I think Southern/Appalachian accents are much stronger in the Columbus area than in Cincinnati. Besides the north side of Columbus and Delaware County, there are some 'billies!

edale- Stop being a betch and just admit to yourself that the Cleve is awesome. Seriously though, palijandro points out in the beginning of his post that he was making generalizations about Ohio. I have friends that are from Cincinnati and they tend to have a 'typical' southern accent (just like some Clevelanders have the NEO accent). I would also like to point out that his generalizations about the rest of Ohio tend to be true (the one saying that the rest of Ohio is pretty country). I took that statement as meaning the rest of non-urban Ohio (you know, places outside of the 3-C's and other metro areas); in other words, rural Ohio. Again, he was making generalizations and didn't go into n in depth examination of the different cultures that make up Ohio and her cities.

 

Also, I know it is random but I was wondering if shredded chicken was an Ohio/Midwest thing? My step mom is from Oklahoma and she had never heard of shredded chicken and she said that they don't even sell the canned shredded chicken stuff in Oklahoma. It just amazes me because shredded chicken is the shiznit.

 

So NEO isn't rural? Tell that to the Amish, then get back to me.

Folks, ENOUGH with the generalizations and back on TOPIC!

I'd agree with GCrites that certainly in 2009 Cbus is more 'southern' than Cincinnati (that's mostly because the migrants to Ohio from Kentucky, Tennessee and the like have gone to Cbus over the last 20 years instead of Cincinnati because the economy was growing faster). Chillicothe folks always seemed to have the most 'southern' accents of any Ohioans - it's because it was the capital of the Virginia Military District.

 

It's worth noting the Akron, Cleveland, and Toledo all have sizable southern populations as well. Cincinnati is a mixed bag and to a degree southerners/Appalachians have only some effect on the city's culture and have tended to settle in the exurbs other than a couple of poor neighborhoods like Lower Price Hill and Norwood (though that is gentrifying rather quickly).

 

I had someone make a similar generalization about Cincinnati as palijandro did at a hotel in Toledo. They assumed that proximity to Kentucky meant you should have a deep Kentucky accent. Interestingly, my family is partially from Northern Kentucky and they have more German ticks in the dialect than anything like a Lexington sound.

>Every wedding i've been to in the Youngstown/Warren area has had the Chicken dance and at least one polka. Most weddings around here also include the "dollar dance". I've been to some where they serve shots while you are waiting in line, but most do not.

 

I went to one Catholic wedding in Youngstown when I was a kid, and still remember how alien it felt as compared to a Cincinnati Catholic wedding.  That was until my uncles trashed a hotel room after the reception, at which point it felt like a snuggie.  Also, I remember a mariachi band roaming the halls, which was a bit surreal.       

 

Youngstown Catholic wedding: loud, drinking, smoking, exotic Eastern European music & dancing

Cincinnati Catholic wedding: loud, drinking, smoking, arguments/fisticuffs, visit from the police, more drinking 

 

 

^I can't go back and read the whole thread over again.  But here are my generalizations:

 

Northern and NEO should be a separate state.  The rest of OH seems overwhelmingly country.  Yes, Columbus is a big city, but this is only a recent developoment.  It does not seem to have the culture of a Cleveland.  Cleveland has more Eastern Europeans than about anywhere, Italians, Jews, tons of Irish, and basically any other ethnicity one can think of (The Cultural Gardens can attest to this).

 

Cincinnati, IMO, is the northern most Southern state in the Union.  They speak with a twang.  NEO speaks similar to Chicago (I think it's called the upper midland dialect).

 

While I generally do not like Pat Forde of ESPN, he wrote a great piece on Cincy once.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2848689

 

To say that Cincinnati is "overwhelmingly country" is purely ignorant. I challenge you to come down to Cincy and stand in the middle of OTR and say it is country.  And it's laughable that Clevelanders think that North East Ohio is somehow some urban paradise...isn't Amish Country in NEO? I'm just not sure how it came to be that Clevelanders claim superiority in urbanity over the rest of the state...all this "welcome to the big city" sh!t that you see in different threads is positively nauseating.

 

My god Edale, don't get your panties all in a bunch.  When I said the rest of Ohio was pretty country, of course I did not mean to include Cincinnati or Columbus, or even Dayton for that matter.  So freaking relax with your "I challenge you to a dual, sire" mularkey.

 

I also think Akron and Cleveland are worlds apart.  While they are only separated by like 35 miles, there is a huge difference in the types of people.  They used to say the 3 Rs they taught in WVA were "read, write, and route 21," because so many came up for the rubber mills.

