What Are People From Maryland Called?
Maryland – People who live in Maryland are called Marylanders and Marylandians.
Contents
- 1 What are people from Missouri called?
- 2 What are people from every state called?
- 3 What are people from New Jersey called?
- 4 What are people from Florida called?
- 5 What do you call someone from Colorado?
- 6 What are people from USA called?
- 7 What do Chicagoans call Chicago?
- 8 What do people in Wisconsin call people from Illinois?
What are people from Illinois called?
If you live in Illinois, you are officially an Illinoisan.
What are people from Massachusetts called?
Location of Massachusetts on the U.S. map This is a list of people who were born in/raised in, lived in, or have significant relations with the American state of Massachusetts, It includes both notable people born in the Commonwealth, and other notable people who are from the Commonwealth.
What are people from Missouri called?
Missouri – Missourian is the official demonym for someone who lives in Missouri. Not only does their state have an official bird (the bluebird), flower (the white hawthorn blossom), and dessert (the ice cream cone), but it is also one of 12 states with an official horse, rd.com
What are people from every state called?
Names for Residents of each State
STATE | RESIDENT NAME |
---|---|
Alabama | Alabamian; Alabaman |
Alaska | Alaskan |
Arizona | Arizonan; Arizonian |
Arkansas | Arkansan |
What are people from New Jersey called?
New Jersey – People who live in New Jersey are called New Jerseyites and New Jerseyans.
What is a person from Connecticut called?
According to Webster’s New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a ‘ Connecticuter ‘. There are numerous other terms in print, but not in use, such as: ‘Connecticotian’ – Cotton Mather in 1702. ‘Connecticutensian’ – Samuel Peters in 1781. ‘Nutmegger’ is sometimes used.
What is a person from Maine called?
A Mainer. But true Mainers are born and raised here. I’ve lived in Maine for 20 years and I’m still technically from Massachusetts.9.
What are people from Florida called?
What Do You Call People Who Live in Tampa? TAMPA, Fla. — It’s a debate that’s familiar to Tampa residents.
Debate over name for Tampa residents Are they Tampans, Tampanians or Tampenos. Tampa man Mario Nunez wants city council to weigh in
Florida residents are referred to as Floridians – but what do you call Tampa residents? One man is determined to find the perfect title this year. And he plans to make a title official. Tampa residents— what do you want to be called? There’s a push for an official proclamation- I’ve got the details — Fallon Silcox (@FallonSilcox)
Tampa natives have had their own terms that they’ve called themselves over the years, but now, one man wants to change that—he’s pushing for an official proclamation—and an official name for all Tampa residents.Mario Nunez grew up here in Tampa, and over the years, he says he’s heard many monikers for Tampa residents.But when it comes down to it, he says there are really only three options— Tampan, Tampanian or Tampeno.
Nunez is hoping council members will make a proclamation and give Tampa residents an official name. Most agree Tampan is out. Nunez is personally pushing for Tampeno. “Tampeno simply means a person from Tampa, but more than that,” said Mario Nunez. “I think it reflects our cultural diversity, it’s an inclusive term and if there’s something I can really drive home with everybody, Tampa’s history is unique.
What do you call people from Ohio?
