I live on the boarder of England and Wales, so I feel a cultural connection to both. But as I’ve always lived on the English side I feel more culturally connected to England.
But with Scotland for example I don’t feel any cultural connection to them at all, if someone mentions Scotland it feels like not related to me at all. Same with Northern Ireland.
Does a Texan “see” themselves the same as a New Yorker for example?
I don’t see myself connected to Scotland or Northern Ireland, I feel slightly connected to Wales but not that much.
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Sort of, but not really. *Especially* not a New Yorker and a Texan. I’m from the northeast part of Ohio, which borders Western Pennsylvania, so I kinda have a little bit of connection to Pennsylvanians.
In the US it’s more divided up into regions. Southerners feel connected to other people in the South, Northerners to the North, people the Midwest to the Midwest, so on and so forth.
Yes. Almost all Americans feel a deep shared sense of “American-ness.” Other states often have distinct cultures, but that doesn’t change the tremendous amount we also share
Yes. I feel a kinship to the Midwest as a whole but also Northeast.
I was raised and live on the Ohio River with Kentucky and Ohio just a few miles away. There’s very little difference in the people or the landscape between all three states in this part of the US; I could probably blindfold you and set you down in Illinois or middle Iowa and you wouldn’t know the difference from where I am in Indiana. Northern Iowa is more like Minnesota dontcha know
Some do. There are some parts of our culture that are shared by the vast majority of Americans, but some are even more strongly connected to their state or region. I am a Virginian (as in my family has been there for generations and I grew up there) first, Southern second(I am not from NOVA,) and American third. That said, we will generally have each other’s backs against an outside threat.
Washington and Oregon are like siblings.
Living right across one of the Great Lakes had me feel a cultural connection to Canada. We got some of their TV stations and during my youth we mostly shopped at Loblaws.
We mostly saw our neighboring states as places where you could take advantage of different state laws. Particularly when it came to buying booze, fireworks or getting your car inspected to a lower set of standards.
I feel connected because we are all Americans and have more similarities than differences in our lifestyle and culture.
There are different experiences someone has growing up in Iowa vs. West Virginia but you could go to the other state and not feel like it is a completely different culture.
To my own state, yes. To NJ and DE, not really even though I’m close to both. Even less so with Maryland, which isn’t much farther. To the US as a whole, certainly.
I feel more connected to America than any particular state. I grew up in New England, and that is my “homeland,” even though I haven’t lived there since I was 24. Since then, I’ve lived in California, Florida, the Midwest, 3 foreign countries, and now for a long time in the Middle Atlantic. There are states I feel alienated from, no need to mention them here, but I feel culturally connected to dozens of them.
Our cultural divides are not along state lines. The upstate of South Carolina is a lot more like North Carolina while the low country is a lot more like Georgia. But if you put enough distance, yeah, New York and California and Texas and Florida are all going to have distinct differences
Growing up in Maryland, I felt a pretty strong connection with Rhode Island when I was there. Newport feels like a slightly bigger Annapolis. I definitely feel a cultural connection with Virginia as well. We’re like bickering siblings in a lot of ways.
As for a New Yorker and a Texan, they certainly don’t see each other as the same, but they generally *do* unite when it comes to overall American patriotism.
I feel culturally connected to other Midwestern states, but much less so for those in other regions.
It’s more like regions than states. I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life and consider myself a Midwesterner. But I’ve lived in three states: Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri (although Kansas is technically part of the west, but it was Kansas City on the KS/MO border so still very Midwestern there).
I don’t feel any connection to Texas, nor to New York. But I’m very connected to Midwestern states. So it’s sort of like what you were describing.
The state lines really don’t mean much other than you can get an abortion in Illinois but not Missouri. So I guess there’s that.
Im in california, maybe a little to Oregon/Washington and Nevada. But otherwise it’s probably more like I have a connection to fellow Californians and all Americans in general
I live on the border of several states. Culturally, I feel more connected to the region (it’s called the Driftless Area- lots of rolling hills and steep valleys and farms). However, I definitely feel a lot of state-specific cultural connection. Since laws vary quite a bit from state to state, there does tend to be a difference in culture, even when I live closer to towns in another state than I do to the next town over in my own. Also, it’s different with different states. I feel less connected to Illinois than Iowa and Minnesota, for example. There is some historic animosity between residents of Illinois’s largest city (Chicago) and the surrounding rural states where Chicagoans tend to buy vacation homes and fail to contribute adequately to the local economy despite driving housing prices up.
