A Conversation for The United States of America

Update Forum: A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 1

J

Entry: The United States of America - A3776196
Author: Jodan - I used to be someone around here. - U201497

See F2045730?thread=610197

This was originally part of a project on America to update the old entry. But it got split up, and this was the second entry, called 'Thing and States in America', but was eventually shortened to its present title.

Unfortunately, it was ripped from PR and front-paged before it was finished (you may notice that the Edited form A3970398 is less complete than this one and actually has some links to unedited entries). So I'd like to try this again.

Once this is done (it's not - we're working on some paragraph intros for the regions... or Mikey is anyway) could this be used to replace A260461 and could A3970398 be demoted? smiley - grovel

Additionally, I really, really would like people to help collaborate on this enormous subject. Not just corrections, but your impressions, thoughts, anecdotes and obscure facts about the great nation of America. smiley - smiley

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 2

U168592

How about mentioning the '51st' State? smiley - winkeye (Not sure if that's England or Australia, both qualify I think smiley - tongueout)


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 3

J

Hmm... That is a fairly common expression, isn't it? Anything the US influences runs the risk of being called the 51st state. Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Britain...

Perhaps worthy of a section. I won't write it though. Anyone else want to?

smiley - run

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 4

U168592

smiley - laugh not me sir, no way!


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 5

Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!

I probably here "51st state" used most often in reference to DC, Canada, and Puerto Rico - in that order. Always strikes me as a bit odd, as I'd think Puerto Rico is the only one of the three that could, theoretically, become the 51st state at some point.

smiley - cheers


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 6

J

Canada never made sense to me. They don't let us push them around much anymore.
DC and PR make a bit of sense.

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 7

Hypatia

Missouri is in the Midwest, not the south. smiley - smiley


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 8

Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!

> Missouri is in the Midwest, not the south.

The groupings I'd originally suggested (F2045730?thread=610197&post=6828676#p6828676) did list Missouri as a Midwest state -- and these were the ones I was basing the intros on.

btw, have the various fixes Gnomon et all suggested write before the 'pick' all been addressed?

Speaking of intros, here are the intros that were previously written for the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountain States -- for both, people suggested the need for revisions, but we weren't able to come to any clear conclusions on what needed changing.

Pacific Northwest:

The Pacific states are known as being rather more liberal than most of the country in many areas, tending to be more open than most states to ‘liberal’ ideas such as gay marriage, medical use of marijuana, protection of the environment, and universal health care. On the other hand, this is far from true across the board – each of these states has large and powerful conservative contingents as well, with an especial focus on issues such as access to natural resources and combatting illegal immigration.

More than anything, though, the Pacific states are known for their weather and their scenery. California and Hawaii are known for the sunshine and the beaches; Oregon and Washington are known for forests, mountains, and rain; and Alaska is known for the glaciers, mountains, and snow. It shouldn't be surprising that tourism is a big industry in this region.


Rocky Mountain:


The Rocky Mountain states are most known for being bastions of independence in what is sometimes viewed as a nation of conformity. While the region is sometimes associated with paramilitary organizations, survivalist groups, and isolationist regligious sects, such groups comprise only a small fraction of the population. Each of the Rocky Mountain states truly has its own 'flavor', but perhaps the most pervasive quality across the region is a diehard adherence to federalist principles - each of these states has a history of fighting for the right to decide issues at the local, rather than at the national level. In part, this is related to the fact that the region has a significantly lower population density than the other parts of the US.

Nevertheless, the area includes several of the country's more popular vacation destinations -- even though the locals and the tourists may have very different ideas about what the Rocky Mountain states are about, most agree that it's a beautiful part of the country, especially for hiking and winter sports.

Actually, JD -- who had objected the most strongly to my Rocky Mountain intro -- had offered at one point to write one of his own, but I didn't see anything come through. I've tried to incorporate bits and pieces of what he said that did attest to things that were more unique about the area, though.

smiley - cheers


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 9

Florida Sailor All is well with the world

Not to be too picky but my area of Florida should not read;

'It has quite a few urban areas - Tampa-Petersburg, Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Pensacola and Tallahassee. '

But 'Tampa-Saint Petersburg', or even more correctly

'Tampa, Saint Petersburg and Clearwater' it has all become one big urban area, extending for 50 miles or so. Even though I personally despise the term 'Tampa Bay Area' might be more precise.