Ohio | |
---|---|
State | |
State of Ohio | |
Flag Seal | |
Nickname(s) : The Buckeye State; Birthplace of Aviation; The Heart of It All | |
Motto : With God, all things are possible (1959) | |
Anthem: Beautiful Ohio (1969) Hang On Sloopy (1985) | |
Map of the United States with Ohio highlighted | |
Country | United States |
Admitted to the Union | March 1, 1803 (17th, declared retroactively on August 7, 1953 ) |
Capital ( and largest city ) | Columbus |
Largest metro and urban areas | Greater Cleveland (Combined and urban) Cincinnati (metro) Columbus (metro) (see footnotes) |
Government | |
• Governor | Mike DeWine ( R ) |
• Lieutenant Governor | Jon Husted (R) |
Legislature | General Assembly |
• Upper house | Senate |
• Lower house | House of Representatives |
Judiciary | Supreme Court of Ohio |
U.S. senators | Sherrod Brown ( D ) Rob Portman (R) |
U.S. House delegation | 12 Republicans 4 Democrats ( list ) |
Area | |
• Total | 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km 2 ) |
• Land | 40,948 sq mi (106,156 km 2 ) |
• Water | 3,877 sq mi (10,040 km 2 ) 8.7% |
• Rank | 34th |
Dimensions | |
• Length | 220 mi (355 km) |
• Width | 220 mi (355 km) |
Elevation | 850 ft (260 m) |
Highest elevation ( Campbell Hill ) | 1,549 ft (472 m) |
Lowest elevation ( Ohio River at Indiana border ) | 455 ft (139 m) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 11,780,017 |
• Rank | 7th |
• Density | 282/sq mi (109/km 2 ) |
• Rank | 10th |
• Median household income | $54,021 |
• Income rank | 36th |
Demonym(s) | Ohioan; Buckeye (colloq.) |
Language | |
• Official language | De jure : None De facto : English |
• Spoken language | English 93.3% Spanish 2.2% Other 4.5% |
Time zone | UTC– 05:00 ( Eastern ) |
• Summer ( DST ) | UTC– 04:00 ( EDT ) |
USPS abbreviation | OH |
ISO 3166 code | US-OH |
Traditional abbreviation | O., Oh. |
Latitude | 38°24′ N to 41°59′ N |
Longitude | 80°31′ W to 84°49′ W |
Website | ohio,gov |
table>
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated, The state’s capital and largest city is Columbus, with the Columbus metro area, Greater Cincinnati, and Greater Cleveland being the largest metropolitan areas,
Ohio is bordered by Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the west, and Michigan to the northwest. Ohio is historically known as the “Buckeye State” after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as “Buckeyes”.
Its state flag is the only non-rectangular flag of all the U.S. states. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn originated from the Seneca word ohiːyo ‘, meaning “good river”, “great river”, or “large creek”. Ohio arose from the lands west of Appalachia that were contested from colonial times through the Northwest Indian Wars of the late 18th century.
It was partitioned from the resulting Northwest Territory, which was the first frontier of the new United States, and became the 17th state admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803, and the first under the Northwest Ordinance, Ohio was the first post-colonial free state admitted to the union, and became one of the earliest and most influential industrial powerhouses during the 20th century.
Although Ohio has transitioned to a more information- and service-based economy in the 21st century, it remains an industrial state, ranking seventh in GDP as of 2019, with the third largest manufacturing sector and second largest automobile production.
- The government of Ohio is composed of the executive branch, led by the governor ; the legislative branch, consisting of the bicameral Ohio General Assembly ; and the judicial branch, led by the state Supreme Court,
- Ohio occupies 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives,
- The state is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections.
Seven presidents of the United States have come from Ohio, This has led to it receiving the moniker “the Mother of Presidents”.
What are people from Georgia called?
THE STATE CITIZENS: – People who live in Georgia or who come from Georgia are called Georgians. Aligning with some of the nicknames that have been given to Georgia, Georgians have been referred to as Buzzards, Crackers, and Goober-grabbers. “Sand-hillers” was a derogatory name given to poor and illiterate people who were said to live idle and wretched lives in the Georgia pine barrens.
What do you call someone from Colorado?
One problem with our state government is that it has rules that are not enforced, specifically Article II, Section 30a, of our state constitution: “The English language is the official language of the State of Colorado.” Just what that means is rather vague.
Since it says “English,” rather than “American English,” do our cars have bonnets, boots and windscreens instead of hoods, trunks and windshields? No court has ruled, so it falls on vigilantes like me to enforce Official English. One frequent question is what to call a resident: Are you a “Coloradoan” or a “Coloradan?” The informal rule is explained in the 1945 book “Names on the Land” by George R.
Stewart, which I do not have, so I cite it secondhand from “The American Language” by H.L. Mencken, updated in 1982 by Raven I. McDavid Jr., and David W. Maurer. By and large, when a place name ends in “o,” you add “an.” The exception is if the place name is of Spanish origin; then you drop the “o” before adding “an.” This observed rule appears to work in practice.