 

I think there are a lot more fundamentalist type christian churches in Akron too, which would only add weight to my belief.  Rex Humbard, Ernest Angley, Knute Larson, etc.

 

I really haven't had any experience with non urban Ohio types (not the 3Cs, Toledo, Sandusky, Akron, Youngstownetc).

 

 

For the record, I love Cincy, so just because I point out differences, does not mean it's for the worse... but another thing,

 

My step-grandpa was from.... oh hell, what was the name of the area...something Hill (I keep thinking Beacon) maybe College?  Yes, College Hill.  Also, my college roommate was from Colerain.  One thing they both did was say "please" when they wanted me to repeat something.   

edale- Stop being a betch and just admit to yourself that the Cleve is awesome. Seriously though, palijandro points out in the beginning of his post that he was making generalizations about Ohio. I have friends that are from Cincinnati and they tend to have a 'typical' southern accent (just like some Clevelanders have the NEO accent). I would also like to point out that his generalizations about the rest of Ohio tend to be true (the one saying that the rest of Ohio is pretty country). I took that statement as meaning the rest of non-urban Ohio (you know, places outside of the 3-C's and other metro areas); in other words, rural Ohio. Again, he was making generalizations and didn't go into n in depth examination of the different cultures that make up Ohio and her cities.

 

Also, I know it is random but I was wondering if shredded chicken was an Ohio/Midwest thing? My step mom is from Oklahoma and she had never heard of shredded chicken and she said that they don't even sell the canned shredded chicken stuff in Oklahoma. It just amazes me because shredded chicken is the shiznit.

 

So NEO isn't rural? Tell that to the Amish, then get back to me.

 

I never said that. If you re-read what I wrote you will see that I made the point that although Ohio has metropolitan cities (like the 3-C's) the majority of Ohio is pretty rural. By that logic, that would include the Amish community in NEO, which is outside of the city and in a rural area. Every region of Ohio (whether it be NE or SW) has a rural area.

 

Rob- Who would leave a shredded chicken sandwich in the road? What a waste!

Edale, one thing to remember ...

 

There is a psychological effect going on as well ... You see, the stars seem aligned for Cincinnati, considering the past 4 or 5 years ... while in other midwestern cities (particularly OH) ... not so much. So, in order to bring balance, one must force ideals that trigger negative thoughts ... mainly with a universal thought, especially to like minded urban folks, such as; conservative/liberal, southern/northern, which city is newer/older, downtown is larger/smaller, city has the most diverse ethnicities, etc...

 

All I'm saying is, read between the lines. Anyone that has been to Cincy and has seen OTR, or driven down Central Pkwy and overlooked Westend, Queensgate, Camp Washington, etc ... knows better. ;)

I can see that anyone from Cincy is going to misconstrue anything that I (or anyone north of Cincy says). I never said that Cincy was not Metropolitan. I never said that Cincy was rural (and neither did paljandro). I can not speak for others, but I was making an observation about a slight difference in accents of people from southern Ohio compared to those who live in northern Ohio. Never did I say that one accent was better than the other. I also never said that having a slight southern accent was a bad thing (and I know that not everyone in Cincy has an accent; I talked to a friend of mine from Cincy last night and she said that people who have an accent is more of a family thing). I don't think that a southern or great lakes accent should have any negative connotations. Some people on here need to stop being overly sensitive. I am sure that Cincy is a really great city, however, I can not say for myself because I have not had the opportunity to visit Cincy. This summer I planned on making a trip down there, but seeing how some of the Queen city's residents reinforce that nickname, I might just cancel those plans.

Some people on here need to stop being overly sensitive. I am sure that Cincy is a really great city, however, I can not say for myself because I have not had the opportunity to visit Cincy. This summer I planned on making a trip down there, but seeing how some of the Queen city's residents reinforce that nickname, I might just cancel those plans.

 

Guru, heal thyself!

 

This thread was never meant to be competitive...

 

So, the discussion has moved into the north/south, urban/rural divide. The article that was posted earlier about the Bengals and Cincy was interesting, because even in an urban environment, there seems to be a lot of provincialism. I notice that when I visit NYC boroughs; I meet a lot of people who rarely leave their neighborhoods, and would not think of living anywhere else. In northside Chicago, many people seem to be from somewhere else, and maintain ties to home a little more strongly. Is Cleveland like this as well?

