Upstate
Created by Unknown User (kmh28), last modified on Nov 24, 2008
(noun) Used to refer to any area in New York that is not New York City or Long Island.
Clarification 2008: generally only used by those from NYC or LI
"I knew upstate winter was going to be cold, but I didn’t know I’d be wearing a winter coat in October."
Source: Geneseo Dictionary 2006. Marcantonio.
Comments:
The exact extent of upstate vs. downstate is uncertain. Yonkers has also been included in downstate, and sometimes the further southern areas in the western part of the state might be considered "downstate". The geographic distinction seems to be preferred by New Yorkers or Long Islanders, with a greater variation in geographic terms being used in other areas, such as "western New York", "central New York", "the Adirondacks", &c. It is, however, common in other cities or towns in "upstate", but may also be used pejoratively by people from "downstate", in conjunction with the belief that "New York ends at the Hudson."
Posted by krk5 at Dec 02, 2008 12:12
This term is not only used by people from downstate. It is in use by people not associated with SUNY Geneseo. Upstate is a term which can be and is used, either positively or negatively, by people from both "upstate" and "downstate."EOberdorf, 2012
Posted by eo7 at Nov 20, 2012 15:39
This term is a difficult one to survey, because it is defined from a "downstate mentality." I’m from Rochester and had never heard the finger lakes area referred to as "upstate" until I came to Geneseo and met people from Long Island and the city. Some people consider it to be "western New York" while areas like Plattsburgh and the thousand islands is "upstate New York," I know it’s too late now (and it also would have been difficult to format) but it would be an interesting idea in the future to survey this word without a definition, and see how students from different areas of the state actually define it. Eichas, 2012
Posted by mee2 at Nov 27, 2012 19:44
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