🚀 go-pugleaf

"Steve Fleckenstein" <spfleck@citlinkdot.net> wrote in message news:<u74g8ilco8cn7c@corp.supernews.com>...
> | : Please vote for your favorite definitions of "Upstate NY".
> 
> Depends on the perspective of the person making the observation.
> 
> To a NYC doctor I know upstate is anything north of Yonkers.
> 
> As a kid from Queens in the 1960's to me it was the Catskills, My Uncle's
> place in Westbrookville in Sullivan Cty, my grandparents place in Smallwood
> and Howe Caverns.
> 
> To someone in Lake George it is along the Canadian border.
> 
> To me in Orange Cty today upstate is Albany and north, Rochester , etc.
> 
> Ask someone in Rochester where upstate is. They might suggest Canada.
> 
> Steve

As someone who grew up in Lake George/Saratoga area, I was always
offended and the loose, often misuse of the term "upstate". My parents
(and extended family) all worked for NY State in one capacity or
another, so I got to know the geography of the state pretty well.

It wasn't until I worked for Bell Atlantic (which is now Verizon, and
as we all know was formerly NYNEX/NY Telephone/AT&T/Ma Bell) that I
came to appreciate the true divisions of the state. After about two
weeks I realized that the areacode boundries of the state really did
define the people - without looking at the number on the screen I
could guess where the person was from by their accent. It's an uncanny
ability that does me no good here in Virginia (in the Glens Falls/Lake
George/Saratoga area I can sometimes tell what school a local went to
by their accent).

Granted, those divisions are really broad. 518 represents people from
Albany, Troy, Saratoga, and Plattsburgh just to name a few. I'm sure
people from Binghamton (a great accent by the way) don't want to be
assoicated with people from Owego, but the opposite is usually true. I
have two coworkers "from Buffalo" - one is actually from Tanawanda and
the other Elmira. I paged them both one day with the following...

A NEW YORK STATE PAGER HAIKU:
HOME IS ELMIRA
OR MAYBE TANAWANDA
BUT NOT BUFFALO

So how do I divide NY state? If not by area code:

Buffalo - Western NY
Rochester - North/Central NY
Syracuse - Central NY
Binghamton - South/Central NY
Albany - Eastern NY
Plattsburgh - Northern NY
The Bell System divides 914 into Upstate and Downstate for calling
areas. I usually just think of the area in terms of Poughkeepsie and
Whiteplains.