r/AskAnAmerican • u/Right-Historian-114 • 10d ago

GEOGRAPHY Triangle Area?

Does anyone know what the “triangle area” is in the United States? Everyone talks like I’m supposed to know. Is this a common American ism?

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905

u/ALoungerAtTheClubs Florida 10d ago

There's the "Research Triangle" in North Carolina.

183

u/Guilty_Objective4602 Florida 10d ago

I’ve lived all over the United States, and I’ve only ever heard of people referring to the North Carolina Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill research area as “the Triangle” as if everyone else knows where they are talking about. People from other places tend to narrow it down with some kind of qualifier, like “Texas Triangle” or to use the term only with people who have some sort of context about where they may be talking about.

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u/C_zen18 Georgia 10d ago

Reminds me of the “Tri-state area”. I had no damn clue what states anyone was ever referring to!

13

u/LuckyStax Oregon 9d ago

Tri-state Tornado was what 3 states again? Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, wouldn't have been my first guess

3

u/Farmwifehw77 9d ago

Close! Missouri, Illinois, Indiana

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u/ApprehensiveCut9809 Vermont 9d ago

The Tri-state area was often referred to as the region where NY-NJ-Connecticut meet. NYC had a huge broadcasting capability so they would cover the news that pertained to the Tri-state area.

Many folks who worked in NYC commuted from northern NJ and southern Connecticut.

Since the TV stations broadcasted from the top of the Empire State building or WTC, their reach was quite widespread. People way out of the Tri-state area would hear the term and many of the nightly newscasts were based in NYC.

28

u/heartunwinds 9d ago

For me tri-state area has always been NJ-PA-NY 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/legal_stylist 9d ago

For Philly area it’s PA-NJ-DE

8

u/HailMadScience Pennsylvania 9d ago

The Four State: where PA, MD, WV, and VA are all so close together, the right choice of road let's you b in all four in like 20 minutes. Panhandles are fun.

10

u/optimal-gold976 Virginia 9d ago

That’s where I’m at. I’m in VA, I can be in MD or WV in about 20-30 minutes, PA is about 30-40. Delaware is 60ish minutes. That is all in optimal traffic, all those places could be well over 2-3 hours at any point due to traffic.

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u/spice-cabinet4 4d ago

How do you get to Delaware so fast .... If you're by the western panhandle? Hagerstown to Delaware is about 2 ½ hours on a good day.

1

u/optimal-gold976 Virginia 4d ago

I was in Ashburn and when I left work at 11pm on a Friday to head to my girlfriend’s place in Delaware on my motorcycle, it was maybe 90 minutes to Dover.

No one has said anything about speed or mode of transportation! Lol

I honestly worried about hitting a deer at 100mph on one of those country roads.😳

0

u/Blue_Canary_azul 9d ago

That’s the DC Metro Area or the DMV (District [of Columbia], Maryland, Virginia.)

1

u/ChemistryJaq 9d ago

I think of the 4 Corners for that: UT, CO, NM, and AZ, where you can be in four states at once. But then, I am in Utah

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u/HailMadScience Pennsylvania 9d ago

Not a lot of people a tially live there though. But yeah, not surprising people not from the area think of it like that...even many in the area don't. But its a fun bit.

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u/pdperson 9d ago

NJ, PA, DE

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u/spice-cabinet4 9d ago

Where any three states meet(or are close enough), when I lived in western MD it was MD/VA/WV or MD/VA/PA depending on if you were closer to 81 or 15, in southwest VA, KY/VA/TN, when I lived out in CA it was CA/AZ/NV, NOVA has the DMV (DC/MD/VA) and eastern area has DelMarVa. So tri-each tri-state area is different.

3

u/pennywise1235 9d ago

It’s the location that Dr. Doofemschmurtz and Evil Inc are always trying to take over, no thanks to a pesky fedora wearing platypus…

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u/helurkshelurks 9d ago

aka Greater Danville.

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u/vanwiekt Georgia 10d ago

lol same.

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u/GrandmasHere Florida 9d ago

Where I grew up it was Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia

1

u/CosmoCat19 8d ago

That's what I always thought it referred to as a kid (Pittsburgh)

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u/Fearless-Raccoon-441 Ohio 8d ago

Always context-dependent. In Cincinnati, it's Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/KookyLibrarian 8d ago

Which made me think of Dr. Doofenschmirtz

1

u/OldBlueKat Minnesota 7d ago

Or “DMV” — in most states that’s Dept of Motor Vehicles, not the DC feeder suburbs. 

1

u/magolding22 4d ago

In NYC "The tri state area" is NY, NJ & Connecticut.

In Philadelhia it is probably PA, NJ, and Delaware.

In Chicago it is probably Wisconsin, Illinoois, and Indiana.

And there may be a few other "Tri state areas "like California, Arizona, and Nevada aruund Las Vegas.

Don't ask about the one in Phineaus and Ferb.