Have you heard of the phrase "Midwest nice?" If so, is this a true statement about this area?

I've never heard that particular turn of phrase, but I've heard many an east coast person describe people as "midwest," when they weren't talking about a point of origin. It's usually a description delivered with a degree of condescension and/or dismissiveness. East coasters use the term to describe people, who unlike them, are not loud, aggressively opinionated, abrasive, in-your-face, and confrontational. And yes, all of that is generally true of midwesterners.

I'm from the west coast orginally, but went to college in Chicago at a school where half of the students were from the midwest, and probably 35% were from the east coast. This is the situation in which I first started hearing the term "midwest" being used by east coast kids, as I described it above. I continued to hear it from east coast transplants I encountered in the Chicago workplace later on. It took awhile to figure out they were just talking about people who, from my point of view, were just nice, normal people.

i've lived in the midwest my whole life, and i've met a crap load of douche bag assholes along the way, so no, not everyone in the midwest is nice. perhaps people aree nicer in general, but you'll find that pricks are in copious supply everywhere human beings live.

Midwest nice? Sorry I have never heard that one.

The term that is used quite a lot (and with seriousness) in my area is "Minnesota nice." Guess what state I live in :-) But of course there is an ongoing discourse as to whether it is true, but I am of the belief that it's a load of cr*p. I grew up in Wisconsin, and have lived my adult life in Minnesota. Both these states were originally settled predominantly by Northern Europeans (Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, etc), so there are certain personality traits that are quite common (and of course different from the east coast).

I think the "nice" part of the phrase is, in actuality, an aloofness and stoicism -- the desire to avoid conflict, and therefore avoid eye contact with strangers. People are superficially "nice" to strangers because it's more convenient. Hope I don't sound too cynical here, because I do love Minnesota. And of course, the people are truly nice once you get to know them. It's just that if you're a stranger or outsider, chances are it'll take you a while to be accepted.

Is that like "country simple"?

(no I have not heard "midwest nice"..maybe its generational?)

I've only heard of "Minnesota nice" (made famous in the movie Fargo).

The word I've come to associate with Midwestern culture is "judgemental". Now that I live in Canada (which is like the American Midwest spread from coast to coast), my impression is only reinforced.

"Uptight" is another applicable term.

i've lived in the midwest my whole life, and i've met a crap load of douche bag assholes along the way, so no, not everyone in the midwest is nice. perhaps people aree nicer in general, but you'll find that pricks are in copious supply everywhere human beings live.


Steely, maybe you need to get away from angry Chicagoans that are STILL angry about the Superbowl, or Indy fans that live there...

LOL I am so kidding.

Anywhere you find a populous city, there are bound to be assholes. It's human nature. I have been to both coasts (LA, NYC, San Fran, etc.) but I have found that people in the midwest are MUCH nicer. Just my experience.

No, I havent heard that, I have heard Minnasota is nice, but not "midwest nice."

I've only heard of "Minnesota nice" (made famous in the movie Fargo).

It was probably made famous by that movie, but I think the phrase has been around for quite some time before it.

I've never heard "Midwest nice" but I have heard people from the E. Coast compliment us on how nice people in this area are compared to back east. I wouldn't say they were being condescending either and I don't know why they would be. I went to college with a couple guys from the DC area and they noticed a huge difference in how people treated each other here (more respect, nicer) as opposed to in DC and the East in general. So "Midwest nice" is fine with me. :)

^Yeah, in terms of being nice, I have no problem with it. People from coastal areas have a tendency to put the Midwest as "behind the times" or out of date based on media stereotypes. That is where the condescending aspect comes into play in my opinion. People on the East are just as ignorant as people anywhere else and assume the media portrayel must be accurate because it is the only news they get on the region. However, I must admit, the media has started to back off quite a bit with stereotyping the midwest. I have seen a lot of articles lately on Minneapolis being a major center for arts despite popular belief where the author is stunned at how up to date we really are...I think the same is true with pretty much every major midwestern city.

Even though I've discovered myself to be culturally and temperamentally incompatible with the Midwest I don't think it's a bad place to be. I've plenty of friends who have relocated to the Midwest who really love it (Milwaukee in particular seems to get an undeserved bad rap imo).

But I lived in the Midwest briefly (albeit many years ago) and I've known enough Midwest transplants to the Coasts: and now that I'm living in Canada, which strikes me as remarkably similar to the Midwest culturally, I've sorted out in my mind what "Midwestern nice" is—and it's really as much a matter of semantics as perception.

