> Something other than just "small towns and villages exist", as both easily get classified as urban or suburban.
Even if you're being pedantic (which, as noted, is pointless and silly), small towns aren't necessarily urban or suburban. For the census, 2000 housing units or a population of 5000 are required to count, and my town is the only one that made it onto the census list within an hour of me. 20+ small towns, 6 county seats, only 1 urban area. And that urban area has only 10% of the total population of those six counties! In other words: 90% of the people within an hour of me live in rural areas even according to the census.
And, again, as noted, I think it's silly to insist on a term of art in colloquial usage. Most people, on hearing what I just said, would agree that my town is a rural town in the middle of rural counties. But even if we do use pedantic definitions, you're objectively wrong.
So instead of all this complaining of me being a pedant you could have replied to this question with just a "yes" and far fewer ink would have been spilled. Who was really being pointless and silly in this exchange?
> Yeah but on the census is your area rural or urban?
> And, again, as noted, I think it's silly to insist on a term of art in colloquial usage
I disagree. If you ever call the furry creature in my home an elephant I'll correct your usage regardless of if you somehow feel it's the proper colloquial usage. Using the term incorrectly is using the term incorrectly. If we just make up whatever "rural" means to you personally then it'll be hard to actually use real statistics to understand our populations and cities.
If we're just going to go by vibes for our definition of rural, tons of places can be rural. I live a short walk from a fishing hole, there's a big wooded area near me, loads of big pickups driving around, people in cowboy boots and cowboy hats everywhere, I drive past farms every day, and I'm constantly next to a large horse stable. I guess I'm in a rural area! If I get a few friends to agree and use the term I guess it's right. What's that? It's a city of a population of 120k and a density of >4,000/sq mi and is deep in one of the largest US metros? Hmm, doesn't sound very rural, but it's vibing right, so must be.
It's absurd 30% of people who live in suburbs think they live in a rural area, and it does affect their lives.
> So instead of all this complaining of me being a pedant you could have replied to this question with just a "yes" and far fewer ink would have been spilled.
While we're being pedantic, no ink was spilled on this conversation. Let's not invent a definition of ink that includes pixels on a screen.
The pedantry is the problem. That you were wrong even in your pedantry is entirely unsurprising because people who are being pedantic almost invariably are—people who actually are experts on a topic generally recognize it to be complicated enough that it's not worth trying to be perfectly precise in casual speech.
So in my first comment I didn't feel the need to waste time address the merits of your claims—that would only validate the invalid approach to discourse—but when you doubled down (twice!) I decided to humor you and sure enough, you were wrong.
> If we just make up whatever "rural" means to you personally then it'll be hard to actually use real statistics to understand our populations and cities.
Agreed. So let's not invent a definition of rural that says that small towns and villages "easily get classified as urban or suburban" and then try to use that as a hammer to tell people they're wrong about what type of environment they live in. :)
Edit: you added a whole paragraph after I replied, but it doesn't change anything. The environment you describe would not be called a small town or a village by anyone, even those who apparently misuse the word "rural" in conversation with you.
I'm sorry, where was I wrong? Where did I ever actually accuse any particular person of living in one place or the other? And in the end you do live in an urban area by your acknowledgement. I've only been asking for people to ensure they're really using the right terms.
> Agreed. So let's not invent a definition of rural that says that small towns and villages "easily get classified as urban or suburban"
Yes, let's not invent one. We'll just encourage the improper usage.
> The environment you describe would not be called a small town or a village by anyone
A surprising percentage of people living in areas like that do. I personally know some.
Even if you're being pedantic (which, as noted, is pointless and silly), small towns aren't necessarily urban or suburban. For the census, 2000 housing units or a population of 5000 are required to count, and my town is the only one that made it onto the census list within an hour of me. 20+ small towns, 6 county seats, only 1 urban area. And that urban area has only 10% of the total population of those six counties! In other words: 90% of the people within an hour of me live in rural areas even according to the census.
And, again, as noted, I think it's silly to insist on a term of art in colloquial usage. Most people, on hearing what I just said, would agree that my town is a rural town in the middle of rural counties. But even if we do use pedantic definitions, you're objectively wrong.
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/g...