this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Still blows my mind that Midwest apparently means "slightly not easy coast."

Like in my mind it would be Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah. That kind of area. Considering it's midway through the west half of the country.

[–] s_s@lemmy.one 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, it used to be called the Northwest Territory.

Then we expanded even further west and it became the "old west".

Then the "old west" came to mean the Southwest region pre-statehood.

So then they became the "Midwest".

[–] Retrograde@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

This makes me wanna play some red dead

[–] SnipingNinja 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's probably named by the people who named middle East, like it's the west of the eastern Nations but they named it coz it was in the middle of their way to the east

[–] SeabassDan@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Definitely is.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In my mind, the midwest is west of the Mississippi and through the plains. Colorado starts the traditional west with Texas being the exception.

[–] TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id 0 points 1 year ago

Read a US history book on the westward expansion and it will all make perfect sense. Hint; it might have something to do with older names remaining in use up until the current day.