There's a difference between being "nice" or "polite" (the word Americans use for the ice-blooded Canadians) and being "friendly". In my experience, Canadians and Midwesterners often tend to retreat behind the façade of being "nice" to mask harsh (and frequently shallow) judgements of people who don't fit the mould of what they consider "acceptable". On the Coasts we may be less "diplomatic" from your point of view, but at least you know where you stand with us—plus I've just known Coasters (especially West Coasters) to be a little more open-minded and willing to give you the benefit of the doubt until you screw up instead of having to "prove yourself worthy" of them when you first meet.

Similarly, from my point of view anyway, there is a huge difference between being "polite" and being "well-mannered". To my mind it's perfectly possible to assert one's self in a completely civilised manner without being "aggressive"—yet, especially here in Canada, I find people who do that often get labelled "rude" or "pushy" by the "polite" types stewing censoriously behind their pursed lips and pinched expressions. Hey, you want to hang back and waste your time that's your business—however, as long as I'm not stepping on anyone's toes why don't you save your anger and resentment for something that actually matters instead of focussing it on people who actually like to display energy and initiative? In general, I think American Midwesterners have more spine in this area than Canadians, but don't take too kindly to people from the Coasts who display this behaviour in your "house".

Obviously, these are gross generalisations, but it's based on my experience of living and travelling on both the Coasts and in the Midwest—and I'll freely admit that perhaps I'm tarring American Midwesterners too heavily with a brush that more readily applies to Canadians. However, I have discovered the same genre of cultural incompatibility here in Canada as I did when I lived in the Midwest, so perhaps your overall "style" isn't that different.

I've heard minnesota nice a lot... my geography professor is from cali and he claims its true, he said college students cheat a lot less up here too... that or we are just better at not getting caught :banana:

Well, to test your theory: Do youse get fewer speeding tickets too? Do you have many illegal immigrants and/or a large underground economy?

One thing I've noticed here in Canada is that there is practically nothing in terms of "under the table" work as compared to the US. I used to be able to make a good percentage of my income in Cali in the undeclared category (it's practically de rigeur in an expensive place like SF or LA), but not here. Too many people are spooked at getting caught by Revenue Canada—though they claim that it's because Canadians prefer to "follow the rules", unlike us anarchic Americans (sheer hypocrisy, that—it's fear that motivates them, I guarantee you).

If you can't name numerous people around you who are breaking rules with impunity then I'll hazard a guess that there is a lot less cheating in your part of the world—and those who do are mighty crafty. As I insinuated in my previous post, the whole "nice" thing throws us Coasters off of your more "evil" tendencies . . . :)

There's a difference between being "nice" or "polite" (the word Americans use for the ice-blooded Canadians) and being "friendly".

Interesting observation on the Canadians. From my experience with Canada I did notice this too, while in Toronto. Polite, but cool.

The term that is used quite a lot (and with seriousness) in my area is "Minnesota nice." Guess what state I live in :-) But of course there is an ongoing discourse as to whether it is true, but I am of the belief that it's a load of cr*p. I grew up in Wisconsin, and have lived my adult life in Minnesota. Both these states were originally settled predominantly by Northern Europeans (Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, etc), so there are certain personality traits that are quite common (and of course different from the east coast).

I think the "nice" part of the phrase is, in actuality, an aloofness and stoicism -- the desire to avoid conflict, and therefore avoid eye contact with strangers. People are superficially "nice" to strangers because it's more convenient. Hope I don't sound too cynical here, because I do love Minnesota. And of course, the people are truly nice once you get to know them. It's just that if you're a stranger or outsider, chances are it'll take you a while to be accepted.

very interesting observations.

TwoClubs has a point, I think. In fact, I've been trying to get my mind around the one major exception to the "friendly vibe" of the West Coast: Seattle. I haven't lived there since I was a kid (and only briefly for a work contract as an adult) so I don't have first-hand experience of it, but people there talk of the "Seattle chill": initial friendliness that stops short of actual personal involvement (e.g., the neighbour or work colleague that says "let's get together sometime" but then never follows through or worms their way out of every invitation you throw their way).

I thought it was because Seattle is so close to Canada and because there are many, like myself, with family on both sides of the border. However, I'm inclined to go with the idea that Scandinavian cultural influence has a lot to do with it. I can definitely see it: I spent much of my childhood just North of the Ballard neighbourhood in Seattle. If you don't know Ballard—historically a fishing village—then take as evidence the slogan on all bottles of Ballard Bitter (one of the local microbrews): "Ya, sure, you betcha".

