I hear it in movies so the time. We’re going upstate. I went upstate. Etc

I never hear downstate, or similar. Does it just mean going north?

  • Todd_cross@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    I have never called any part of PA upstate. (Not that it’s wrong that you do) Everyone I know calls the northern half of the eastern third of the state “the Northeast” or NEPA. Western PA is the entire western third of the state, and Central PA is for some reason only the southern half of the middle third of the state. I guess maybe the northern half of the middle third could be upstate, but I think I just don’t have a word for it.

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
      3·
      9 months ago

      This is absolutely reflective of my experience in PA as well. Everything you said and exactly as you said it.

      Nothing is “upstate”.

      NEPA is anything north of 80 and (roughly) east of where the Susquehanna splits near Selinsgrove.

      Western PA is the whole state, north to south, from the Ohio border to approximately 219.

      Central PA is south of 80, between 219 in the west, and east up to and including Lancaster county.

      The part that’s left over is usually just called “north central PA”, but there’s not much of anything up there, so it’s usually referred to by specific county or town in that region, and most frequently when you do hear that, it’s someone describing where their hunting camp is.