PSA: "Upstate" New York

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 12:50 pm

Dear Imamother community,

Please refer to this map before asking for recommendations of things to do in 'Upstate' New York.

Sincerely,
A Capital District Resident

From https://www.pinterest.com/pin/...../url]

amother

Natural

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 12:56 pm

As a resident of Western NY, I love this! Grew up in Brooklyn and when I was dating my husband made the mistake of calling our city Upstate NY...boy did I get a schooling from him then! He looked at me and said "XYZ is NOT upstate NY...It's WESTERN NY...the Catskills are Upstate NY." Never made that mistake again, and now I'm the one correcting people who ask me how I like living Upstate! Anon bec. most of my family and friends know this story Smile

Maya

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 1:02 pm

amother wrote:

According to this graphic image, the Catskills are not upstate either.

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 1:05 pm

To be honest, its not perfect. Its not straight lines either. I would include anything east of Lake Ontario (above Oswego) as upstate, Saratoga should really be part of the Capital District, and the Capital district should start right below Albany, not as far down as it starts.

Last edited by Ima2NYM_LTR on Wed, Dec 30 2015, 1:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

gp2.0

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 1:06 pm

Funny!

Amother natural according to this map the Catskills aren't upstate NY either.

I maintain that anything to the north of NYC is technically "upstate" and this can be called as such by people who have been to NJ, Pennsylvania and Connecticut more often than they've gone as far as Albany, nevermind further up.

It's quibbling over details. If I go to Toronto from NYC I'm not going to say "I went to the south of Canada" I'm going to say "I went up north to Canada."

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 1:12 pm

This is more accurate

Adirondack and Thousand Islands is upstate
Central LEatherstocking and Finger Lakes -wine is Central NY
Niagara and Chatauqua are Western

HonesttoGod

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 2:23 pm

Doesn't upstate just mean anything further "up" than we are?

Meaning Baltimore is "upstate" from Washington DC. etc etc.

Simple1

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 5:08 pm

Cute map, but Wikipedia (I know it's not considered 100% accurate) says that it's the part of the state that's north of NYC. I guess the definition is cultural or relative.

Mama Bear

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 5:09 pm

funny, the majority of the red island is Long Island. and when people say "New York" they mean manhatan and maybe brooklyn.

animeme

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 6:07 pm

When people outside New York say New York, they usually mean all five boroughs, and often Long Island.

Also, in my world, Monsey isn't upstate, but Syracuse, Binghamton, Rochester, Ithaca, etc definitely are. Maybe it's the NCSY region thing.

amother

Indigo

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 6:12 pm

animeme wrote:

We live in Monsey and when we're in NYC if someone asks us where we're from we say upstate. It simply means further up the state than here.

naturalmom5

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 6:25 pm

amother wrote:

We live in Monsey and when we're in NYC if someone asks us where we're from we say upstate. It simply means further up the state than here.

PRECISELY

spring13

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 7:12 pm

Upstate NY to me is anything north of the Erie Canal (or very close to it).

People from NY who are whining that the rest of the state is north of them - the OP's point is that there's a lot of state up there, so you can't ask for things to do (and the like) without being more specific. Frankly, the parts of NY state that most people don't think of are the most beautiful and interesting.

tryinghard

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 7:25 pm

animeme wrote:

Rochester is Western NY. Depending on the person, they may call Syracuse and Ithaca "Central NY" or "Western NY"

Kiwi13

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 7:28 pm

haha I JUST got finished explaining to someone where Rochester is and I called it "upstate." Sometimes I call it "WAAAAAY upstate." ;-)

Maya

Wed, Dec 30 2015, 7:30 pm

amother wrote:

We live in Monsey and when we're in NYC if someone asks us where we're from we say upstate. It simply means further up the state than here.

I say "farther upstate, in Rockland County" precisely because someone once told me off for calling Monsey upstate.

But I will continue to call the Catskills upstate.

m in Israel

Thu, Dec 31 2015, 4:12 am

Ima2NYM_LTR wrote:

This is more accurate

Adirondack and Thousand Islands is upstate
Central LEatherstocking and Finger Lakes -wine is Central NY
Niagara and Chatauqua are Western

But if you want to start getting picky, I'm not sure your definitions are so universally accepted Very Happy

My father was born in Saratoga Springs, and I'm pretty sure they considered it "upstate", even though according to this map it is not in either the Adirondack or the Thoasand Islands areas.

5*Mom

Thu, Dec 31 2015, 4:59 am

There's *upstate* and *Upstate*. Little *u* is a direction; big *U* is a region.