Why is there an Upstate New York, but no Downstate New York?

Why is it called going "down the shore" in New Jersey, but called "going to the beach" in other states?

Why is it called the Eastern Shore for the Atlantic coast in Maryland, but most people still say they are going to the beach instead of going to the shore?

Why does Appalachia's Northern tip end somewhere in Pennsylvania, when the Appalachians continue into Maine?

Why is there a Lower Delaware, when there is no Higher Delaware? Why do people refer to "going downstate" when travelling to Southern Delaware, but don't refer to "going upstate" when travelling to Northern Delaware?

Where is the northern boundary of the Southern Tier in New York, and the southern boundary of the Northern Tier in Pennsylvania?

Why is New Jersey the only state that you can refer to understandably by dropping the "New"? Why doesn't anyone say "Hampshire", "York", etc?

Why is it called Washington, DC, as if there are other cities in the District of Columbia? Why isn't just the District of Columbia?

Wow. Deep thoughts.

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why are expressways called parkways [seemingly] only in the northeast? How come there aren't any expressways/parkways referred to officially as "freeways" in this region?

My $0.03.

- There is a "downstate" NY, it's just not heard with the same frequency. We're probably one of the only states that'll also say "...the city" and instantly know where. Or why car dealers on Long Island will say (hypothetical dealer) "Islip Motors, Islip, L.I." on their license plate holder. Shouldn't it be Islip, NY? And how come with L.I., and N.H., for example, they dot the initials, but you never see N.Y., always NY?

- Southern Tier in NY, in my mind, includes Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, etc (southern border most counties, in WNY at least). I'd carry the "southern tier" designation from the PA line in the west, to the PA/NJ border in the east.

- In Virginia it's referred to as the "Eastern Shore" as well. Seemed to me to be nearly homogeneous with Maryland's portion.

Why is there an Upstate New York, but no Downstate New York?

Why is it called going "down the shore" in New Jersey, but called "going to the beach" in other states?

Why is it called the Eastern Shore for the Atlantic coast in Maryland, but most people still say they are going to the beach instead of going to the shore?

Why does Appalachia's Northern tip end somewhere in Pennsylvania, when the Appalachians continue into Maine?

Why is there a Lower Delaware, when there is no Higher Delaware? Why do people refer to "going downstate" when travelling to Southern Delaware, but don't refer to "going upstate" when travelling to Northern Delaware?

Where is the northern boundary of the Southern Tier in New York, and the southern boundary of the Northern Tier in Pennsylvania?

Why is New Jersey the only state that you can refer to understandably by dropping the "New"? Why doesn't anyone say "Hampshire", "York", etc?

Why is it called Washington, DC, as if there are other cities in the District of Columbia? Why isn't just the District of Columbia?

I've always referred to Washington, DC as "DC". It's much quicker to say. Many DC residents call it "the District."

It is interesting how New Jersey is the only "New" state that gets regularly referred to as simply "Jersey."

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why are expressways called parkways [seemingly] only in the northeast? How come there aren't any expressways/parkways referred to officially as "freeways" in this region?
I've never heard the term "freeway" used all that much in the Northeast. It seems to be more widely used in other parts of the country. Though there is the North-South Freeway (Rt. 42) in South Jersey. The originally-proposed routing of I-95 through Somerset and Mercer Counties in NJ was to have been called the Somerset Freeway.

There is a downstate NY, but it is usually only referred to when comparing and (much more often) contrasting it with upstate NY. Downstate, by my definition, is anyplace in NY where most of the people speak with the Noo Yoak accent.... even if it's only a slight variation of it; and Upstate is any place where they speak with the nasaly upper-midwest/Great Lakes accent (usually refered to as the Chicaaaahgo accent)

Why are there towing booths before you enter the City of Baltimore I never understood that?

Why is it called Washington, DC, as if there are other cities in the District of Columbia? Why isn't just the District of Columbia?
When it was founded, Washington was only one of several towns or cities within the newly formed District of Columbia. Georgetown and Alexandria, for example, were also towns within the new district.

I guess the Founding Fathers never realized that automobiles and other forms of modern transportation would turn Washington into a sprawling metropolis.

I think the Islip, LI, is a continuation of something done all the time in the media in the region. It's not "Tottenville, New York", it's "Tottenville, Staten Island" or "Astoria, Queens" and "Massapequa, Long Island". Yet, Fort Lee, NJ, Stamford, CT, New Rochelle, NY (indicating it's "north of the Bronx" status). So Long Island joins the bandwagon. You gotta remember that a lot of uppity LIers consider everything north of the Bronx "upstate".

