Yes. Gary, Indiana is quite the smelly stretch. Brutally bad when I was semi-regularly driving through in the 90's.

Of course. You can't blame someone for thinking Texas is part of The South, as it clearly seceded from the Union and fought with the Confederacy. At the same time, it's culturally distinct. But really, I don't think too many Georgians or North Carolinians would appreciate you saying that their cultures are interchangeable with those in Mississippi or Arkansas.

My gf is from TX. She gets all riled up if I suggest Texas is anything but its own distinct region, but that's because they have a lot of the Quebec Separatist complex down there. Thus, I deliberately lump TX in with The South whenever I feel like poking fun at her.

I'll put Pine Bluff, AR up against any smelly place. Paper mills mostly. The Feds decided to make it a nerve gas dump so they obviously aren't worried about losing it.

The Pacific Northwest culture definitely dips into N. California. Sacramento is pretty much Southwest; it's in the farming Central Valley and people eat a lot of Mexican food. Davis, 20 miles west, is the Pacific Northwest. Bunch of shrill, self-righteous hippies riding their bikes and looking down on you for the size of your carbon footprint. Very different vibe.

From there you have Berkeley, SF, and on up. Humboldt County ftw. All Pacific Northwest culture. Though maybe one could put SF in its own category like Texas. SF is SF. Nobody gonna mistake it for Portland or Seattle.

Anchorage AK is Pacific N'west too. Just a ****ton colder.

Mississippi aside, Arkansas is culturally split too. The south and east are Mississippi Delta, flat swampy farmland.

The north, the Ozarks and Ouachitas, were settled by Appalachian people. The culture there is exactly that of North Georgia, East Tennessee, western NC etc. If you woke up in a holler somewhere in north Arkansas it would take you a while to discover you weren't in the Appalachians.

The Ozarks was Union sympathetic during the Civil War, but now rednecks there wave the Stars and Bars just as hard as rednecks at Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Lower Delaware is a contender for smelliest place I've been to (approximately 200 chicken houses per square mile). Though I spent a day in East Rutherford, NJ once and came home feeling like I'd smoked 2 packs of cigarettes.

I took the scenic route though Nebraska and it looked exactly the same as the normal route.

I've always thought Texas was just to be referred to as Texas in consideration of what regions it's in. I feel the same about Alaska, Hawaii, California, Florida and New York.

Northern and Southern California should be split into two states.

Having lived in the South most of my life, I've been in NorCal 10 years and still think it's funny that people here, when they say 'down south' mean L.A. and San Diego.

Care to expatiate on some of the cultural differences?

It makes sense, the state takes up like 2/3 of the coast. I can literally drive 20 min from DE to parts of MD and it really feels like I went back in time 10-15 yrs in some areas. Hell just 15 years ago I could say the same for DE. The north was all built up while the south was mainly farmland and beach area and is why its called lower slower Delaware although thats all over with now. I can drive from top to bottom of the state in less then 2 hrs with light traffic.

Not so much cultural as power base. Same as downstate Illinois is Chicago's bitch and upstate New York is NYC's.

NorCal supplies SoCal with its water, then gets politically bitchslapped and looked down on by L.A. You won't see more rabid Lakers haters than in NorCal.

BTW the dividing line among Latino prison gang members is Bakersfield. If you're from north of there, you are a Norteno and a ****ing farmer. No love lost between Nortenos and Sorranos.

Texas can never be considered part of "The South," because Texans do not add sugar to their tea while it is brewing.

Also, "barbecue" means something quite different in Lockhart than it does in Lexington.

The South = SEC football, pine trees, and red clay.

East Texas thicket has pine trees but that's it. I could see East Texas as being included in The South, which is why I never go there. As a blue-eyed white boy, I don't even feel comfortable around them white folk.

Two States

I am from Texas and this just blew my mind. I didn't even know adding sugar during the brewing process was an option. I've only ever seen it added to the end product.

it is the southwest

What is Oklahoma considered? Whatever that answer is, answers this question. /thread

A non-rhetorical question followed by "/thread"...

Brilliant.

I don't know. Culturally, Oklahoma is similar to Texas and Kansas, so it could probably be grouped with either of those states.

I spent a couple of weeks in Tulsa one weekend.

The biggest news that comes out of Oklahoma is bigfoot sightings.

Yeah exactly.

The call for two states comes from the north, while in L.A. they don't really give a **** because they live in the center of the universe.

I thought LA was a ****hole with a horrible municipal govt, tons of crime problems, and an unusable school system?

maybe adam carolla and joe rogan were hyperbolizing.

rustbelt...heartland.....wheatfield......It doesn't matter. They are all pretty repugnant. And I am refering to the people, not the geography.