"Minnesota Nice", yeah.

When I went to Minnesota for a wedding, I noticed the relative politeness of the natives quickly. Pretty opposite compared to the coldness of the East Coast.

"Midwest Nice" is just like "Southern Hospitality". It's a gross generalization that people need to take with a full dose of salt. I personally get easily annoyed with people that "put on" their 'niceness'. It's disingenuous to say the least. I'd much rather you tell me how you really feel than to have to guess if you're being real with me, or not. That said, I equally find annoying those that go out of the way to get a rise out of people by being 'honest'. There are two sides to every spectrum.

I grew up in Minneapolis and just recently moved to the East Coast. There is certainly a thing we have called Minnesota Nice and it is like people have described. It is funny the last person's post - my Dad recently visited NYC and found the people there to be generally much warmer than Minnesotans, which he views as cold. I think the weather in Minnesota does make us a little colder, although we'll be generally warmer with outsiders when we're drinking.

Cheers!
:cheers:

People have alluded to this "niceness" as being fake. But I don't see it that way at all. I just think some people are more laid back and don't let little things piss them off like others might. I won't say it's unique to the Midwest either. There's people in every region with short fuses but there's also people everywhere that don't sweat the small stuff.

after moving to the US and living in NYC (manhattan, then the bronx) what most struck my father on his first visit to michigan was the fact that strangers on the street would smile and say hello and everyone seemed to be so nice everywhere he went. people didn't do this much in new york and certainly not in the south american metropolis we came from. this was one of the reasons (not the most important one, of course, but a smiling polite populace is a nice plus) for moving from new york to western michigan.

that said, i've never heard of "midwest nice" but "minnesota nice" was something i often heard when living in the twin cities. i think a lot of people are genuine in their politeness, but at the same time i've noticed a lot of passive-agressiveness in midwesterners and the "nice" face is sometimes just a front or something done out of habit. i think this ingrained idea in some people that they always have to be "nice" restrains them from acting in a more "honest" way when the situation calls for them not to be nice, like the saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". sometimes it's better to be honest with how you're feeling than to always smile.

The word I've come to associate with Midwestern culture is "judgemental".

I wholeheartedly agree with this. In general, ppl in northeast/mid-atlantic cities can be some real jerks, haha. I didn't realize it as much until I came here. Midwesterners are a lot nicer and warmer in comparison. I would say the average people aren't that much different, but there are a lot more pricks on the east coast and more warm people in the midwest, even for a stuck up school like michigan, I've met more nice and polite women here than I've met anywhere else and it's attractive IMO.

How can you wholeheartedly agree with the characterization of "judgemental" and then go on to say the Midwest is 'nicer?' I'm missing something, obviously, because judgemental has never been a good thing to describe someone as, IMO.

I don't think I explained it well. I mean judgemental to almost mean naive and quick to stereotype, and I'm talking about good and bad stereotypes. That doesn't have to dominate their personality all the time. That's why you can still be a nice person. Outside of that, midwesterners are generally nice and good people, lots of pride, good values, overall very rational, but from what I've experienced, live more in a bubble than people of some other regions. And when I say bubble, I don't mean self-absorbed. It's not that big a deal, I think it sounds worse than it is and it's sorta subtle.

And I know I'm stereotyping myself, that's why I don't put much thought into it, and really don't care. It's just one man's observation in a thread about a stereotype.

I've heard of "Hoosier Hospitality" and I think it's mostly true. I recently moved to Denver and I think there needs to be a term for how nice people are out here. It makes Indy feel like an east coast city. I love it.

I always thought people from Indianapolis were nice.
But I think thats a midwest trait that can be seen all over the region. Where you could have an axe and someone will pull over and give you a ride.

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I have herd MINNESOTA nice

Even though I've discovered myself to be culturally and temperamentally incompatible with the Midwest I don't think it's a bad place to be. I've plenty of friends who have relocated to the Midwest who really love it (Milwaukee in particular seems to get an undeserved bad rap imo).

But I lived in the Midwest briefly (albeit many years ago) and I've known enough Midwest transplants to the Coasts: and now that I'm living in Canada, which strikes me as remarkably similar to the Midwest culturally, I've sorted out in my mind what "Midwestern nice" is—and it's really as much a matter of semantics as perception.

