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South of I-70 is the "mix" between southern and Midwestern, but south of I-64 is undebatably southern.
This doesn't work in the Metro East, St. Louis' Illinois suburbs where the majority of Southern Illinois' population actually lives. 70 has interchanges with 64 and 55 in that area, for example.
At best you'll have the further eastern sections be more rural/country in nature. If you want actual "Southern light" you'll have to go a lot deeper in Illinois.
This doesn't work in the Metro East, St. Louis' Illinois suburbs where the majority of Southern Illinois' population actually lives. 70 has interchanges with 64 and 55 in that area, for example.
At best you'll have the further eastern sections be more rural/country in nature. If you want actual "Southern light" you'll have to go a lot deeper in Illinois.
Yes, I should've distinguished metro STL, but for the rest of the state, that's absolutely true. Btw, many would view St Louis itself to be an almost "southern" city.
Yes, I should've distinguished metro STL, but for the rest of the state, that's absolutely true. Btw, many would view St Louis itself to be an almost "southern" city.
St. Louis’ Southern quirks exist, but they are also limited in comparison to an actual Southern city. Like many Midwestern cities, the split honestly falls along racial lines. The African American community in metro St. Louis has retained an almost Southern like accent thanks to the hyper seggregation that has remained in place since the Great Migration. You can see the same thing to a certain degree in Chicago, as the accent doesn’t line up with the stereotypical accent that is associated with the area. A simpler example is that all communities in St. Louis have a love of BBQ, which many would argue is Southern, as well.
Those couple of small things aside, St. Louis is more like a cultural island. It’s more liberal, politically the area has more in common with Illinois (whether some people want to admit that or not), it’s more diverse, it’s more Catholic than Baptist, its primary accent is undergoing the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, etc. Mind you, you get away from the core of the metro area and into the outer reaches and the rural areas, and things go country fast and the accent shifts rapidly. This is true on both sides of the Mississippi, but in Missouri I’m talking about the stereotypical folks who like to pronounce the state as being “Missouruh” rather than “Missoursee.”
St. Louis’ Southern quirks exist, but they are also limited in comparison to an actual Southern city. Like many Midwestern cities, the split honestly falls along racial lines. The African American community in metro St. Louis has retained an almost Southern like accent thanks to the hyper seggregation that has remained in place since the Great Migration. You can see the same thing to a certain degree in Chicago, as the accent doesn’t line up with the stereotypical accent that is associated with the area. A simpler example is that all communities in St. Louis have a love of BBQ, which many would argue is Southern, as well.
Those couple of small things aside, St. Louis is more like a cultural island. It’s more liberal, politically the area has more in common with Illinois (whether some people want to admit that or not), it’s more diverse, it’s more Catholic than Baptist, its primary accent is undergoing the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, etc. Mind you, you get away from the core of the metro area and into the outer reaches and the rural areas, and things go country fast and the accent shifts rapidly. This is true on both sides of the Mississippi, but in Missouri I’m talking about the stereotypical folks who like to pronounce the state as being “Missouruh” rather than “Missoursee.”
Agreed. This is a very accurate description of STL, which is solidly Midwestern with just a hint of Southern lite, similar in many ways to Cincinnati.
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