Panhandle is such a weird concept. Also, doesn't even seem like a concept. I agree with you. I'd be open only to consider northwest Florida as a panhandle as well.
The fact that this list includes Nebraska but excludes Virginia and North Carolina is baffling. I read the source article and there is no true standard for identifying a panhandle. It seems like it's just one authority's opinion, and I don't think that authority spent a ton of time thinking it out. New Hampshire also has an eastern panhandle similar to Connecticut's western one, and Massachusetts has the southeast panhandle, which leads to the capes. This whole exercise is suspect, but it's not really a question of consequence, so who cares, I suppose. If nothing else, the quiz got me to look at these states more closely.
Jmellior13 North Carolina? As a native North Carolinian I can assure you we do not have a panhandle, it is just an elongated state. Virginia I can agree with it certainly has one.
The Panhandle just seems so much farther north than the rest of the state, though, and here, everyone refers to that area as the Panhandle probably as much as Idahoans do for their state. It's also talked about a lot more since it's less isolated than El Paso and is easier to get to if you're in the Texas Triangle.
This definition of panhandle is ridiculous: "a narrow strip of territory projecting from the main territory of one state into another state."
Exactly zero states have territory that projects into another state. No state's territory goes beyond its own border.
And by this 'definition' It could be argued that Florida's 'panhandle" is entirely south of Georgia and Alabama (and therefore not a panhandle), and it is Alabama that has the panhandle that projects into Florida.
The index finger of the hand. It's the northern part of the Great Plains region and is usually used to refer to the Amarillo and Lubbock areas, since they are relatively isolated.
Maybe it has to do with whether residents of the state consider it a panhandle. Nebraskans definitely do. Connecticut surprised me--do Connecticans consider the SW jut a panhandle?
Canadian here...Had heard the term referred to before on TV, but legitimately never clued in that panhandle was a part of a state that looks like a pan handle....wow.
Another Canadian here. Got wrecked by this quiz because I got frustrated that seemingly obvious panhandles weren't counted. But most of us know what a panhandle is.
Why do some US states have panhandles? Surely it would have been easier to draw boundaries along geographical lines such as rivers and canyons, or in neat shapes such as squares.
IDK about Nebraska's (although old Nebraska would definitely count) but the Texas Panhandle is kinda significant geographically and culturally. I mean, sure, it's a bit stubby, but containing the Great Plains and the cities of Amarillo and Lubbock mean it's important enough to be called a panhandle, at least.
As a West Virginia Native, I am really glad that we are the only state that has 2 panhandles! I live near Martinsburg! Also Wheeling use to be the State Capitol until it was moved to Charleston!
which makes them all panhandles. if any thing Massachusetts or Virginia should be one instead of Connecticut.
Exactly zero states have territory that projects into another state. No state's territory goes beyond its own border.
And by this 'definition' It could be argued that Florida's 'panhandle" is entirely south of Georgia and Alabama (and therefore not a panhandle), and it is Alabama that has the panhandle that projects into Florida.
If Idaho has a panhandle, so does Utah.
btw Kennett for Missouri?
Look at Texas and Nebraska my dude.