There's a difference between being "nice" or "polite" (the word Americans use for the ice-blooded Canadians) and being "friendly". In my experience, Canadians and Midwesterners often tend to retreat behind the façade of being "nice" to mask harsh (and frequently shallow) judgements of people who don't fit the mould of what they consider "acceptable". On the Coasts we may be less "diplomatic" from your point of view, but at least you know where you stand with us—plus I've just known Coasters (especially West Coasters) to be a little more open-minded and willing to give you the benefit of the doubt until you screw up instead of having to "prove yourself worthy" of them when you first meet.

Similarly, from my point of view anyway, there is a huge difference between being "polite" and being "well-mannered". To my mind it's perfectly possible to assert one's self in a completely civilised manner without being "aggressive"—yet, especially here in Canada, I find people who do that often get labelled "rude" or "pushy" by the "polite" types stewing censoriously behind their pursed lips and pinched expressions. Hey, you want to hang back and waste your time that's your business—however, as long as I'm not stepping on anyone's toes why don't you save your anger and resentment for something that actually matters instead of focussing it on people who actually like to display energy and initiative? In general, I think American Midwesterners have more spine in this area than Canadians, but don't take too kindly to people from the Coasts who display this behaviour in your "house".

Obviously, these are gross generalisations, but it's based on my experience of living and travelling on both the Coasts and in the Midwest—and I'll freely admit that perhaps I'm tarring American Midwesterners too heavily with a brush that more readily applies to Canadians. However, I have discovered the same genre of cultural incompatibility here in Canada as I did when I lived in the Midwest, so perhaps your overall "style" isn't that different.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I've never been to Minnesota, but I have been to Nebraska and Iowa. Those really are the nicest people I have ever met. I'm from Alabama, and supposedly we have southern hospitality, but I don't really experience that (maybe cause I'm black?). In any case, the people I met in Omaha were much noticably nicer than anybody back in Birmingham, or any other place I've been to in the south (and i've been everywhere in the south).



I really do believe that people in the Upper Midwest are in general, nicer people than what you find in other parts of the country. Now as far as Chicago and St. Louis, etc. I don't know about that. I can't really agree with that, though I've met nice people while spending time in both cities.

When I moved to Chicago from Iowa, I thought the people in Chicago were much less "friendly" and "nice" compared to Iowa City.

Then I realized that moving here is like visiting the city from out of town at first. You are dealing mostly with service people in downtown areas and high traveled parts of the city. Lots of people I was "meeting" and dealing with were around hundreds of people all the time - many of them visiting and from out of town. I think their fuses had been shortened over time from dealing with the service sector, espeically with a lot of people unexperienced with the city, and probably naive and needing more help.

I then understood why they weren't "friendly" like in Iowa - they were just basically annoyed with all the crap they had to put up with, and didn't care as much about their jobs.

I still go back to Iowa and CAN'T BELIEVE how freaking nice, chatty and friendly people are working in the service sector.

I think a lot of it is just that it's a somewhat slower environment, they aren't rushing around 8 hours a day helping total strangers who are piled up in line before them.

I finally met a great deal of people from Chicago though, actual citizens and locals at my job. These people are just as friendly and nice as anyone in Iowa. So I don't really buy the whole "cities are more mean". You're just dealing with a LOT of people all the time - and you lose your habit of trying to be nice to everyone on the street. You can walk by 30 people a day in Des Moines and be friendly and smile at them, but I'm not going to do that with 10,000 random people on the street of Chicago.

You adjust to your environment. The more and more people that are totally surrounding me all the time, the more I could really care less about focusing on any of them.

Am I being UNFRIENDLY to any of them? Not at all. After awhile people walking by me is as normal as passing a tree or a lamp post. Sure some of them are pretty and I'll give them a quick look, but most of the time it's just white noise in the background. Lots of people from small towns find this to seem unfriendly and cold - but it's just your perspective.

I've never heard that particular turn of phrase, but I've heard many an east coast person describe people as "midwest," when they weren't talking about a point of origin. It's usually a description delivered with a degree of condescension and/or dismissiveness. East coasters use the term to describe people, who unlike them, are not loud, aggressively opinionated, abrasive, in-your-face, and confrontational. And yes, all of that is generally true of midwesterners.

I'm from the west coast orginally, but went to college in Chicago at a school where half of the students were from the midwest, and probably 35% were from the east coast. This is the situation in which I first started hearing the term "midwest" being used by east coast kids, as I described it above. I continued to hear it from east coast transplants I encountered in the Chicago workplace later on. It took awhile to figure out they were just talking about people who, from my point of view, were just nice, normal people.

