I grew up in the KCMO area, and can confirm a similarity there. Actually, as you mentioned, I didn't actually LIVE in KC, I lived right outside in a town calle

I grew up in the KCMO area, and can confirm a similarity there. Actually, as you mentioned, I didn't actually LIVE in KC, I lived right outside in a town called Independence, but nobody really knew that town very well, so we all just said KC. Downtown was something you tended to avoid, at least until relatively recently where there's been a lot of stuff added to do, but now I live out West. People live in Seattle, but I live south of that, in Tacoma. Still say I'm from "Seattle" or "The Seattle Area." I wonder if that's a carry over from when I was in MO.