Idaho and Chicago derive from Native American languages, not Spanish, and their residents are Idahoans and Chicagoans. San Francisco comes from Spanish, and thus San Franciscans reside there. Residents of other realms with Spanish names are Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Since Colorado is a Spanish word for the color red, we are properly Coloradans, not Coloradoans.
As best I know, most Colorado newspapers follow this rule, but there have been exceptions. Most notable, perhaps, is the “Fort Collins Coloradoan.” It is owned by the Gannett chain, which until 1989 also owned the daily newspaper in the capital of the Land of Enchantment, the “Santa Fe New Mexican.” Consistency would seem to require either a Fort Collins Coloradan or a Santa Fe New Mexicoan, at least when both newspapers were under the same ownership.
- At the Coloradoan, state residents used to be Coloradoans, but now we’re Coloradans, according to Jason Melton, a copy editor at the paper.
- The change came a couple of years ago, and now the only Coloradoan published there is the paper’s name.
- The Pueblo Chieftain also used Coloradoan until a few years ago, when it switched to Coloradan, according to my friend Hal Walter, a part-time copy editor there.
However, consistency does not rule. The residents of Pueblo (Spanish for town) should be Pueblans by the rule that gives us Coloradan, but in the Chieftain, they’re Puebloans. “Puebloan” also appears in the modern Politically Correct Southwestern Dialect, in reference to the people who built at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon a millennium ago.
In recent years, I’ve been told that we should talk about “Ancestral Puebloans” rather than “Anasazi,” since Anasazi derives from a Navajo term for “enemy ancestors” and is thus somehow insulting, or perhaps dismissive of modern Pueblo peoples because it ignores their ancestors’ probable role in construction.
I continue to use “Anasazi.” For one thing, it has no meaning in English other than “the people who built that old stuff around the Four Corners.” For another, ever since the Pueblo Chieftain didn’t hire me in 1983, I prefer not to spell “Pueblan” as “Puebloan.” At any rate, our legislature seems to enjoy passing resolutions this year, so could the General Assembly please settle this issue and officially resolve that residents of the Centennial State are Coloradans, lest some English- only fanatic try to make us Color-Reddians? A resolution would be one small but useful step toward our own Official English.
What are people from California called?
The ultimate list of state resident nicknames
State | Official Resident Nickname | Other Monikers |
---|---|---|
Arkansas | Arkansan | Arkie, Arkansawyer |
California | Californian | Californiac, Californio |
Colorado | Coloradan | Coloradoan |
Connecticut | Connecticuter | Connecticotian, Connecticutian, Nutmegger |
What are people from Utah called?
Coordinates : 39°N 111°W / 39°N 111°W
Utah | |
---|---|
State | |
State of Utah | |
Flag Seal | |
Nickname(s) : “Beehive State” (official), “The Mormon State”, “Deseret” | |
Motto : Industry | |
Anthem: ” Utah.This Is the Place “ | |
Map of the United States with Utah highlighted | |
Country | United States |
Before statehood | Utah Territory |
Admitted to the Union | January 4, 1896 (45th) |
Capital ( and largest city ) | Salt Lake City |
Largest metro and urban areas | Salt Lake City |
Government | |
• Governor | Spencer Cox ( R ) |
• Lieutenant Governor | Deidre Henderson (R) |
Legislature | State Legislature |
• Upper house | State Senate |
• Lower house | House of Representatives |
Judiciary | Utah Supreme Court |
U.S. senators | Mike Lee (R) Mitt Romney (R) |
U.S. House delegation | 1 : Blake Moore (R) 2 : Chris Stewart (R) 3 : John Curtis (R) 4 : Burgess Owens (R) ( list ) |
Area | |
• Total | 84,899 sq mi (219,887 km 2 ) |
• Land | 82,144 sq mi (212,761 km 2 ) |
• Water | 2,755 sq mi (7,136 km 2 ) 3.25% |
• Rank | 13th |
Dimensions | |
• Length | 350 mi (560 km) |
• Width | 270 mi (435 km) |
Elevation | 6,100 ft (1,860 m) |
Highest elevation ( Kings Peak ) | 13,534 ft (4,120.3 m) |
Lowest elevation ( Beaver Dam Wash at Arizona border ) | 2,180 ft (664.4 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 3,271,616 |
• Rank | 30th |
• Density | 36.53/sq mi (14.12/km 2 ) |
• Rank | 41st |
• Median household income | $60,365 |
• Income rank | 11th |
Demonym | Utahn or Utahan |
Language | |
• Official language | English |
Time zone | UTC−07:00 ( Mountain ) |
• Summer ( DST ) | UTC−06:00 ( MDT ) |
USPS abbreviation | UT |
ISO 3166 code | US-UT |
Traditional abbreviation | Ut. |
Latitude | 37° N to 42° N |
Longitude | 109°3′ W to 114°3′ W |
Website | utah,gov |
table>
Utah ( YOO -tah, YOO -taw ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada,
- Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.
