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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?

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[-] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 9 points 9 months ago

I'm probably wrong, but I think it means somewhere north of the capital city, and maybe it's only used in New York

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 22 points 9 months ago

You are very wrong. Albany is part of "upstate NY" and Albany is literally the capital city... In NY it means basically anywhere that isn't NYC.

[-] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 3 points 9 months ago

Oh well, I tried. Thanks for clarifying!

[-] _edge@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 months ago

Ok, so upstate means north of the capital or north NYC if in New York?

[-] Zitronensaft@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago

The term upstate has no relation to the capital city, that was a mistaken assertion. It isn’t used very widely at all, it’s just a local term in a couple of states for their northern portions. Most states don’t have an area that is referred to as upstate.

[-] tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 months ago

In NY state it essentially means anywhere north of NYC, the capital city Albany is upstate NY. It doesn't seem to mean north of the capital in any state unless that capital is at the southern part.

[-] Cube6392@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

Only New York. It means all the parts of New York state that aren't New York City

[-] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 4 points 9 months ago
[-] tastysnacks@programming.dev 2 points 9 months ago

Is Long Island named Long Island because its long?

[-] tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago

It appears so, it was called other things by native people but the Dutch seem to be the first to call it Long Island in the 1600s. Many geographic features in the area have similar sort of names, like Short Hill, East River, West River, Indian Hill, Short Beach, Beaver Swamp, the colonists really weren't very clever with their naming.

[-] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 1 points 9 months ago

yes. 100 miles or so

[-] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Upstate in NY is literally the entire state other than NYC and Long Island.

this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
163 points (100.0% liked)

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