Talk:Downstate Illinois

What is "Downstate"?
An editor in another place questioned the inclusion of Northern Illinois as part of "Downstate". As one born and raised in Northern Illinois, I knew that I had grown up always hearing references to us being located in "Downstate", despite being physically north of the Loop. But I thought I'd give it a look, and there was simply a plethora of sources affirming what I already believed. I've added just a few of them, making sure to include some major sources such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. I also, at the same time, decided that topping off the Largest Cities table was necessary, and have cut it off at ten. HuskyHuskie (talk) 03:42, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Downstate population
I also deleted the comment that Downstate's population was abot 4 million. Another editor had tagged that back in July as needing a source. I couldn't find one, despite nearly an hour of searching, so I took it out, even though the math makes it seem likely to be true. HuskyHuskie (talk) 03:43, 31 October 2011 (UTC)


 * unfortunately that was the right thing to do, unsourced material shouldnt be in there.P0PP4B34R732 (talk) 03:50, 31 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your support! HuskyHuskie (talk) 05:20, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

"Downstate" and "downstater" are terms mainly used by people in the Chicago area to refer to people and places outside the Chicago area, not by the people who live in those places themselves. Nobody identifies themselves as a "downstater", or describes themselves as living in "downstate". A person might say that he lives "in Mt Pulaski", or "in Logan County", or more generally. "in central Illinois", but only when talking to someone completely and utterly ignorant of Illinois geography would he describe himself as living in "downstate Illinois", and I don't think anyone identifies him or herself as a "downstater". I think it significant that the Chicago newspapers routinely capitalize "Downstater" as if it were a racial or ethnic designation. The term "downstater" is annoying without quite reaching the level of a recognized insult, which is probably why it gets used. Its use really shouldn't be tolerated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.212.80.149 (talk) 22:17, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, I respectfully disagree. If you mean, do we downstaters refer to ourselves first and foremost as "downstaters"?  Of course not.  I grew up in a town in Northern Illinois with less than 10,000 people, and at age 24 moved to Central Illinois.  In the town where I grew up, our demonym of choice was always been "townian", and in my adopted town we are "townites", the difference being which suffix works better with the respective town name.  But in both places, whenever discussing the divide (and it is a great divide, no doubt) between those of us from outside the collar counties and those from within, everyone I know recognizes that the term for where we live is "Downstate".  I don't know of anyone from downstate who calls themselves a "downstater", but our small towns are proudly located "downstate".  And it's something I point out to people from around the country who ignorantly assume that, as an Illinoisian, I am somehow connected to Chicago.  I am proud to identify myself as being from "Downstate".  Sorry you feel put out by the term. HuskyHuskie (talk) 04:52, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Changed "vernacular" to "lexis"
I changed the wording of "Illinois vernacular" to lexis, a more neutral word. Vernacular gives the perceived Illinois dialect a negative connotation for being "imperfect" or "substandard," which is both unfair to those who speak an Illinois dialect, and inaccurate - if the usage of "downstate" is conventional within Illinois press and other media, then it isn't substandard, and should be considered a regular, full feature of language in Illinois. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adamame (talk • contribs) 22:05, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20100308064527/http://www.wttw.com:80/chicagotonightblog/2009_05_01_archive.html to http://www.wttw.com/chicagotonightblog/2009_05_01_archive.html

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External links modified
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