- Of the fifty U.S.
- States, Utah is the 13th-largest by area ; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated,
- Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City ; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents.
Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin, Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region’s difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico.
- Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah’s earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States.
- Following the Mexican–American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S.
- Becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada.
Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah’s admission as a state; only after the outlawing of polygamy was it admitted in 1896 as the 45th, People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church.
- The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular.
- Utah has a highly diversified economy, with major sectors including transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, and tourism.
Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in the nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare, governance, education, and infrastructure.
What are people from USA called?
Development of the term American – Amerigo Vespucci first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia’s eastern outskirts as conjectured by Christopher Columbus, but instead constituted an entirely separate landmass hitherto unknown to the peoples of the Old World,
Martin Waldseemüller coined the term America (in honor of Vespucci) in a 1507 world map, First uses of the adjective American referenced European settlements in the New World, Americans referred to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and subsequently to European settlers and their descendants. English use of the term American for people of European descent dates to the 17th century, with the earliest recorded appearance being in Thomas Gage ‘s The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies in 1648.
In English, American came to be applied especially to people in British America and thus its use as a demonym for the United States derives by extension. The United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 refers to “the thirteen united States of America”, making the first formal use of the country name, which was officially adopted in 1777 by the nation’s first governing constitution, the Articles of Confederation,
The Federalist Papers of 1787–1788, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to advocate the ratification of the United States Constitution, use the word American in both its original pan-American sense, but also in its United States sense: Federalist Paper 24 refers to the “American possessions” of Britain and Spain (i.e.
land outside of the United States) while Federalist Papers 51 and 70 refer to the United States as “the American republic”. People from the United States increasingly referred to themselves as Americans through the end of the 18th century and the 1795 Treaty of Peace and Amity with the Barbary States refers to “American Citizens” while George Washington spoke to his people of “he name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity” in his 1796 farewell address,
What are Washington residents called?
Etymology – Washington was named after President George Washington by an act of the United States Congress during the creation of Washington Territory in 1853; the territory was to be named “Columbia”, for the Columbia River and the Columbia District, but Kentucky representative Richard H.
- Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington.
- Washington is the only U.S.
- State named after a president.
- Confusion over the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D.C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II ‘s suggestion to name the new state “Tacoma”; these proposals failed to garner support.
Washington, D.C.’s, own statehood movement in the 21st century has included a proposal to use the name “State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth”, which would conflict with the current state of Washington. Residents of Washington (known as “Washingtonians”) and the Pacific Northwest simply refer to the state as “Washington”, and the nation’s capital “Washington, D.C.”, “the other Washington”, or simply “D.C.”
What is an Illinois accent called?
“Anymore, you can’t trust any of those politicians in Worshington.” That’s not a direct quote from my former neighbor in Decatur, where I lived in the mid-’90s, but it could have been. Downstaters talk differently from Chicagoans. Our accent, which is known as Inland North, has more in common with the Great Lakes cities of Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee than it does with Decatur, Peoria or Charleston.