^Maybe I should have put the wink smiley in the last sentence. I was being sarcastic; I still plan on making a trip to Cincy.

 

 

 

 

^Maybe I should have put the wink smiley in the last sentence. I was being sarcastic; I still plan on making a trip to Cincy.

 

Fair enough ;)

 

 

 

I don't think it's so much a neighborhood by neighborhood thing, as much as a socio-economic thing.  I've noticed that the lower someone's education level, generally the less likely they are to go to other places.  I don't just mean "travel", I mean things as simple as going to a different part of the same city.  There are financial reasons for this- travel, even local, costs money, but I think there is also a notion of comfort in one's familiar environment.  I think that education builds the ability to be more comfortable in new environments, as it gives one mental and social tools to process unfamiliar places and experiences. 

 

Neighborhoods where people are well travelled are generally neighborhoods where people are well educated, and not incidentally, affluent.  Northside Chicago, for instance.  I bet that much of the Southside or Westside are much different.

Just as cities (esp. port cities) often have foreign sections of town (Little Italy, Chinatown, et al.), cities that capture certain kinds of internal migration have similar places. Some Ohio cities have those places, P&G has that affect on certain neighborhoods in the Cincinnati area where their out-of-town hires tend to settle and they may rarely interact with the locals. The NW quadrant of Cbus seems to be that way to some extent. Chicago's Northside certainly is one of those places for many midwesterners. How I Might Your Mother had a whole show on Minnesota bars in NYC. You should see the recent discussions in the Dispatch by transplanted Pittsburghers about their connection to the Steelers rather than the Browns or Bengals.

Some people on here need to stop being overly sensitive. I am sure that Cincy is a really great city, however, I can not say for myself because I have not had the opportunity to visit Cincy. This summer I planned on making a trip down there, but seeing how some of the Queen city's residents reinforce that nickname, I might just cancel those plans.

 

Guru, heal thyself!

 

This thread was never meant to be competitive...

 

So, the discussion has moved into the north/south, urban/rural divide. The article that was posted earlier about the Bengals and Cincy was interesting, because even in an urban environment, there seems to be a lot of provincialism. I notice that when I visit NYC boroughs; I meet a lot of people who rarely leave their neighborhoods, and would not think of living anywhere else. In northside Chicago, many people seem to be from somewhere else, and maintain ties to home a little more strongly. Is Cleveland like this as well?

 

I think Cleveland is like that.  I'm from rather large family.  Both of my parents have five siblings.  I have 32 first cousins and after graduating college most moved back to the neighborhoods they were born and raised.

 

My fathers family is from Glenville, almost all have been life long in Glenville residents.  When my mothers family moved to the States they moved to the near Westside around Lincoln-West High School, because its a heavily Latino neighborhood.

 

My mothers parents later moved to Cleveland Heights when my mothers youngest brother attended Lincoln-West as one of the first students (there is a huge age gap between the first five kids and him.  He's the only kid that went to high school in the states).  When he left for Ohio State, my grandparents move to Cleveland Hts., but my moms two other brothers and one sister stayed on the Westside as they hate the Eastside suburbs. My mothers Westside siblings rarely travel East of West 25 Street, excluding work, games, nightlife. If they can't do in their neighborhood, they don't need it.

 

My mothers sister and her family live in uber snooby Cleveland hts. (any kid that went to Roxboro is a snob!  :-P ).  My father has a brother lives in Cleveland Hts., a sister in Shaker Hts. and a sister that live in the Lee-Miles are (Invermere)  because her husband's family is from that Adlai Stevens area.  They recently moved to Glenville.

 

Most of my cousins live in the exact same neighborhood as their parents. Some of my cousins on the Westside moved to Ohio City, Tremont or Detriot-Shoreway as they want to move to more upwardly mobile areas, but still have a strong connection and be in close proximity of the barrio.

 

My fathers siblings, that never left Glenville all live between Superior, Yale, E. 105 and East Blvd.  The refuse to move and I don't blame them.  I can walk out of my grand parents house and walk to almost any relatives house in under five minutes.  My grand parents house is like grand central station.  Almost every family event happens at my grandparents house because everyone can just walk over.  At any given time of the day, there is someone at my grand parents house.

 

My cousins raised in Cleveland Hts. & Shaker Hts. also live close to their parents.  My cousins who grew up on Fairmount all live between North Park and Fairmount, except the one that lives downtown.  My brother lives three blocks from my parents.  My cousins who went to Lomond all live in Shaker, except for the one who moved to a tacky community in Beachwood.  My cousin and I live on Shaker Square.

shredded chicken?  sounds gross.  is that from cincy?

