Where does your state get its nickname(s) from?

[shortguy]

I really don't know why we're nicknamed the "Old Dominion," though the consensus from my unreliable internet sources seems to think it has something to do with Charles II.

 

[TheBladeRoden]

Not exactly fair, as most teams don't fair very well when they have yet to be formed for another 71 years.

That's what they want you to think. But maybe those 71 seasons were so bad, Curly Lambeau wanted to permanently erase them from the record books.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

damnit, I hope when America goes exploring the stars we don' name planets "New Clevelend" or something equally ********.

You know just as well as I do that all the planets will be named after starbucks.



Anyway

New Jersey: "The Garden State".

I can only presume that my state's nickname was obtained after losing a crappy bet.

 

[bhsup]

Missouri:

• The Greatest State In The Union: Okay, this is just mine for it, but it's true. So there.
• The Show-Me State: Proof positive of the origins are lost to history, but a lot of stories abound. Now used to express Missourians' common sense and perhaps distrust of things unknown.
• The Ozark State: Duh, the Ozark Mountains are here.
• Quite a few having to do with mining, one being The Pennsylvania Of The West.

 

[ParkCungHee]

New Jersey: "The Garden State".

I can only presume that my state's nickname was obtained after losing a crappy bet.

Because the more accurate "Road to New York" wasn't as appealing.

 

[bhsup]

I really don't know why we're nicknamed the "Old Dominion," though the consensus from my unreliable internet sources seems to think it has something to do with Charles II.

In this case, it's not unreliable. No roundheads in Virginia, that's for sure! Yes, it remained loyal to the crown when Cromwell was so playing at Lord Protector and beheading lawful monarchs.

New Jersey: "The Garden State".

I can only presume that my state's nickname was obtained after losing a crappy bet.

It's because you grow such beautiful smokestacks.

 

[Stile]

Georgia - The Peach State
Georgia is one of the leading producers of peaches in the nation. (Actually peanuts, onions (Vidalias), and cotton are bigger crops.) In Atlanta, practically every other street contains "Peachtree" in it's name. Peaches however aren't grown around Atlanta in numbers, and I suspect they never were. Legend has it that people travelling to Atlanta in the old days by navigating the Chattahoochie (a river that traverses the state) would use as a landmark a pitch tree (big black tree) along the side of the river. This probably was later confused by all the carpetbaggers.

 

[shortguy]

In this case, it's not unreliable. No roundheads in Virginia, that's for sure! Yes, it remained loyal to the crown when Cromwell was so playing at Lord Protector and beheading lawful monarchs.

Oh, I know (we at UVA aren't the Cavaliers for nothing!), but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the nickname itself.

 

[Turner]

Missouri:

• The Greatest State In The Union(With the worst roads!): Okay, this is just mine for it, but it's true. So there.
• The Show-Me State(Show me a place with some good roads!): Proof positive of the origins are lost to history, but a lot of stories abound. Now used to express Missourians' common sense and perhaps distrust of things unknown.
• The Ozark State(Ain't no good roads here, either!): Duh, the Ozark Mountains are here.
• Quite a few having to do with mining, one being The Pennsylvania Of The West.
• Please, somebody fix the roads!

There, VRWC, I fixed it for you.

Kansas' is Ad astra per aspera, which is latin for "We've got good roads!"

 

[Evil Tyrant]

Virginia is called the Old Dominion because we stuck with the king during the English civil war.

 

[The Last Conformist]

There's The Land of 10,000 Lakes, for obvious reasons. However, there are actually more than 12,000 lakes in Minnesota.

Which, amusingly, would mean you've got fewer lakes than the Land of a Thousand Lakes (namely Finland).


I can't think of any nicknames of this sort for Sweden.

 

[MamboJoel]

England ! Perfidious Albion !

 

[IglooDame]

New Hampshire's nickname is the Granite State. We've got a lot of granite here. Tons of it, in fact, spread all over the place. Looking at the state motto list, I see another nickname is "Switzerland of America" which seems very oddly appropriate. Eventually we'll just be the Live Free or Die State. Wiki has a funny note on that, for all you fellow irony fans out there:

In 1971, the General Court, the state legislature of New Hampshire, mandated that the phrase appear on all non-commercial license plates, replacing "Scenic." In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, that New Hampshire could not prosecute motorists who chose to hide part or all of the motto.

That ruling came about because George Maynard, a Jehovah's Witness, cut off "or die" from his plate for religious reasons. He was convicted of breaking a state law against altering license plates. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in his favor, saying the law required people to "use their private property as a 'mobile billboard' for the State's ideological message," and that the state's interest did not outweigh free speech principles.

The case drew widespread attention, partly because of the irony involved with a government trying to deny someone the freedom to change a motto that celebrates freedom. It may also be considered ironic that the motto on the license plate is a product of prisoners' work in the License Plate Shop of the Men's Prison in Concord.

 

[The Last Conformist]

nonconformist: I refuse to be free!
New Hampshire:

 

[IglooDame]

nonconformist: I refuse to be free!
New Hampshire:

I've been suggesting two edits of the NH motto:

"Live Free, Die, or Move Back To Massachusetts"

"Live Free or Die - It's Not Just a Good Motto, It's The Law"


Neither seems to have caught on...

 

[GeneralZed]

Zurich - Downtown Switzerland

 

[Swedishguy]

Sweden is sometimes referred to as the Motherland, I don't know why.

 

[Veritass]

California is the Breakfast Cereal State: what isn't fruits and nuts is flakes.

 

[bhsup]

There, VRWC, I fixed it for you.

Kansas' is Ad astra per aspera, which is latin for "We've got good roads!"

Aye, tis true, our roads suck! But it's intentional. Only real Missouri men can handle them, keeping those namby pamby Kansans outta here.

 

[Turner]

We just don't see the need to have to buy new tires and shocks after driving through your roads.....