- Downstate, folks speak with a Midland accent, which is also heard in southern Indiana, southern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, the regions from which Central Illinois was settled.
- They noticed I wasn’t from around there.
- You talk just like them people Up North,” one Decaturite told me.
- Former Gov.
- Jim Edgar, who grew up in Charleston, has a pretty solid Midland accent, although if he ever said “worsh,” he cut it out when he was campaigning for statewide office.
The Midland accent has its roots in the port cities of the mid-Atlantic, particularly Philadelphia, which was a debarkation point for Scots-Irish immigrants fleeing religious conflicts in Ulster, a province in the north of Ireland, in the early 18th Century.
By the time they arrived in the United States, most of the coastal land had been claimed. So they moved inland, following Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River, and later, the National Road from Cumberland, Maryland to what’s now Vandalia, Illinois. That turnpike was completed in the 1830s, the same decade the Black Hawk War cleared the Upper Midwest for colonization.
To this day, traces of Northern Irish speech can be heard in the Lower Midwest. The construction of needs without a past participle — as in “that needs washed” (or “that needs worshed”) — goes back to Ulster. So does the word “run” for a small stream. Turkey Run, a state park in central Indiana, is an example.
- Some other common characteristics of Midland speech: Intrusive “r”: You can hear people say “worsh” for “wash” or call the nation’s capital “Worshington” from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.
- However, like many regional idiosyncrasies, the intrusive “r” has been disappearing as outsiders comment on it. St.
- Louis Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon, born in 1939, talks about his team playing the “Worshington Nationals.” My stepmother, who grew up in Granite City, still says “worsh.” But it’s rare among speakers born after World War II.
Why did “r” intrude on “wash”? One theory is that at one time, Midland speakers pronounced the “ah” sound like “o” (“wosh”). Older Philadelphians, for example, still say “wooter” for “water.” The similarity to the “o” in “or” may have made it seem logical to insert that second letter, for “worsh.” Positive anymore: Among most English speakers, “anymore” denotes something that’s no longer happening.
As in, “Oh, that store’s not open anymore.” In the Midlands, however, it can indicate continuing action. Like this: “Anymore, there’s so much traffic you can hardly drive there.” In this sentence, “anymore” is similar to “nowadays.” Like many other Midland features, the usage originated in Northern Ireland, and can still be heard there.
Fronted “o”: Among heavily accented Midland speakers, the word “no” sounds like “nao,” and “ozone” like “aozaone.” This pronunciation is shared with their distant cousins in Philadelphia and Baltimore, the cities from which the Midland accent derives.
- All the” + comparative: “Is that all the better they can do?” or “Is that all the bigger they can get?” are classic Midland locutions. “I” vs.
- E”: I’ve also heard Downstaters talk about drinking “melk” and pronounce the state’s name as “Ellinois.” I have no explanation for this tendency to confuse the “i” and “e” sounds.
In addition to a distinctive accent, Downstate Illinois also has its own colorful lexicon. Here are some terms you may find handy while visiting — say, at the State Fair in Springfield this week.
What do Chicagoans call Chicago?
Why is Chicago Called “The Second City”?︱Skydeck Given our city’s rich history, the long list of colorful Chicago nicknames should come as no surprise! Call it the Windy City, Chi-town, or the City of Big Shoulders—but one nickname has seen an especially interesting evolution over the years: the Second City.
Is Illinois French or Indian?
A beautiful scene of the prairie in Central Illinois | © Ron Frazier / Flickr / Derivative from original Illinois is a beautiful, big state, and anyone who lives in it can proudly pronounce it correctly. That’s Illi-noy—no pesky “s” at the end. However, most Illinoisans likely don’t know how the state got its unusual name.
- Illinois was named after the Illinois River, which was named by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in an attempt to map the region’s many rivers and waterways.
- The French explored the area in the early 1600s and gave names to different villages and rivers based on the things and people they encountered on their explorations.
La Salle sailed the river in 1679 and named it after the Native Americans he met who lived on the banks of the waterway. Illinois isn’t the version of the name; rather, it is the French pronunciation of the original word. The word Illinois is derived from the Native American word “iliniwok” or ” illiniwek,” which literally means “best people”; it was used to refer to the 10 to 12 tribes found around the river.
