Which states seem 2 b "typical"?

Question

I personally believe three states: PA, OH, & MO, are three typical or ordinary st8s. All three have @ least two metropolitan areas. The topography is modest (OH has a river plain; MO has a small mtn. range down south; PA is a mountainous exception). The populace don't have distinctive accents, @ least in the cities. & I think urban sprawl is an issue; I do no it's a issue in Missouri. But that's just my opinion. Let's discuss. Which states do u think seem 2 b ordinary? How different is IL from HI? NY from SC? MI from CA?

Answer 1

Pennsylvania city populaces don't have distinctive accents? What? Have you ever BEEN to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh? Those are two of the most distinctive accents in the country.

There are no "typical" states in the Union, really; there's no "average America" to compare to, because each region and state is so distinct. When people are asked, though, most of the time they will name states in the Midwest as that seems to be the "heart" of the country. The flat midwest accent has also been adopted as the "standard" accent of the country in terms of media, newscasters, radio, etc. It sounds neutral only because we're so used to it, but make no mistake that it's an accent.

As to some of your follow-up questions, NY and SC differ greatly in terms of accent, heritage, diversity, and political tendencies; but I live in SC and have spent extended time in NY and I can tell you they're more similar than people think.

Answer 2

"Typical" is going to differ greatly depending of the people who try to answer this. My home is "typical." Elsewhere is less so.
Are you looking for an average of all states in the Union? Assuming normal distribution of cultural, political, geographical, etc instances across the US, you wish to find one state which occures at the peak of the distribution for all variables? How do you propose to measure the variability of culture? Or "family values" for that matter (whatever that means)?
Since our culture is a very large mix of emmigrated cultures (unless you only consider your own/ the majority to matter), which themselves tend to possess a very high spatial corellation value (they're clumped together), finding a state which possesses an average value of such should be difficult at best.
I would try to look at states spanning a large area, so as to encompass as much diversity as possible. So I nominate CA: it covers a wide range of latitudes, geographical features, and cultures; it possesses many types and sizes of cities, and lots of people. Sadly, in most aspects, CA tends to be classified in the "fringe" by most of the country.
There's also Texas and Alaska.
Oklahoma sits on a physical geographical crossroads: it has deserts, plains, temperate forests, pine forests, swamps, rivers, mountains... and considered by most of the city-dwelling inhabitants to be "a place to leave." They've got two main cities, a very wide range of cultural views, and they're the boundary in the red/grey fox population.
Are accents "typical" in the US? I've always thought so. So, "no accent" is then atypical...

Answer 3

i personally think IL, PA, KY, OH, CT, and MA are the most typical states. They seem to be the most typically American states, with unbroken families, block parties, town fairs, and good-looking kids.