Oklahoma- what region?

Wikipedia wusses out by placing Okla. in a mythical "South Central" region along with Tex., La. and Ark. Whatever. To me, that's just saying it's in the western part of the South.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Central_United_States

 

I think we can rule out the Midwest.

I voted Southwest, but Great Plains is probably a more apt description.

 

Great Plains works. God does it ever work. I know first hand having driven down I-35.

 

yup. mantle sucked nuts.

 

I've noted that many people in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma dislike the "Midwest" moniker and prefer "Great Plains." Particularly people in Kansas and Oklahoma, whose states haven't as much of the Scandinavian and Slavic heritages that help tie the Dakotas and Nebraska to their eastern neighbors. I think the "Great Plains" folks have a very legit point, but since "Great Plains" isn't traditionally considered the name of a U.S. region, I'll leave the Midwest/South/Southwest choices as are.

 

It should be its own region. As you noted, the cultural differences between, say, Kansas and Ohio are pretty vast. Heck, the differences between Indiana and Wisconsin are pretty major.

 

Arkansas has a pretty shaky regional ID also. People from outside the South lump it in there, but most of the population is in Little Rock and points west, which really aren't very southern at all. And God only knows where West Virginia fits in.

 

Appalachian, and I don't mean that as some dopey hillbilly slam, should be its own region too.

West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio, parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, western Virginia and North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia all fit the bill.

 

Wait, we're not using Flyover Country any more?

 

little rock points west?

 

Yeah, it really should be its own region- ND/SD/NE/KS/OK- Great Plains. The fact that people outside those states often don't get it just adds to the "no one understands us" feeling I picked up on when I lived there.

AR, WV and MD are other pretty regionally ambigious states.