- The entire state is named Best People, and that’s something of which to be proud! Illinois is full of the very best people in the Midwest.
- Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShiH4pLSe30 The word Illinois appeared in French literature and maps in the late 1600s after La Salle formally named it.
- Soon after French exploration in the area, the British gained control of Illinois before handing it over to the Americans after the American Revolution.
The state officially became a part of the union in 1818, having kept its Native American-inspired name for almost 200 years at that point. The river flowing through Galena, Illinois | © midnightcomm / Flickr Illinois isn’t the only name for the state. Its nicknames include “The Land of Lincoln,” “The Prairie State,” “The Corn State,” “The Garden of the West,” “Egypt,” due to the massive flooding in the Illinois city Cairo, and The Sucker State,
- How did the Best People become known as suckers? There are three theories.
- One theory is that many of the prairies were full of crawfish holes from which many people would suck water by using a hollow reed.
- Another theory refers to the people who fled to Galena for the lead mines in 1822 and the way they would go back and forth from the mines to the river for fish to eat or “suck.” Lastly, it may have been a derogatory way to refer to poor southern Illinois residents who migrated north to “suck the resources” from the wealthier residents already living in the area.
Regardless, calling the state Illinois, for Best People, is the best way to refer to The Prairie State and its Native American heritage.
What do people in Wisconsin call people from Illinois?
Certainly, Wisconsin and Illinois have storied rivalries in the sports arena: the Green Bay Packers vs. the Chicago Bears, the Brewers and the Cubs, the Bucks and the Bulls. But a few of our listeners have been wondering if that competitive spirit runs deeper than the action on the field.
- One such listener, Jason Gessner, reached out to Bubbler Talk and asked, “Have Wisconsin and Illinois always had contentious relationship or is that a more modern development?” The Packers/Bears rivalry is one of the oldest in the NFL — the two teams have faced off twice a year since 1921.
- And Jason is acutely aware of the trash talk: he’s a Bears fan living in Bay View.
packers_fans_-_bears_fans.mp3 The difference between Packers and Bears fans, according to Bears fan Justin Kaufmann. Credit David Banks/Getty Images / But over his 12 years of residence in Wisconsin, the Illinois native has also observed among neighbors a broader attitude of dislike toward his home state – one he still doesn’t quite understand. “I had just never really known that there was sort of a bitterness about Illinois,” Jason remarks.
“It just sort of took me aback, when I learned there was this negative stereotype. Things like, ‘Folks from Illinois come up and buy vacation property on our lakes, and take up space, and drive crazy, and are disrespectful.’ Just sort of a general, ‘Bah, those guys!'” “When I was growing up, friends and family really loved Wisconsin — the outdoors are beautiful here, you can come up and go fishing or see a ballgame or whatever,” he continues.
Cheeseheads vs. Chicagoans You may have heard some choice nicknames tossed back and forth across state lines: Wisconsinites are “cheeseheads,” Illinoisans are (warning: links contain explicit language) ” FIBs ” or ” FISHTABs ” – both terms made up of four-letter words we can’t detail here. But fun fact: Justin is originally from a small town in Illinois called Wonder Lake, which is actually closer to the Wisconsin border than the Windy City. But growing up, he very much identified with Chicago – and still does. “I always thought of myself as a Chicago suburb – I would thump my chest as if, you know, ‘If you mess with Chicago, you’re messing with me!” Justin describes.
” I could walk to the Wisconsin border. So it’s a strange thing to think about that.” As for the stereotypes Wisconsinites hold about his home state, he says it all boils down to one thing: “I think every knock on someone from Illinois is the fact that we kind of use and abuse Wisconsin,” he comments.
justin_kaufmann_full.mp3 Justin Kaufmann speaking with Lake Effect’s Joy Powers. This point of contention is familiar to Lake Effect producer, Joy Powers, who is from Lake Geneva, a small, Wisconsin resort town near the Illinois border. Her mother JaNelle is originally from Chicago, and even though she’s lived in Wisconsin for nearly 30 years, she still identifies as a Chicagoan.
