I learned the spoken language after I had been here) is good. Could you imagine that?! However, the language skill, in any language, has never been my strength.
Come on people, this is way off topic and kind of silly. Some are talking about a kind of new Mason-Dixon Line that would simply divide everything north of a certain line from everything south, from coast to coast. Everyone else is talking about understood (mostly) regionalisms that happen to mostly be named after points on the compass, with New England being an example of one exception. If instead of “The South” it had acquired the regionalism “Sunnylands”, this wouldn’t be much of a conversation. And as some have noted, the homogeneity of some of those regionalisms has changed with time. Nothing to do with the thread title. No more about that, please, unless it is so burning of an issue it deserves its own thread, which is fine of course.
Are these the “middle class” people with $200,000+ incomes (and driving BMWs?) so commonly referenced on these forums?
UCB, please let it go, you seem obsessed about money and frugality. It’s not good for your health. 