But what about if the state of Massachusetts is long and can easily be divided into thirds and therefor we divide it into Western, Central and Eastern? Does that not count for anything because there are people who live in Fitchburg but work in Boston? There are people in southern New Hampshire who work in Boston. Is New Hampshire part of the Boston area? By this logic all of New England is Massachusetts and New England is part of New York City. Maybe it is, I don’t know. I’m not even from here. I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, which is the Worcester of Canada.

Ok but who decided that we only divide up states by socioeconomics? What is The Cape? What is the North Shore? What is the South Shore? That last one is an actual question, I genuinely don’t know. Also there are people who live outside of Worcester who commute to Worcester for work. It’s the heart of central Massachusetts, a place that exists. Look at an electoral map of Massachusetts and note how often there is a big red streak sticking out right down the middle, because the culture and people there are different from the urban and suburban people of eastern Massachusetts and the old hippies in Western Mass. There are a lot more ways to divide up a state than socioeconomics and if you don’t enjoy the parochial New Englander’s views on this I dare say you have come to the wrong place, dear boy. Pip pip, cheerio!

The thing about Worcester is that Worcester is actually closer to being Worcester than it is to being Lowell or Holyoke or Boston. These are all different places. I checked on my map. I’ve been staring at it now for an hour trying to make sense of it all. I’m going slightly mad.

I’d argue that all state and county lines are merely a construct and that in fact we are all flying through space on a spinning orb that is mostly water. Also, conversely, Worcester and Fitchburg are outskirts of the Boston area? Saugus is an outskirt of the Boston area. Fitchburg is barely on the same planet. How far does the Boston area extend in your universe?