Joy called her mom to dissect some of the complaints they hear about people from Illinois. And it turns out most of these are the same issues JaNelle has with tourists in general. “The tourists make me crazy!” JaNelle shares. “They’re on vacation when they come here, so they don’t care that they’re putting trash, and God knows what else, on my lawn and in my bushes.” janelle_powers_full.mp3 JaNelle Powers speaking with her daughter and Lake Effect Producer Joy Powers.
Governing (With Help) From Afar Somebody else with an interesting perspective on the Wisconsin/Illinois divide is Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman, who represents the city’s fourth district. Bauman grew up in Edgewater, a neighborhood on the North side of Chicago. One of the major ways Bauman says he does that: by taking cues from bigger cities like Chicago. He has modeled some of the ideas he’s kick-started as a lawmaker in Milwaukee after policies he’s noticed in Chicago – for instance, the Common Council’s traffic calming and honorary street name ordinances.
Bauman and some of his colleagues are currently working on a new affordable housing initiative, and they’re looking at Chicago’s methods for guidance. The alderman says the two cities should view one another as complements, not competitors. “It’s a matter of sharing ideas and seeing best practices in other cities, and learning how they go about solving a problem, and then adopting it to our particular circumstances here,” he explains.
“We share the same weather, we share the same lake, we really share the same basic demographicswe should work together more than we should compete,” Bauman adds. “I’m trying to encourage my colleagues and the overall Milwaukee culture, to think a little bigger than what it has historically done, because we’re in a competitive environment in terms of competing for talent and employees, and businesses that often follow the employees and follow the talent.” Success in business and industry is a big reason many city for why Wisconsin and Illinois should work to cooperate wherever possible.
One such opportunity would have been the deal to bring tech company Foxconn to the region – an opportunity in which Wisconsin succeeded, but some say could have been made better with help from our neighbors to the south. Joel Rast teaches at UW-Milwaukee, where he oversees the Urban Studies program,
He says the key to economic cooperation is an expanded view of a concept called “regionalism.” “It’s something that people started talking about as businesses became more and more mobile and globalization became more of a phenomenon,” he explains. “The concern was that businesses are looking at different places to locate – and if municipalities are all fighting with each other over trying to get these businesses, then that makes the region as a whole look bad, and may drive businesses someplace else.” Animosity or Inferiority? Credit Katherine, fotolia / Katherine, fotolia When we talk about the frustration between Wisconsinites and Illinoisans – particularly when it comes to Milwaukee and Chicago – it all appears a little one-sided. “Living in Chicago, there’s something about being in a cosmopolitan city, where we love the concept of a second city,” Justin Kaufman says.
” be the underdog to New York, but anyone who might be an underdog to us, we’re like, ‘We don’t care.'” JaNelle Powers agrees. ” Although I am told from Milwaukee people that the rivalry between Milwaukee and Chicago exists in the minds of Milwaukeeans, in the mind of Chicagoans, we don’t even think about them,” she explains.
“We knew Milwaukee existed in Chicago, we were just very single-minded. If we thought about another city, we’d think in terms of New York — that would have been more of a rivalry to us than Milwaukee or Wisconsin.” READ: WBEZ’s Curious City explores Chicago’s fascination with New York Justin and JaNelle aren’t alone: to many, this regional rivalry doesn’t seem all that mutual. Often, it seems more like an inferiority complex on the part of Milwaukee. And when it comes to Chicago vs. New York, the Big Apple doesn’t seem to care too much about its smaller rival, either.
So this type of animosity isn’t unique: New Englanders have a famously contemptuous relationship with the people of Boston; Minnesotans poke fun at their rural neighbors in Iowa; plenty of European nations have their own regional conflicts, too. But around here, there’s one prevailing matchup that we all seem to believe in “Oh, absolutely – Bears vs.
Packers, that’s a fact,” exclaims JaNelle. “That’s a fact!” Have a question you’d like WUWM to answer? Submit your query below.