I also think it's because LI is severed completely from the rest of the state by the city, it thinks of itself not as a suburb but an entirely different region from the rest of NY.

I've always been confused with the apparent towns within boroughs within the city of New York.... take Astoria or Bayside in Queens for example; what are they? They are within the borough of Queens which is part of the City of New York..... so what does that make them? Can you have a town within a city? Same thing for Tottenville Staten Island.

I've always been confused with the apparent towns within boroughs within the city of New York.... take Astoria or Bayside in Queens for example; what are they? They are within the borough of Queens which is part of the City of New York..... so what does that make them? Can you have a town within a city? Same thing for Tottenville Staten Island.

Good question. Maybe they are called neighborhood of a borough of a city????
What the hell did I just type?

Unincorporated areas, perhaps? They're all over the place in NY, you only know you're there because there's a green sign on the side of the road.

Or one I'm familiar with, Penacook, NH: Not a real place name, more of an unincorporated village in Concord, with it's own post office.

Many DC residents call it "the District."
For some reason, this bothers the hell out of me. I really, really dont like to hear someone say their in 'The District".

Why isn't Staten Island part of New Jersey anyway? How or why did it become New York?

I've always been confused with the apparent towns within boroughs within the city of New York.... take Astoria or Bayside in Queens for example; what are they? They are within the borough of Queens which is part of the City of New York..... so what does that make them? Can you have a town within a city? Same thing for Tottenville Staten Island.

You can live in Bayside which is within Flushing which is within Queens which is within NYC. You will receive mail addressed to Bayside, NY; Flushing, NY; and Queens, NY--depending on the whim of the sender. New York, NY would be totally legitimate too, if you wanna get technical, but I've never seen it used.

The "towns" are not really anything. Like most city neighborhoods there are no official boundaries, and people on the edges of neighborhoods can pretty much choose which of the two neighborhoods they live near they want on their address. Don't know if you're in Bayside or Oakland Gardens? Pick whichever one you like. The family living downstairs could use the other one for all you know. Does it matter? No. If you live in Brooklyn, you probably could use Williamsburg, NY as your address--it's just not like a popular practice like it is in Queens.

That's pretty odd.... there's some MAJOR oddities in the Rochester area too. For one, all of the inner ring suburbs use "Rochester" as their mailing address, you rarely find a personal postage with a return or mailing address of Greece, Irondequoit, Gates, or Brighton.... they all use "Rochester". HOWEVER there is a neighborhood in the city of Rochester called Charlotte (not pronounced like the city in NC, but rather..... shar-lot) that is on the lake.... and many people use "Charlotte" as the mailing address, like it is it's own town. It was NEVER it's own town to begin with either, it was part of the town of Greece until it was anned by the city of Rochester in 1916. Then out in the burbs, you have a bunch of little and big villages within towns. Some with the same name, and some with totally different names. Ex; Pittsford is Rochester's most affluent and somewhat snooty suburb, but there are TWO pittsfords; the Village of Pittsford with a population of just over 1000 people and with a very small "village" feel with pre civil war homes... and the town of Pittsford with about 28,000 people that is quintessential upper middle class mcmansion suburbia. The town and village of Webster a little farther north on the lake has a very similar set up The town directly to the east of Pittsford is Perinton, and inside the town of Perinton is the Village of Fairport. BUT everyone in the whole town goes to "Fairport Central School Distict" and uses a Fairport mailing address.... even if they don't live in the village of Fairport. The same is true over in Parma/Hilton on the west side. Hilton is an unincorperated village with a population of 9000 inside the town of Parma with about 15,000. And again, everyone goes to "Hilton Central School district" and most use a Hilton address. THEN, in Greece, you have the "Greece CDP" which has a population of around 15000, and the town of greece which is over 95,000. Then you have Scottsville in the town of Wheatland.... where everyone has a Scottsvile mailing address but goes to Wheatland Central Schools; AND you have Churchville which is in the town of Riga.... where they go to "Chruchville-Chili Central schools", or "Riga Central Schools". Also in Wheatland, there is a little village or something called Mumford that goes to "Caledonia-Mumford Schools".... with Caledonia being a town in a bordering county! Also, NOBODY uses a "Wheatland" mailing address. And you have The town of Mendon, which shares schools with the town and village of Pittsford in "Pittsford Mendon unified schools schools"... but within the town of Rush is the village of Honeoye Falls, which has it's own school district too!. The village of Spencerport is west of Greece in the town of Ogden, and again, EVERYONE in the town of Ogden uses a Spencerort address and goes to Spencerport School districts. The biggest one of all is the Village of Brockport. It's really more of a satelite city of Rochester than an actual suburba area, and has it's own SUNY unversity AND it's own school district.... but it is in the Town of Sweden, where nobody uses Sweden as their mailing address, but rather Brockport.... and goes to Brockport School System. And finally, smack dab in the middle of Rochester's sprawling and leafy eastside suburbs, there is a little working class village called East Rochester that isn't within any town and has it's own school district as well..... whew, that was a lot. Here's a map that eplains it probably WAY better than I just did;

http://users.rootsweb.com/~nymonnws/graphics/monroe.jpg

Good question. Maybe they are called neighborhood of a borough of a city????
What the hell did I just type?yeah, this is truly a "headscratcher".