 

*ducks*

 

guess not with that cleveland avatar.

 

ohioans move out for jobs, not in search of culture.  why would anyone move to charlotte otherwise?

shredded chicken?  sounds gross.  is that from cincy?

 

Haha, it is actually delicious and it apparently is a Mansfield/Central Ohio thing.

They seem to have shredded chicken sandwiches at all the county fairs I've been to as well, so I wonder if it isn't an Ohio thing more than a particular region. 

In all my years (shut up whippersnappers) i've never seen this shredded chicken!

[...]

 

Rob- Who would leave a shredded chicken sandwich in the road? What a waste!

 

Maybe my joke got lost in an era when not many farms have poultry running at large, and most people travel from point to point on expressways and interstates instead of roads that run past barnyards.

 

Whenever a car approached, any chicken near the road always felt a sudden and urgent need to be on the other side. Chickens not being very generously supplied with processing power, they invariably got the timing wrong.

 

The scenario was something like; zoom-zoom, flap-flap-flap, thud-squawk! zoom-zoom.

 

The result was always a shredded chicken on or beside the road.

 

:wink:

^Yeah, I didn't pick up on that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16cookies.html?_r=1

 

December 16, 2009

The Wedding? I’m Here for the Cookies

By RON LIEBER, New York Times

 

PITTSBURGH

 

LIKE brides and bridegrooms the world over, the ones in this city and nearby towns bask in the glory of the white dress, the big kiss and the first dance.

 

But then, a large number of them happily cede the spotlight to a cookie. Or a few thousand of them.

 

For as long as anyone here can remember, wedding receptions in Pittsburgh have featured cookie tables, laden with dozens of homemade old-fashioned offerings like lady locks, pizzelles and buckeyes. For weeks ahead — sometimes months — mothers and aunts and grandmas and in-laws hunker down in the kitchen baking and freezing. Then, on the big day, hungry guests ravage the buffet, piling plates high and packing more in takeout containers so they can have them for breakfast the next day. (Continued: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16cookies.html?_r=1)

Queensgate, Camp Washington, etc ... knows better. ;)

 

Queensgate is an industrial wasteland and Camp Washington suffers from lack of accessibility. Camp Washington is a creepy little enclave.  I wouldn't doubt if these neighborhoods are solely responsible for other cities in Ohio coming up with the term "Cincinnasty" since both neighborhoods are highly visible from i-75. In my personal opinion I don't think you could have picked worse examples lol. Most people don't look at Camp Washington and think ooh it's so cool, diverse, cosmopolitan and gritty. No, they think "this place is stark and depressing. Didn't they film a heroin documentary here in the early '70s?"

that's a new one on me, i've never heard anyone in ohio use the term cincinnasty. and my gawd, those areas aren't that bad. then again i have a high bar for what you would consider bad neighborhoods *shrugs*

Bad in the sense that it's dead. It's dirty. Developers have no interest in it what-so-ever. It's not 'crime ridden' but it leaves a bad impression to people who aren't desensitized to grit. I think suburbanites use aesthetics and cleanliness as a measure of vitality. Over-the-Rhine and West End look much better by comparison, imo.

 

P.S. I'm cranky today from lack of sleep. You'll have to forgive me.  :-(

no, thx for 'splainin -- now i gotcha.

Bad in the sense that it's dead. It's dirty. Developers have no interest in it what-so-ever. It's not 'crime ridden' but it leaves a bad impression to people who aren't desensitized to grit. I think suburbanites use aesthetics and cleanliness as a measure of vitality. Over-the-Rhine and West End look much better by comparison, imo.

 

P.S. I'm cranky today from lack of sleep. You'll have to forgive me. :-(

 

Don't you live in Columbus now? Yeah, you keep it real, Mr. Vinyl Siding. ;)

 

j/k!

Says the man from Western Hills.

