Does Chicago "feel" Midwestern? (Cairo, Phoenix: schools, colleges, area)

[U146]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

I never claimed they have the same accent. But both cities have plenty of Southern accents. Chicago doesn't.

And I never claimed they weren't Catholic. But both cities have lots of Baptists and Methodists. And no, Chicago doesn't have many Baptists or Methodists (unless you're couting the black AME church, which isn't mainstream Methodist, and which has nothing do with the South; the AME church is as typical in black neighborhoods in Massachusetts or Oregon as in Mississippi).

Whites in the South tend to be Baptist or Methodist, while cities like Chicago and Detroit are much more Catholic, and cities like Cincy and St. Louis are kind of "in between" with a mix of both.

Neither STL or Cincy have that many Southern accents. St. Louis and Cincy are both very Catholic cities.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by U146

Neither STL or Cincy have that many Southern accents. St. Louis and Cincy are both very Catholic cities.

Yes they do have many southern accents compared to someplace like Chicago and Detroit.

And no, they are not as Catholic as cities to the north. Chicago metro is 33% Catholic. Metros in the Northeast have an even higher %. Cincy Metro is 21% Catholic.

[U146]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

Yes they do have many southern accents compared to someplace like Chicago and Detroit.

And no, they are not as Catholic as cities to the north. Chicago metro is 33% Catholic. Metros in the Northeast have an even higher %. Cincy Metro is 21% Catholic.

St. Louis and Cincy don't speak with Southern accents I'm sorry. Have you ever looked at a dialect map before? And even if they aren't as Catholic as cities further north, they are hardly Bible Belt cities like you're trying to argue.

[censusdata]

The dominant Cincinnati accent is Northern, there are many Southern and Appalachian transplants whose accents didn't change just because they moved. I was born in Cincinnati to parents from rural Kentucky. Myself and two other siblings have Southern accents, our other two siblings have Northern accents. Southern accents start to dominate about 25 miles south of downtown Cincinnati.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by U146

St. Louis and Cincy don't speak with Southern accents I'm sorry. Have you ever looked at a dialect map before? And even if they aren't as Catholic as cities further north, they are hardly Bible Belt cities like you're trying to argue.

When I moved to St. Louis a year and a half ago I did notice people with a somewhat southern drawl moreso than Chicago. St. Louis tends to draw more recent transplants from the south. Chicago draws more from the Midwest.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by censusdata

The dominant Cincinnati accent is Northern, there are many Southern and Appalachian transplants whose accents didn't change just because they moved. I was born in Cincinnati to parents from rural Kentucky. Myself and two other siblings have Southern accents, our other two siblings have Northern accents. Southern accents start to dominate about 25 miles south of downtown Cincinnati.

I wouldn't call it Northern per se. It's more of a neutral accent that falls into neither category. It's not Southern but it ain't Detroit or Minneapolis, either. The way they say their long O sounds are distinct from the way many Northerners say them.

[steeps]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

Rust Belt isn't necessarily a culture nor a specific unified region. West Virginia is very Rust Belt in some areas yet nothing like any of the Midwest. Pittsburgh is a Rust Belt city and not much like Chicago (except maybe in ethnic groups). Heck, Baltimore is Rust Belt and is practically...nothing like the Great Lakes (though I hear some Detroit comparisons but these are based on the large Black influence and poverty not anything else). Even Blacks from Detroit aren't terribly similar to Baltimoreans.

But St. Louis is more like Chicago than Indianapolis is for sure. Even the St. Louis accent is considered the Southernmost Northern accent (outside of New Orleans lol). St. Louis to me is kind of Great Lakes, Midwest, and to a small extent Southern rolled into one.

One of the quintessentially Rust Belt states, Pennsylvania, is not very comparable to Chicago even in its largest urban centers. Rust Belt is a status, not a culture. In FACT, one could argue that most of the Midwest is actually NOT in the Rust Belt at all. In this way, Chicago still stands out. There's a region other Midwest cities don't have a very gritty, urban feel the same way the Great Lakes do. Even a small city like Grand Rapids has a very Rust Belt character despite the fact it's surrounded by a lot of woods and rural areas.

If we must consider the Great Lakes Midwestern, then Chicago is that brand of Midwest. But not the Cincinnati or Indianapolis brand. There are definitely cities in the Great Lakes that could be smaller Chicagos like Milwaukee.

As for PA. Pittsburgh is very much included in the Rust belt formally a Big Steel industrial city. To Allentown/Bethlehem. But Philly is technically excluded. Though I feel it clearly has all the signs. Probably because Philly was more Textile mills the heavy industry like Steel that was in Bethlehem. NYC technically is not but still all the signs in Boroughs. Chicago had Steel though most in Indiana. But still enough heavy industry to be part of the Rust belt and Milwaukee as Chicago's mini-me.... Chicago also is merely in the Midwest. But could very well be a East-Coast city. It is not really a example of Midwestern as I see it.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

But St. Louis is more like Chicago than Indianapolis is for sure. Even the St. Louis accent is considered the Southernmost Northern accent (outside of New Orleans lol). St. Louis to me is kind of Great Lakes, Midwest, and to a small extent Southern rolled into one.

Because of location, St. Louis has a little influence from everywhere but identified Midwestern.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

I never claimed they have the same accent. But both cities have plenty of Southern accents. Chicago doesn't.

And I never claimed they weren't Catholic. But both cities have lots of Baptists and Methodists. And no, Chicago doesn't have many Baptists or Methodists (unless you're couting the black AME church, which isn't mainstream Methodist, and which has nothing do with the South; the AME church is as typical in black neighborhoods in Massachusetts or Oregon as in Mississippi).

Whites in the South tend to be Baptist or Methodist, while cities like Chicago and Detroit are much more Catholic, and cities like Cincy and St. Louis are kind of "in between" with a mix of both.

Greater STL is 26% Catholic compared to 33% of Chicago. Not a huge difference. But I mostly agree that STL does have more of a southern influence, though I still think it's overwhelmingly rust belt. One thing about STL is that you drive 2-3 hours into the boot heel and you're not only in the south, you're arguably in the deep south.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Greater STL is 26% Catholic compared to 33% of Chicago. Not a huge difference. But I mostly agree that STL does have more of a southern influence, though I still think it's overwhelmingly rust belt. One thing about STL is that you drive 2-3 hours into the boot heel and you're not only in the south, you're arguably in the deep south.

I don't know about Deep South. I know MO is country but many MO residents resent the term Southern and proudly own their Midwest status. You don't really hear true Southern accents in most of Missouri, either. Though I will agree that the bootheel is probably Southern in culture more than any other part of the state in a similar fashion to Cairo, IL. Still not Deep South.

And again, Rust Belt is not a culture. West Virginia is very Rust Belt and arguably still Southern. It has more in common with Kentucky than it does with Chicago and Chicago is extremely Rust Belt in status.