That's what I like about the South.

Or, maybe, that's what I like about the Midwest.

In the final analysis, readers of marshallnews.com definitely think we are in the Midwest.

Here's what I'm talking about.

One of our poll questions this week was one suggested by a reader. The question read, "A Web site reader says Marshall is in the South. Another reader says it is in the Midwest.

"Who is right?"

We had 280 votes cast and 96.1 percent of our Web site readers voted for the Midwest. Only 3.9 percent voted for the South.

So we know where we stand, don't we?

Not so fast.

It turns out, from a historical standpoint, a strong argument can be made that we're in the South.

I'll let another one of our Web site readers, Del Banks of Jasper, Ga., explain:

"The most recent poll in the Democrat-News asks a question regarding the location of Marshall, is it in the Midwest or the South?

"So, curious as I am, I looked it up in the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, and this is what I found:

'The term Mason-Dixon Line was popularly used to designate the line that divided the so-called Free states from the slave states during the debates in Congress over the Missouri Compromise in 1820.

'This legislation forbade slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36"30', except in Missouri. In this sense, the Mason-Dixon Line meant not only the old disputed boundary line but also the line of the Ohio River from the Pennsylvania boundary to its mouth, where it flows into the Mississippi River, then the east, north, and west boundaries of Missouri, and from that point westward, the parallel 36"30'. The term Mason-Dixon Line is still sometimes used to mean the boundary between the North and the South.'

"If this is true by today's standards, and I am reading it correctly, Missouri is indeed a Southern State.

"I lived in Marshall for 11 years, and always considered it a Midwestern state. I still do."

Interestingly, my namesake, Charles Mason of the Mason and Dixon line fame, is no relation to me, according to anything my parents said.

My mother used to always say I was related to U.S. president John Quincy Adams, but I've never actually done the research to find out for sure if that is true or if that's just another fable passed down by the generations.

One thing's for sure. I think I'm in the Midwest, putting my two cents right alongside the majority of our Web site's readers who participated in the poll.

But aren't these questions fun? Send me more questions, and we'll put them up for the Web site readers to mull.

Mason is the editor of The Marshall Democrat-News. Spectrum appears on Friday.