Contentious issue I know, but recently I’ve encountered a number of people who believe that Ohio (and sometimes Indiana and Michigan) is not truly part of the Midwest. Which to me is preposterous since I’ve always considered Ohio the most quintessentially Midwestern state. Midwest to me has always been very nearly synonymous with rust belt, but it seems there are a fair number of people who place the Midwest more in what I’d call the Great Plains, or Greater Minnesota. So I’m wondering where do you all place the Midwest.
I’m definitely a midwesterner, born in MO, lived all over the place, and now live in MN.
I’ve called it “soda” my whole life. “Coke” was definitely confusing in the southeast. “I’ll take a coke.” “What kind?” “Wtf?”
I think the real lexicological definition is “ope”
Do you ope? If so, you are a midwesterner, there are various flavors of midwesterner, but that is one important characteristic.