Is Cincinnati Southern?

[ThePhun1]

Not Deep South mind you but Southern. It's something I've heard over the years might be true to an extent.

[Steely Dan]

cincinnati straddles a border region.

it's not southern per se, but it certainly has heavy influence from kentucky, which lies on the opposite bank of its river.

you can toss in louisville as the other side of cincy's coin.

neither are fully 100% pure "midwestern" or "southern" in any conventional understanding of those terms.

the specific percentages of their blends are open to a lot of subjective interpretation.

the general consensus seems to be that cincy is more midwestern than southern. maybe 70/30?

[LAsam]

In all my visits to Cincinnati, I've never considered it to be southern. It's solid Midwestern, with a sprinkle of Appalachia. I don't consider Kentucky to be southern either... Tennessee is the beginning of the south, or at least the industrial south.

[Buckeye Native 001]

It's not southern, even though you can start to hear southern accents once you cross the Ohio River (or venture into Clermont County...). Places like Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh and St. Louis are hybrids of a couple different regions.

[M II A II R II K]

It’s also another Queen City.

[Handro]

It's impossible to define regions with strict borders. They overlap and blend into one another on their edges.

To say Cincinnati is clearly one or the other is disingenuous. I'd say it feels way more like Nashville than Minneapolis, but could be claimed by either region.

Originally Posted by LAsam

I don't consider Kentucky to be southern either... Tennessee is the beginning of the south, or at least the industrial south.

What do you consider Kentucky?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Handro

I'd say it feels way more like Nashville than Minneapolis, but could be claimed by either region.

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.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

Not Deep South mind you but Southern. It's something I've heard over the years might be true to an extent.

No, but all of the towns and cities along the Ohio River are about as southern as you can get before becoming southern for real.

For Example, everyone would agree the Louisville is southern, its also on the Ohio river and compared to some southern cities is much more "northern" or "Midwest" but its still the south, its the cutoff.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Handro

It's impossible to define regions with strict borders. They overlap and blend into one another on their edges.

To say Cincinnati is clearly one or the other is disingenuous. I'd say it feels way more like Nashville than Minneapolis, but could be claimed by either region.



What do you consider Kentucky?

Midwestern with strong Appalachian influence. When I lived in Ohio, I never thought that going south of the Ohio River put me in the South.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by LAsam

In all my visits to Cincinnati, I've never considered it to be southern. It's solid Midwestern, with a sprinkle of Appalachia. I don't consider Kentucky to be southern either... Tennessee is the beginning of the south, or at least the industrial south.

I think most people consider Kentucky southern.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I think most people consider Kentucky southern.

Possibly, but I don't recall having that sentiment when I lived in Ohio. What about West Virginia? I didn't consider that southern either.

[JMKeynes]

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

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by LAsam

Possibly, but I don't recall having that sentiment when I lived in Ohio. What about West Virginia? I didn't consider that southern either.

Okay, generally speaking people consider anything south of the Ohio river southern. West Virginia is also Appalachian but Appalachian-southern.

The Ohio river is the traditional border between the "north" and "south"

Those regional identities I think have faded a bit in modern times, and any place two cultural regions meet is somewhat of a mix between both but you gotta draw the line somewhere.

I was reading a book one time that explained the borders between cultures and how the border areas on either side are more like each-other than they are like their respective regions.

So while Cincinnati is Northern and Louisville is southern, Cincinnati and Louisville are probably more like each other than either are like Chicago or Atlanta.

[edale]

It's a midwestern city with influences from the south and Appalachia. It's not uncommon to hear subtle southern accents among locals, and these are especially pronounced in the black community. Of the places I've been, it seems like its closest twins are Pittsburgh and St. Louis- cities that also straddle the North/South or Northeast/Appalachian lines.

I'd say the northernmost 3 counties of Kentucky that are immediately adjacent to Cincy are midwestern, as they really are continuations of Cincy and exhibit strong midwestern tendencies. They're very heavily catholic, don't really have an accent, mostly German ancestry, etc. The rest of Kentucky, including Louisville, is squarely southern. It's the home of Loretta Lynn and bluegrass music, bourbon, thick accents (almost cartoonishly so, in some parts), fried chicken, conservative politics, "Kentucky Colonels"...bout as southern as it gets without being the Deep South. Cincinnati is influenced by Kentucky, but its also of course influenced by the rest of Ohio to the north of it. It's where north meets south in the midwest.

[CherryCreek]

I spent some time there and seemed very Kentuckyish.

[CVG]

There is definitely some Appalachia in Cincy, but it has never felt Southern to me - neither does NKY.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by CherryCreek

I spent some time there and seemed very Kentuckyish.

Maybe things have changed, and I'm not condoning this, but when I lived in Ohio, locals definitely looked down on Kentuckians. A statement such as your would have been taken offensively!

[CVG]

Thats just a part of life when you live in a metro that straddles state lines, each side talks shit about the other. A lot of those people who talk negatively about KY spend half of their summer weekends at Lake Cumberland or hitting up some place on the Bourbon Trail.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Handro

It's impossible to define regions with strict borders. They overlap and blend into one another on their edges.

Exactly. It's automatic that you'll have hybrids at the edges of each region.

Even at a nation/country level, this is observable. Take the example of France. Blending in the SW (Occitania) into Spanish/Catalan culture; blending in the SE (Provence) into Northern Italian culture; blending in the E into German culture (Lorraine/Alsace), blending in the NE into Flemish/Dutch culture (Flandre française/Dunkerque area).

You'd need to have had a solid Great Wall / Berlin Wall for a long time for two adjacent areas to exhibit strong differences on all counts, and that's quite rare (and nonexistent, when it's within a country like the USA).

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by CVG

Thats just a part of life when you live in a metro that straddles state lines, each side talks shit about the other. A lot of those people who talk negatively about KY spend half of their summer weekends at Lake Cumberland or hitting up some place on the Bourbon Trail.

I never really contemplated what Kentuckians thought of Ohioans... I'm curious what stereotypes exist in that regard.