The size of the area has nothing to do with how demeaning the term is. The term is centered on calling the region, to oversimplify, an underdeveloped poor rural backwater.
Just because Pennsylvania has a larger chunk of land that some would describe that way than Council Bluffs does doesn't inherently change that both terms are demeaning.
I haven't been to Council Bluffs, but I have spent time in parts of Pennsylvania outside the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and State College metros, and while I'm not going to proclaim wisdom without having lived there I certainly saw where the term and stereotype came from.
I think one difference is that rural PA and Kentucky have a lot of positive similarities, both being in greater Appalachia. Not as clearly so with CB.
Council Bluffs is a vastly less financially successful city than Omaha with far more visible opioid problems.
That is to say, as a local, I don’t know if I would associate the term as much with demeaning “hillbillies or hicks” but more for the socioeconomic and drug disparities between the two cities.
I don’t know if the drug disparity is so large between them, but it certainly feels more visible in Council Bluffs. Maybe why we don’t see the -tucky suffix used as much with other twin cities is that St Paul and Fort Worth are still quite successful metropolitan areas in their own right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Union_Terminal
I was lucky enough to be the only person who showed up for my tour slot, so the guide and I had a lot of time to talk about the art deco, the history, etc.
(1) Omaha and Council Bluffs are not twin cities. The former doesn't think about the latter, and the latter sees the former as workplace, shopping mall and zoo.
(2) The residents of Omaha didn't coin the term 'Counciltucky.' That privilege belongs to the residents of Council Bluffs themselves.
Reference: a former resident of Council Bluffs who is a current resident of Omaha.
But Dallas, as people in my circles talk about Dallas is everything from Denton / Lewisville maybe even Little Elm / Prosper / Celina to Waxahachie. Dallas Fort Worth is not a twin city at all in my opinion.
I would love to hear your opinion.
But there was a definite cut-off past which it wasn't "Dallas" to us, anymore. Anything west of Arlington was definitely Fort Worth.
But I wonder if people from Fort Worth considered Arlington to be part of their city, and anything east of Grand Prairie was their cut-off line.
Village Creek is the cultural divide betweenvthe cities on both sides.
(It started as a “tri cities” so the bump to five isn’t the first it’s seen)
Bonus points: an OK native pizza style if you like tavern-ish pizza varieties.
Related to TFA, a “judgmental map” of Omaha and Council Bluffs:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0a/db/ea/0adbea3bcdffbcb4ccfe6ec10...
Warning that these are usually offensive, or at least have the potential to offend (but often super helpful when visiting a new city…)
Council Bluffs just gets a blanket “meth and casinos” label.
It's helpful to write these things down. What's not helpful is using them as if they were precise and definitive.
EDIT: If you've badgered me in an attempt to get a different answer, try Google or Wikipedia.
I have only ever heard it used to mean the rural areas between the two cities, in keeping with the saying "Pittsburgh on one side, Philly on the other, and Kentucky in between", which has of course confused people not familiar with the stereotypes or geography.
The other famous use of Pennsyltucky is the character in Orange is the New Black, which I've always taken to mean "she acts like she's from Pennsyltucky".
I guess we need to wait for the term to be used enough to get into a dictionary to get it well defined
Just the other day someone was complaining about being “badgered” for not being willing to read the OP before commenting on it.
Edit: you aren't being badgered, you made something up and refuse to acknowledge that for whatever reason.
As a verb:
retard, v.
[ad. F. retarder (13th c., = Sp. and Pg. retardar, It. ritardare), or L. retardāre, f. re- re- + tardus slow.]
1.1 trans. To keep back, to delay, hinder, impede (a person or thing in respect of progress, movement, action, or accomplishment).
c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn xxiii. 75 Here is one doubte that retardeth myne ymagynacyon.
1636 Denham Destr. Troy 423 The one retarded was By feeble age, the other by a wound.
1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 260 The sight of this fishing retarded us above an houre.
2.2 To delay the progress or accomplishment, to impede the course, of (an action, movement, etc.).
1572 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 158 That sa haly a work be not retardit.
1610 B. Jonson Alch. iv. v, This'll retard The worke, a month at least.
1642 C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 91 The principal causes which have hindred and retarded the due answering of the Kings Revenues and Debts.
b.2.b To defer, postpone, put off. rare.
1735 in Pope's Lett. Suppl. 11 He retarded his Edition of Mr. Cromwell's Letters till the Twenty-Second of March.
1820 Scott Monast. xvi, If we were now either to advance or retard the hour of refection beyond the time.
3.3 intr. To be delayed; to come, appear, or happen later; to undergo retardation.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 194 Putrefaction‥shall retard or accelerate according to the subject and season of the year.
1665 Phil. Trans. I. 38 The Comet advances‥towards the East, and‥retards towards the West.
1738 Ibid. XL. 312 The next Evening it retarded two Hours.
b.3.b To delay to do something. rare—1.
a 1732 Gay Tales, Apparition, Call loud on Justice, bid her not retard To punish murder.
1.1 Retardation, delay. in retard, retarded, delayed; in the rear of.
1788 Jefferson Writ. 1859 II. 353 A single day's retard.
1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. x. (1872) VI. 65 The rearward regiments‥are in painful retard.
1886 Ruskin Præterita I. iv. 132, I was far in retard of them in real knowledge.
2.2 retard of the tide or retard of high water, the interval between the moon's transit and the high water following upon this. Also ellipt.
1833 Phil. Trans. CXXIII. 19 The retard‥at Portsmouth appears to be intermediate between that at Brest and at London.
1845 Encycl. Metrop. V. 257* marg., Retard of high water upon the moon's transit.
1862 New Amer. Cycl. XV. 471 At Boston, this delay, which is called the retard, or age of the tide, is nearly 36 hours.
3.3 A device in a motor vehicle for retarding the ignition spark.
1932 Motoring Encycl. 10/3 The Bosch automatic advance and retard (Fig. 3) is a simple design for a stationary armature type of magneto.
1977 Hot Car Oct. 75/3 The old one is capped off still retaining the advance retard.
4.4 U.S. slang. A mentally retarded person.
1970 Time 23 Mar. 49 There are‥heroin addicts, Air Force and CIA mental retards and Broadway Indians doing a Broadway Snake Dance.
(My only source for this was someone who had learned of the existence of river cane in their Kentucky backyard, and was doing an enthusiastic deep research dive into it. It may or may not be true, but it's at least an interesting possibility!)