Outstate? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Plymouth: fit in, subdivisions, to live in)

[uptown_urbanist]

It's just a term, but I think one has to work very hard to be offended at it. Like it or, the Twin Cities do dominate the state. There are plenty of other terms for other meanings and more specific locations ("Iron Range," etc.), but when doing a quick categorization into urban versus non-urban (or not very urban; the other cities in Minnesota are relatively small) it makes sense. I don't think that anyone out there thinks that International Falls and Pipestone are interchangeable. I think those who are offended are over-thinking the issue.

One could, I suppose, also take offense at "Greater Minnesota." Why is it "greater?"

I don't know the history of the term "outstate Minnesota," but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was coined by people living outside of the Twin Cities. In any case, I don't think the majority of Minnesotans, wherever they live, interpret it to be offensive. It's just one of those regionalisms that developed.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley

Miinnesota - The idea that anyone would lump International Falls and Lanesboro and Pipestone into the same identifier term - "Outstate" - has no meaning. It is just not logical or useful geographically, topographically, meteorologically, culturally, or politically .

It was meant to refer to the entire state outside of the Twin Cities, not a specific area like Southwest Minnesota. And to think, I'm the one who started this all, I should of just said cities and towns outside the twin cities instead of outstate.

Theres other nicknames too, like Greater Minnesota.

Theres always going to be the 2, The Twin Cities and outside the Twin Cities, just like theres Chicago, and the rest of Illinois.

IMO Chicago overshadows Illinois a lot more then the Twin Cities overshadow Minnesota.

[Radical_Car]

Wow lots of crossing posts here!

[DirtMagurt]

Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley

Iowa: Des Moines is either called by it's name or is referred to as "The City", which refers to a greater metropolitan area. I don't remember other parts of the state being called by anything other than the name of the town.

Nobody in Iowa has ever referred to Dez Moinez as "the city", though Dezmoineztards use vaguely specific directional terms like "eastsider" and "westsider" to describe their own. When somebody in Mason City thinks of "the city", they're thinking of Minneapolis. Somebody in Dubuque is thinking of Chicago and somebody in Keokuk is thinking St. Louis. Likewise in the western part of the state (Omaha or KC). Lots of others would think you're talking about Davenport. Iowa doesn't have one primary, centralized, dominant metropolitan area so the concept of "outstate" is absolutely foreign to an Iowan.

[bcgr]

I can see how it is offensive. To me, it seems to imply that us "outstaters" are outside the state somehow, or that we don't live "in."It's a subtle thing that I don't think many cities people catch on.

One could, I suppose, also take offense at "Greater Minnesota." Why is it "greater?"

It's called "Greater Minnesota" because greater can mean a larger area, like some suburbs to cities are called the "greater" part of that city. Maybe it has a German connection?

I don't know the history of the term "outstate Minnesota," but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was coined by people living outside of the Twin Cities.

Why? The term is used exclusively by cities people, when I first encountered the term here it confused me and it would confuse almost everyone outside of the cities.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by bcgr

Why? The term is used exclusively by cities people, when I first encountered the term here it confused me and it would confuse almost everyone outside of the cities.

And I don't live in the cities and never have(yet), unless you count St. Cloud which it really isn't, and I was the one referring to it as outstate. It wasn't meant to be offensive, just used as a term to differentiate from the Twin Cities and the non twin cities part of Minnesota. Calling the part of miinnesota outside the twin cities as the real minnesota is offensive as well, suggesting that the twin cities is a fake Minnesota.I hear Kazoopilot refer to it as outstate as well and he lives in Marshall, and he also said he doesn't think it's racist. I didn't mean to start a whole fight with this, I'll just say outside of the twin cities from now on if it's what you want.

Minneapolis?

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

To throw a curve ball into this thread, the OP said he/she enjoyed small towns, but liked the urban lifestyle. I'm thinking maybe he/she might prefer living in one of the large outstate towns like Rochester or Mankato, rather than Minneapolis-St. Paul, which is very much a big city. L

Also proves you wrong because you said it's "used exclusively by cities people" but yet we have someone from Marshall who has been posting here regularly for a long time referring to it as outstate as well.

Originally Posted by bcgr

Why? The term is used exclusively by cities people, when I first encountered the term here it confused me and it would confuse almost everyone outside of the cities.

Star Tribune also uses it
Emmer, Horner work outstate Minnesota | StarTribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/63179682.html (broken link)
So does Kare 11
Blizzard conditions close highways in outstate MN | kare11.com

And look at this book
http://books.google.com/books?id=ToZ...nesota&f=false

http://www.minnesota-visitor.com/move-to-minnesota.html

AND THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/p...lla061810.html

"One is a child and one is an adult. One resides in the metro area and one resides in outstate Minnesota. One of the cases was hospitalized, but both have recovered."

[Radical_Car]

This thread is getting ridiculous, this is just as pathetic as someone whining about something they interpret as a sexual reference(such as Bikini Bottom in Spongebob) in a childrens cartoon then coming on a message board and whining about it, hopefully this thread dies soon. I don't like the term the real minnesota, but I won't create a thread complaining, and you honestly can't expect every single Minnesotan who uses it and every news source to stop using it.

I think this thread should be locked now, there isn't much more to discuss and it's starting to get ugly.

[northstar22]

The Twin Cities is not a "fake Minnesota," it's just the Twin Cities. It's not Minnesota. It should really be a state of its own, maybe combined with the neighboring western Wisconsin counties.

I've said it before, outstate doesn't offend me, but I don't use the term unless I'm talking to someone from the Twin Cities.

[Lily0fthevalley]

I don't see ugliness, I see a really interesting discussion about etymology and about Minnesota. I've read and enjoyed everyone's posts. It's a topic that seems to have hit a nerve, though!

[Radical_Car]

Im confused, why should the twin cities be their own state? Should Chicago be their own as well? It'd probably be easier for Chicago to be their own because their capital is Springfield, but in Minnesota St. Paul is the capital and thats where all the government stuff is. What about Seattle or Portland or Atlanta or Phoenix or Las Vegas or Salt Lake City?