I'm not sure where to ask this but maybe you guys can help, why do people refer to it as West Texas and Western Kansas? Is there a difference in West vs Western?

Texas is large & we have specific regions & sub-regions due to terrain variations (I haven't listed all regions and sub-regions).

We say:

West Texas (Anything West of IH-35)

North Texas (Anything North of Waco)

East Texas (Anything an hour East of IH-35 or farther)

South Texas (Anything South of New Braunfels)

The Panhandle (Self-explanatory)

The Gulf Coast (Texas Coastline)

Sub-regions:

The Real South (Anything South of Corpus Christi)

The Hill Country (An area that is South of Waco, North of Poteet, East of Manor, West of Bastrop = Austin, San Marcos, Round Rock, Lampasas, Kerrville, Boerne, North San Antonio, Fredericksburg, etc)

The Border/RGV/The Valley (Self-explanatory)

The Piney Woods (Deep East Texas, near the Louisiana border)

Big Bend/El Paso (The El Paso area)

/r/askscience Thread