Completely random Street View neighborhood drops in Cincinnati and Cleveland:

 

West Cincinnati:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.153142,-84.619877&spn=0,359.777012&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=39.152862,-84.619915&panoid=SRhEXphQjgiawtw9v7cDiQ&cbp=12,224.32,,0,7.91

 

Central Cincinnati:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.17186,-84.45611&spn=0,359.944253&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=39.174758,-84.463022&panoid=j3VjUCk38n6EISyZ31XkSQ&cbp=12,232.38,,0,1.05

 

East Cincinnati:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.140413,-84.415727&spn=0,359.944253&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=39.142158,-84.428&panoid=tioCJvam7kNKk67pse5iYg&cbp=12,316.18,,0,8.26

 

 

West Cleveland:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.479221,-81.785383&spn=0,359.777012&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=41.47941,-81.785353&panoid=PFxcftl0vKM_L3AN5PAecA&cbp=12,40.85,,0,10.13

 

Central Cleveland:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.432624,-81.623697&spn=0,359.888506&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=41.432324,-81.623729&panoid=6NHIXjGUmIihizP-VnPt8A&cbp=12,179.63,,0,5.35

 

East Cleveland:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.521495,-81.587477&spn=0,359.888506&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=41.528485,-81.600213&panoid=D4Khb_JzHbn0H8jofs-0_Q&cbp=12,47.16,,0,-0.27

 

I just looked for patches of neighborhood on the satellite view that were a medium distance from thoroghfares. I have never been to any of these streets.

 

To me, they look...like neighborhoods. They could be anywhere, and they are not dirty or falling apart. Impressions of places from an interstate are pretty shallow, but that is indeed the only impression a lot of people see of a city. Imagine if our interstates turned into boulevards when they crossed over the beltways, and we invested the same maintenance dollars into them. THEN what would the impression of our cities be?

Re the whole interstate thing, people tend to forget that those areas have the cheapest land and lowest demand.  Noise, unsightliness, hazard, etc. all lead to a less desirable neighborhood and, consequently, a poorer demographic.  Remember the whole gerrymandering controversy in North Carolina a decade or so ago.  Although the motivations for doing so were hotly contested, NC basically drew up a new congressional district that was just a few hundred yards wide and 50 or so miles long following the path of I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro.  The effect was to create a district where a racial minority was guaranteed to win, but also dilluted the minority vote in the previously established districts which overlapped.

Imagine if our interstates turned into boulevards when they crossed over the beltways, and we invested the same maintenance dollars into them. THEN what would the impression of our cities be?

 

"Town X has too much d@mn traffic!" lol!

 

 

Don't you live in Columbus now? Yeah, you keep it real, Mr. Vinyl Siding. ;)

 

j/k!

 

There's plenty of vinyl siding in Hyde Park and Mt. Adams. Siding itself isn't a bad material at all if it's put up right. It has to be seamless. Lets get back on topic though.

Says the man from Western Hills.

 

Ouch! ;)

 

Ah yes, a soon-to-be foreclosed school.

Ah yes, a soon-to-be foreclosed school.

 

I'm about to foreclose your mom.

You couldn't even foreclosure your legs.

Saw a billboard on Rt 50 near Saylor Park:

 

"Where is Cincinnatus?"

Living under a tent under Diamondback in Mason.

Must I separate you boys?

Somebody has a fetish with Meryl Streep.

Somebody has a fetish with Meryl Streep.

 

Queensgate, Camp Washington, etc ... knows better. ;)

 

Queensgate is an industrial wasteland and Camp Washington suffers from lack of accessibility. Camp Washington is a creepy little enclave.

 

You had me at "industrial wasteland"  :D . Pictures please! Especially if it looks anything like our North Central (reminds me I have to get to the other parts I didn-t cover).

 

As for the talk about immigrant culture, the city of Columbus was content with attracting immigrant businesses out to new(er) strip malls and subdivisions, while the majority of the existing urban core was left to continue to be largely vacant. No steps have been made to change that and for most higher quality, authentic foreign restaurants and stores one has to make a trek out to one of the sprawling quadrants of the city. The NW side has a far-east Asian focus, though there's even a Russian grocery store, and the NE side has a large concentration of Somali businesses. The large Mexican populace has mainly concentrated on the far west side in a sprawling industrial area with a presence on the west end of the Hilltop, which consists of similar less urban/newer development. On the upside, Downtown has seen a Venezuelan and Cuban restaurant open shop and there's an Albanian owned restaurant. Old North has a few Indian options and an Ethiopian place.

 

Basically, I'm pissed that I can't go Downtown or into the Short North to some Japanese/Korean joint with good food and karaoke.

Living under a tent under Diamondback in Mason.

 

What is this supposed to mean?

 

 

Nothing.  Just go back to your little Lizard Hill World.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer once did a series of articles called "The Five Ohios."

 

This well-researched piece says there's 11 nations of North Amercia, three of which include parts of Ohio....

http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html

 

Let the secessions begin!