Posted on 10/01/2006 12:21:16 PM PDT by SteamShovel
Google Books is a very interesting feature. Serendipity has found a book of a Canadian traveling in the US in 1846. He was explaining US State nicknames for Canadians so they would understand what they were hearing when they traveled here. Some of these have persisted to this day and some are just plain weird and funny:
Massachussetts The Bay State, Steady Habits
Rhode Island Plantation State
Vermont Banner State or Green Mountain Boys
New Hampsire The Granite State
Connecticut Freestone State
Maine Lumber State
Pennsylvania Keystone State
Delaware Little Delaware
Maryland Monumental
Virginia Old Dominion or Cavaliers
North Carolina Rip Van Winckle
South Carolina Palmetto State
Georgia Pine State
Ohio The Buckeyes
Kentucky The Corncrackers
Alabama Alabama (who would have thought)
Tennessee The Lion's Den
Missouri The Pukes
Illinois The Suckers
Indiana The Hoosiers
Michigan The Wolverines
Arkansas The Toothpickers
Louisiana The Creole State
Mississippi The Border Beagles
And the author supposes Texas would be called the "Annexation State"
(Excerpt) Read more at books.google.com ...
I could have edited these out, but I thought it interesting that some are still the same. And this isn't a college based nickname, tOSU didn't exist until 1870 and the article was written in 1846.
Oh. Didn't know that.
That's OK
I thought the one that was the most funny were
Arkansas...........The Toothpickers
Missouri...........The Pukes
Illinois...........The Suckers
I doubt these states were too proud of these nicknames no matter how they were obtained.
bump
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