This REALLY ticked me off when I lived in NY

[kevin37b]

As PJ said , we have Chicago and the rest of the state .We have the most corrupt government in the country . Madigan and his assistants control every tax dollar in the state . It stays in Chicago .

 

[LMychajluk]

Yep. I grew up in NYC. Anything north of the Tappan Zee bridge is 'Upstate'. We had a family place in Sullivan County, and I went to school in Oneonta, which were both 'upstate'. Oneonta was 'way upstate'.

 

[Howling]

It is that hive perspective of the lump of people in the cities. Anything outside their tightly packed group of people and building is different so "upstate", etc.

I am 40 miles west of Boston. Have heard radio and politicians talk about our area as 'western Massachusetts'. There is another 100 miles of state west of us.

 

[prichard]

As far as I can tell this is upstate. It is afterall north of NYC.

You have to realize that those of us outside on NY think of NYC and the rest of the state. As far as we know there is only one term for outside the city and that is upstate since everything else is north of there. Partly this is due to many from outside NYC that we have met stating that they are from upstate in order to differentiate themselves from the city.

It is partly due to ignorance of geography and partly due to local parlance. I tell people from other parts of the country I live in Atlanta because they know nothing about the rest of the state. If I lived in south Georgia and told someone that many would ask "Is that near Atlanta?" because they have never heard any news from the rest of the state or have flown through the airport in ATL. I grew up outside Jacksonville, FL. That is "north Florida" to many there is no Florida north of Orlando. Can you tell me where the division of northern and southern California is? Where does "south Florida" start?

 

[Sigarms]

Oh, no, no, no! Sorry, my apologies if you thought I meant you.

Sorry about that.

However I did end up in the burn unit for a week due to my own negligence, so perhaps you'd be partially right even if you were refering to me

 

[Sigarms]

As far as I can tell this is upstate. It is afterall north of NYC.

I'm well north of Charlotte, and NO ONE, not even the news has ever refered to my general location as "upstate".

I use to live about 2 hours north west of Philadelphia, as well as another point in time about 90 minutes north of Pittsburgh, and not once had anyone ever refered to me as being in "upstate Pennsylvania" (I'd just tell people I was about a hour north of Harrisburg or when I lived in the other location, 30 miles south of Erie, and even then with people in Pa if they gave me a blank stare, tell them 90 minutes north of Pittsburgh). That's why I always reference Pittsburgh per that last location, because people on the eastern side of Pa had no clue where Erie was LMAO.

Heck, I use to live around Morganton WV and not once did I ever hear the term "upstate West Virginia".

 

[prichard]

No, NY is the only state I recall hearing the upstate term.

Georgia is generally north, middle and south and then Atlanta as if it's a seperate state.

 

[Sigarms]

No, NY is the only state I recall hearing the upstate term.

And why? NYC?

 

[prichard]

And why? NYC?

No clue. I'd have to assume it was derived locally but was it created by folks "upstate" wherever that may have been or in the city.

 

[PJSprog]

No, NY is the only state I recall hearing the upstate term.

Georgia is generally north, middle and south and then Atlanta as if it's a seperate state.

Yeah, I guess I should differentiate that for us, too. We have Northern, Central, and Southern Illinois, and the IL DNR even has a map to delineate them for the purpose of defining hunting seasons. It's pretty much just the people in Chicago who use the term "downstate" to describe the rest of Illinois outside of Cook County (or Chicagoland, as they like to call the area).

I live in Southern Illinois ... which is downstate.