An aside to your aside. I had quite an argument once with a man, who I learned after the fact was autistic (I wouldn't have engaged him on this point if I had known...), that was from New York City who was beyond adamant that Ohio, where I grew up, couldn't possibly be in the "Midwest" because it's not near the literal geographic center of the country. I eventually had to walk away from the guy because he would not let it go.
TBF, Ohio is an odd duck. Even if we follow GP's advice and split the midwest into plains and lakes, Ohio has both. Except the east, which is more like West Virginia. Ohio is kind of a West Virmichigiana.
I'd argue for adding Appalachia, rounding us out to three "not just one midwest" categories: plains, lakes, and sandstone/coal seams.
Ohio is, I think, the only state that would fall right smack dab in the middle of all 3 new sub-midwests!
So, to be fair to your autistic interloctuor, Ohio is uniquely difficult to type :)
You're not wrong, but... Ohioans, for better or worse, for right or wrong, consider themselves Midwesterners.
I grew up in and near the Appalachian foothills. Appalachia has my vote, if it ever happens.
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> Ohio is, I think, the only state that would fall right smack dab in the middle of all 3 new sub-midwests!
IIRC, Colin Woodard, in his book American Nations, split Ohio into 3 distinct cultural regions. I think it's apt and your thoughts on the matter are shared by many others.
That seems like the opposite of what I'd expect. As an unrepentant coastal elite, I know that the Midwest starts in upstate NY and goes to... uh, IDK, eastern Oregon or something?
There are two "lines". One is the hundredth meridian. It's important because west of there, there's much less rain. (The hundredth meridian lines up pretty closely with the western edge of the Gulf of Mexico, meaning that moist air from there doesn't lead to rain west of that line.) Also, west of (approximately) there, the elevation rises to above 2000 feet. Agriculture is much more limited by water west of this line.
The other line is the mountains. Draw it through Denver. West of that line, you are definitely in "the West". It's the western third of the country.
Between Denver and the hundredth meridian? Maybe call it the "Great Plains".
Historically "the west" referred to west of the Mississippi river. "Midwest" was the Territories mid way between the eastern colonies and the western plains west of the Mississippi