lol.......hell, maybe we can just call them MINIcities (example: St. Albans, Queens, New York). sheez, that's too much damn writing on a postcard. sounds ridiculous.

Is Maryland the only state on the East coast where you can go skiing in the mountains one day and swimming at the beach the next? We have some awkward climates here.

Is Maryland the only state on the East coast where you can go skiing in the mountains one day and swimming at the beach the next? We have some awkward climates here.

You can do that in California and Hawaii.

I said East coast. Honest mistake, I'm sure

You can do that on pretty much every state on the east coast except for Florida which has no mountains, and PA which has no beach. Otherwise, with the Appalaichian chain running prallel to the Atlantic ocean from Geogia to New England.... yeah, you can do that everywhere.

Cool!!!

Why are there towing booths before you enter the City of Baltimore I never understood that?

I'm not sure if you're talking about the Harbor Tunnel and Fort McHenry Tunnel. If you are, these are the reasons...

1. The Ft.McHenry tunnel is the sight where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner

and

2. The Harbor Tunnel was completed in 1957, providing the first freeway for Northeast Corridor traffic through the Baltimore area.

Oh I see what you mean!!

You can do that on pretty much every state on the east coast except for Florida which has no mountains, and PA which has no beach. Otherwise, with the Appalaichian chain running prallel to the Atlantic ocean from Geogia to New England.... yeah, you can do that everywhere.

Actually, Delaware has no mountains and Vermont has no beach really; Pennsylvania has Lake Erie, so I would think that they have beaches like New York and Ohio. Unless you mean no ocean, which would obviously be correct.

Why is New Jersey the only state that you can refer to understandably by dropping the "New"? Why doesn't anyone say "Hampshire", "York", etc?



I never got this either, and Jersey Shore...I have no idea...

Not many people say they are going to "York".

You can do that on pretty much every state on the east coast except for Florida which has no mountains, and PA which has no beach. Otherwise, with the Appalaichian chain running prallel to the Atlantic ocean from Geogia to New England.... yeah, you can do that everywhere.

Pennsylvania has freshwater beaches on the spectacular Presque Isle... which is a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie at the city of Erie.

Why is it called going "down the shore" in New Jersey, but called "going to the beach" in other states?

In Maryland, Baltimore at least, it's "downy oshin".

Why is it called the Eastern Shore for the Atlantic coast in Maryland, but most people still say they are going to the beach instead of going to the shore?

It's the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore and Annapolis are on the Western Shore, although that term isn't used as often. The beach, also known as downy oshin, in Maryland or Delaware, is the Atlantic coast. If you go to New Jersey or Virginia, you use the state name.

Is Maryland the only state on the East coast where you can go skiing in the mountains one day and swimming at the beach the next? We have some awkward climates here.

You'd have a brisk day of swimming if you came from Garrett county to OC during the ski season. Winter water is about 40 degrees.

Thats gunna be some cold swimmin though

D.C. before 1846 had two counties, Washington County (MD-side) and Alexandria County (VA-side). All the government and business was in Washington County, so Virginia state legislature determined it was not in their best interest.

Thats gunna be some cold swimmin though

Significant shrinkage!!! lol

For some reason, this bothers the hell out of me. I really, really dont like to hear someone say their in 'The District".

I usually say DC. I think it's better than saying "the District". Occasionally, I'll call it Washington.

I like how when I was in the Navy, eveytime I said I was from NY people would ask what the city was like...I just gave up after that shit...said Buffalo and people made fun of the Bills...WTF!!!

You should have said: "BATAVIA BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I usually say DC. I think it's better than saying "the District". Occasionally, I'll call it Washington.

Washington is completely fine. I dont mind that one bit. My college buddies and I often joke about the clear and distinct difference between Washington and DC. Washington is everything in NW, parts of NE and SW. DC is everything in SE and the other parts of NE. lol. I laughed when i first heard it, but its the truth.

"The District" is an awesome name. I think I'm gonna start calling it "The District" from now on.