You probably know about the Rust Belt and the Bible Belt, but have you heard of the Smile Belt? How about the Biscuit Belt or the Pine Belt? The word belt is sometimes used to denote a loosely defined geographical area. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Belt Regions of the United States”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. We’ve heard a lot of talk lately about the Rust Belt,
And there’s also the Bible Belt in this country, but one belt that I didn’t realize existed is the
Smile Belt. What’s the Smile Belt? Places where it’s often sunny. No, the Smile Belt extends from
The West Coast down across the bottom of the United States and then up the East Coast. What
What do they have in common?
That’s what I’m trying to figure out.
I have read a whole bunch of different sources on marketing,
People in business who are trying to market either fish tacos or cars or furniture,
And they’re all talking about the smile belt.
As a region that they’re trying to do business in.
Yes.
Okay.
And it’s just like the image you might imagine.
A shape of a smile.
A shape of a smile.
Are they all ocean states or sea states except for the one bordering Mexico?
Not across the bottom.
Wow, yeah.
If you’re in marketing, you’ve got to let us know, why is this a region?
Why is this a target?
But there are lots of different regions like that in this country.
There’s a Pine Belt in Mississippi.
You’ve heard of the Biscuit Belt?
That gets loosened the more biscuits.
Well, it’s the region where people tend to really like their biscuits.
Oh, okay.
They have big bellies and a little obesity problem.
So the Biscuit Belt probably overlaps with the Smile Belt.
A little bit, yeah.
Well, here’s what I’m guessing.
I’m guessing that we have listeners who have a particular region in their area that is also defined as a belt.
A kind of belt.
Yeah, we would love to hear about it.
Yeah, what’s the belt that you live in?
What do you identify?
What does the Chamber of Commerce put on the sign when it welcomes people to town?
The something belt.
What is that something?
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