A ( relatively short) revelation

You know how in England, if a person said they lived in the South-West, that would mean that if you were to look at a map of England and mark off the South-West of the map, you'd probably have a rough idea of where this person was from. Anyone could do it. Even someone who had never heard of England. They'd be able to follow simple compass directions and work out roughly where you were from. Right?

Well.

In America it does not work this way. In America, a person can say they are from the South of the country and another person (say, me) could think about compass directions and draw a rough area on the map and might come up with a state in the south of the country. Like, perhaps, Texas. Fair enough, right? It's dead center and directly south.

But that person (the 'me' person) would be wrong.

Because, as I have very recently realised, American regions have stuff all to do with compass directions. In fact, you need a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the American civil war, of Mason Dixon lines and early settlements. The South, as Americans know it, isn't 'south' at all... it's south-ish... South East perhaps. Texas, apparently (which actually is south) doesn't conform to any compass directions and is simply 'Texas'.

And don't even get me started on the 'Mid' West.

Sigh.

It should be noted that it has taken me seven years to figure this out.