Wow ... I'm speechless ... Are you getting therapy for this "condition"? :nuts:

after moving to the US and living in NYC (manhattan, then the bronx) what most struck my father on his first visit to michigan was the fact that strangers on the street would smile and say hello and everyone seemed to be so nice everywhere he went. people didn't do this much in new york and certainly not in the south american metropolis we came from. this was one of the reasons (not the most important one, of course, but a smiling polite populace is a nice plus) for moving from new york to western michigan.

that said, i've never heard of "midwest nice" but "minnesota nice" was something i often heard when living in the twin cities. i think a lot of people are genuine in their politeness, but at the same time i've noticed a lot of passive-agressiveness in midwesterners and the "nice" face is sometimes just a front or something done out of habit. i think this ingrained idea in some people that they always have to be "nice" restrains them from acting in a more "honest" way when the situation calls for them not to be nice, like the saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". sometimes it's better to be honest with how you're feeling than to always smile.

its a derogatory term . it means that even though minnesotans have a smile, its fake. they are not nice people. and i agree to it to a certain extent. this is what it is > :hahano:

I don't believe in Midwest Nice, Southern Hospitality, East Coast Rudeness, or any of that bullsh--. They are huge generalizations and it all depends on what is popular/socially acceptable in each region. Maybe people in the Midwest say "hi" more often and superficial stuff like that, but that hardly gets at the root of how a culture treats people (particularly those who don't fit the mold). Midwesterners can be just as prejudiced, hateful, unfair, and dishonest as people anywhere in the country, even if they serve it with a smile.

its a derogatory term . it means that even though minnesotans have a smile, its fake. they are not nice people. and i agree to it to a certain extent. this is what it is > :hahano:

I don't think that is being "fake" as much as it is trying to be polite and avoiding uncomfortable situations.

Have you ever heard the saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all"?

That's easy enough to do, but have you ever heard this:

"If you don't have anything nice to think, don't think at all"

That's a little tougher to do, and that's where the polite, "fake", smile comes from.

Midwesterners can be just as prejudiced, hateful, unfair, and dishonest as people anywhere in the country, even if they serve it with a smile.

You wouldn't be human if you weren't sometimes prejudiced, hateful, unfair, and dishonest, and you're right, we do serve it with a smile, and I can see how that could make outsiders feel REAL uncomfortable.

On the other hand, I don't think it's better for a person to say everything that's on their mind with no restraint.

I don't believe in Midwest Nice, Southern Hospitality, East Coast Rudeness, or any of that bullsh--. They are huge generalizations and it all depends on what is popular/socially acceptable in each region. Maybe people in the Midwest say "hi" more often and superficial stuff like that, but that hardly gets at the root of how a culture treats people (particularly those who don't fit the mold). Midwesterners can be just as prejudiced, hateful, unfair, and dishonest as people anywhere in the country, even if they serve it with a smile.

Good post and true.

I hate generalizations as well. People are different everywhere you go.

I know for a fact in St. Louis people can be assholes, but I dont think its a general thing because people are becoming less and less friendly everywhere.

ive been to the west coast, the south, and alot of the midwest. farthest east ive been is DC. i noticed alot of hospitality from the south. i think alot does have to do with the media and stereotypes though. west coast stereotype: blonde, fake boobs,rich. midwest stereotype:ice fishing, old fashioned, farms. south stereotypes: no teeth ,dumb, rural, racist. east coast stereotypes: loud, urban, italian or irish,in your face. this is what movies and media lead us to beleive

I am from Chicago. Lived in Indy for 14 years now. Every freaking time I go back to visit family I run into a rude bastard. I didn't notice it when I lived there. To answer your question, never heard the phrase before. Omaha was cool. Strangers would wave to you. That was really nice.

in minneapolis strangers will say hi. one guy gave me a bag of chips once. people will ask for cigarettes too, and they will stay and chat with you while smoking. but theres assholes too.

Overall, I think it's a fair generalization that midwestern cities are friendlier than East coast cities and less pretentious than West coast cities.

I, however, have found small town midwesterners to be very, very unfriendly unless you are introduced by a relative, friend, or neighbor. They tend to be insular, closed and somtimes outwardly hostile to outsiders--particularly "city folk."

Overall, I think it's a fair generalization that midwestern cities are friendlier than East coast cities and less pretentious than West coast cities.

I, however, have found small town midwesterners to be very, very unfriendly unless you are introduced by a relative, friend, or neighbor. They tend to be insular, closed and somtimes outwardly hostile to outsiders--particularly "city folk."

yah, I went to visit my great grandmother in a small town called liberty Indiana. The people seemed rather closed.