I am from the Georgia Alabama border. Which seems similar to the England wales comparison. Even though I’ve never lived in Alabama due to family history and geographical closeness there’s a strong cultural connection to Alabama. My city Columbus even roots for the closer Alabama university over the in state university Georgia. It’s going to depend how strong the connection is for each person.
I live in East Tennessee so Western North Carolina feels like the same place. Feel pretty connected to most of Appalachia though
Oregon and Washington, yes. The west as a whole, sort of. The East, South, Midwest, not much.
America is much less divided by these boundaries than the the UK. Welsh, Scottish, English, and Northern-Irish are full identities on the same level as a nationality for most people. These are ethnic groups, the Irish and Welsh even have their own language. States in America are nothing like this at all. There is strong regional pride in this country, but generally 99% of people are American-first, (insert immigrant nationality here second or equal to first), and state third, even in Texas.
As a Marylander, I cover everything in Old Bay and wear the flag around like any red-blooded person from the state would, but this does not prevent me from identifying with people from other states at all, tbh. Racial and ethnic identity and rural vs urban are bigger differentiators here.
I also feel it’s more of a region. I’m in CA, and I feel like Washington and Oregon could be cousins, but Texas and Florida absolutely not.
To a certain extent, yes. We’re all Americans but other states are so different as to feel pretty foreign.
I grew up about an hour from Idaho Montana state line. I feel like Montana is an extension of my backyard basically. I don’t know how they feel about idahoans, but I like them.
A lot of people who live by the border of Mexico feel the connection. There’s a heavy influence of Mexican traditions.
I feel a cultural connection to the upper Midwest because I used to live there.
But other than that, not really.
Sort of, a little, but not at all like what you describe. In the UK, those are distinct ethnic groups with their own languages and a unique but shared history dating back a bazillion years. While I will always argue that American history IS very, very old, state history is not. And while each state does have its own unique ethnic makeup, there’s tremendous overlap.
It would be more like the cultural connection a not-too-sporty Brit might feel between two football clubs. Like, maybe you root for one club because your family does, but you have lots of friends who root for a different club. And each club does have a history that kinda predates the club itself, and each club maybe has its own demographic makeup, but you couldn’t entirely say, “this fanbase is exclusively people who went to Eaton,” while “this fanbase is exclusively blue collar workers.” There will be trends and consistencies but also lots and lots of overlap.
I definitely feel way more connected to the US as a whole than I do to Pennsylvania. I think the differences between states are overstated tbh. I’ve been all over the country, there are minor differences from region to region but nothing too crazy, it all just feels American to me. There are a few places that almost do feel like a whole other country though. Particularly the DEEP deep south, Indian reservations, and Utah (kinda).
Sometimes. I don’t feel it when I’m in my country. But if I’m traveling and in another country, yeah. Then it’s like “woohoo another American!” Immediate friend.
You feel a connection to your region. I’m from North Carolina born and raised so I’ve always felt connected to other Southerners. I have more in common with someone from Georgia or Tennessee than I do with someone from New York or New Jersey.
I have friends from all over the country but what I’m trying to say is the lifestyle I grew up with is usually akin to what many other Southerners grew up with as well.
As far as Texas, those fellas over there see themselves as “Texans” above all else. Some states operate a little differently
We’re American and identify as such. Most folks don’t have a very strong identification with the state they were born in or live in. Some, maybe, but I don’t think it’s a big part of our identities in general. Regional stuff (e.g. “The South”) tends to be a bit stronger.
Hawaii and Alaska are functionally their own regions though — they don’t have neighbors that are mostly the same.
As an American, I wonder how the non-states do though… Puerto Ricans are American citizens but I’ve no clue what people living there think about being American. Or American Samoans are Americans but *not* citizens. Their concept of being American is probably different too.
Nope.
In Kentucky with horse pastures, bourbon trails, hunting, fishing, rolling hills, I feel no cultural connection to say Florida with their beaches, swamps, gators, and palm trees.
States can vary greatly. Florida might be more like Spain, while Alaska and Minnesota might be more like Sweden and Norway in climate. The same goes for terrain, the Pacific Northwest might be more like UK with the rain and rocky cliffs, while the American South west might be more like the Middle east with the dry heat, deserts, etc.
Houston is a bit mixed culturally with Louisiana and New Orleans in particular. Many transplants from there moved to Houston so there’s definitely an influence.
I feel connected to Southern USA