The only 'Petersburg' I know of is in Virginia, and the local Government gets upset if I put its name on my checkssmiley - biggrin

F smiley - shark S


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 10

J

The fixes of Gnomon did get addressed.

"Missouri is in the Midwest, not the south."

Is there a word for being surprised at something you did in the past? I'll bet there's a German word for it, but an English one doesn't come to mind.
I'm rather surprised I made the effort to put Missouri in the south... in many ways it is a southern state - it had slavery, but did not secede from the union. But I won't go on about Missouri because that would just be a waste of everyone's time, and I'll move it into the midwest.

Mea culpa smiley - smiley

"Actually, JD -- who had objected the most strongly to my Rocky Mountain intro -- had offered at one point to write one of his own, but I didn't see anything come through. I've tried to incorporate bits and pieces of what he said that did attest to things that were more unique about the area, though. "

I'm going to leave a message on his space and ask for him to join in this discussion again smiley - ok

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 11

J

Hey FloridaSailor. Haven't seen you in a while.
While I'm down in the south, I'll change it to 'Tampa Bay Area'.

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 12

J

By the way, Hyp, would you like to help with the Missouri paragraph? You could rewrite it all... I trust your expertise in the area from all the times we battled over whether Ohio or MIssouri was a better state. smiley - biggrin

Missouri was moved and Tampa was corrected.

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 13

Hypatia

I'll be happy to help with the Missouri paragraph. I was told some time back that the term Midwest confuses non-Americans, since some of the states in that category are east of the Mississippi. Some atlases now use the term Central States as a substitute. Just a thought.


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 14

Gnomon - time to move on

I thought Mid-West was everything between the Appalachians and the Rockies.


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 15

J

Not really.
There's a lot of 'south' in between the Appalachians and the Rockies - much of the 'Deep South'. The Mid-West is above that.

H- I think Mid-West fits in with the pattern of the other region names. We could easily just use compass directions to describe regions, but then New England would become the Northeast or something similar.

Of course, the south is the south is the south is the south.

smiley - blacksheep


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 16

Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!

Myself, I can't imagine anything other than Midwest -- if some visitors were coming into the US and told someone they'd like to go to the Central States, I really don't think they'd get the same response as if they'd said Midwest. And the government does indeed use Midwest in their categorizations -- and we're explaining exactly what we mean by it here, which states count and which don't, so I can't really see it being confusing.


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 17

Hypatia

I prefer Midwest also. That's what I'm used to hearing. I was just passing along the information that to some non-Americans the term is confusing since some of the states in that category are clearly nearer the east coast. smiley - erm


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 18

Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!

Well, when I get around to writing the intro for that region, I could explain that once upon a time in American history, even Indiana was seen as being "in the West". smiley - cheers


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 19

Friar

The glorious fight song of the University of Michigan claims the university to be the "Champions of the West".

It's all relative.

i certainly think of Missouri as the Midwest, but I tend to think of Kentucky as Midwest also, and that is usually described as the south.

The title 51st state can also apply to the US territories and protectorates (including puerto rico and other island states like American Samoa). But mist folks don't consider those 'states'. The 51st state is most used in reference to DC, at least the way *I* hear it.

Friar


A3776196 - The United States of America

Post 20

J

Hi Friar smiley - smiley
Interesting about the UM. Though my allegiance to Ohio State University compels me to say that they are not champions because Ohio creamed them in football last year, my more academic side wonders when that song was written.
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin were the Northwest Territory, once upon a time and they're sometimes called the Old Northwest.

Kentucky Midwest... hmm. Well, it is similar to Missouri in many ways (smiley - tongueout Hyp makes fun of me for having Kentucky relatives) but I've never really heard of it being described as Midwestern.

I wonder when the nickname 'Midwest' was adopted. Was it before the US stretched from sea to shining sea?

Some things to consider.

smiley - blacksheep


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