Talk:List of U.S. state and territory nicknames

Nickname vs motto
Is a U.S. state nickname (somewhat) comparable with a motto? Meursault2004 12:54, 5 May 2004 (UTC)


 * No, generally not. The state motto of California, for example, is Eureka! and the state nickname is The Golden State. There is another page: List of U.S. state mottos, as well as List of U.S. state slogans. jengod 17:43, May 5, 2004 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks for your answer. :) Meursault2004 18:57, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

More information requested
Could we add some information about these nicknames? I would like to know why states have a certain nickname, for example why Missouri is the Show Me state. Lapinmies 09:20, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

New Jersey - armpit of America?
Evidence: Looking up armpit of america: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=armpit%20of%20america www.cafepress.com/burntees.31046657 http://www.jerseypride.com/all_jersey_info/NJ_in_the_News/NJ_armpit_of_america.htm

-Krymson 17:20, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Standard for inclusion?
Since this page lists nicknames and highlights official nicknames, what is the standard for inclusion? Common usage? The Google Test? By those standards, both "America's Wang" (Fla) and "Armpit of America" (NJ) more than make the cut. Though they may be offensive to some editors, they are in wide usage according to Google and to delete them because you think they are offensive is POV. From the neutral point of view, those two nicknames merit inclusion based on the list of the other, less-used nicknames for the other states. 68.36.197.244 05:57, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Non-flattering terms are still nicknames. I think that as long as we notate which names are colloquial, we should be fine. GChriss &lt;always listening&gt;  &lt;c&gt; 17:42, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I've been watchlisting this article and I've been keeping in some unlikely nicknames. I think the standard should be "Official & Traditional" nicknames and the article's header should be changed to match. That way we can actually get sourced data and not just whatever anyone wants to call things. --Elipongo (Talk 20:19, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd say attestation has to be a little better than just a number of Google hits. If a reliable source can be found discussing non-official nicknames (derogatory or otherwise), they can be added. If all you find is blogs, Urban Dictionary, and the like, then they shouldn't be included. 62.145.19.66 14:55, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Colorado
I will remove any undocumented Colorado nicknames that are not documented by 2007-03-20. --Buaidh 13:44, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Sounds good to me! &mdash;Elipongo (Talk|contribs) 20:08, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Massachusetts
How about "The People's Republic of Massachusetts"? If we're going with modern nicknames (like NJ-Armpit of America) we should add this too. Papercrab 20:28, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Is "The People's Republic of Massachusetts" in common use in Massachusetts? Linkman424 (talk) 20:32, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
 * You are confusing with "The People's Republic of Cambridge", a colloquial, and very unofficial, reference to that city. Erasmussen (talk) 06:33, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Washington
A number of books call it the Chinook State. Worth a listing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.234.72 (talk) 03:56, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

As a (nearly) lifelong Washingtonian, I can say that have never heard the phrase "Chinook State"  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.184.209 (talk) 01:16, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

North Carolina
Cackalacky is not a state nickname. The "urban dictionary" is not a credible source —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmmaaajjj2 (talk • contribs) 15 January 2009

Alabama
Does the state of Alabama have an official nickname or not? A note says that there is no official nickname, but yet one on the nicknames listed is in bold. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.1.200.26 (talk) 21:18, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Texas
longhorn state? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.94.92.76 (talk) 12:03, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Nicknames vs. Slogans
This list needs cleaning up (as does List of U.S. state slogans); there are nicknames on the slogan list and slogans on this nickname list: "Variety Vacationland", "Land of Infinite Variety" and "A Capital City" all strike me more as slogans than as nicknames.192.104.39.2 (talk) 16:49, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

New York
Has anyone ever referred to New York State as "The Big Apple", rather than specifically to New York City? Czrisher (talk) 21:22, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

As someone from New York, I can say that the term "The Big Apple" is generally viewed by New Yorkers as referring to the City of New York, not the entire state. Steggall 03:42 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Jenny Rulz For Ever
What's that crap? At the New York State?--31.17.154.96 (talk) 04:54, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Wisconsin
The official state nickname is the Badger State and always has been since the 50s. Just because it states "America's Dairyland" on the license plate does not make it the official state nickname. I edited the page to be so. Splent (talk) 02:30, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

California
Minor punctuation suggestion: "c.f." (Latin: confer) should be "cf." See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_abbreviations Dmutters (talk) 12:09, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Puerto Rico????
Is not a US state last time I checked. WTAF.

86.144.15.153 (talk) 00:30, 17 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Well, neither is Washington DC and that's included. --ip.address.conflict (talk) 16:41, 13 August 2015 (UTC)

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Cali link links to not California
Under California there's Cali, which is fair, but it links to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cali in Colombia. Can we fix that?

KenyonP (talk) 02:31, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * No, nothing to be fixed. Just type "California". There is already a place called Cali, it should the main result of a search. --129.206.247.197 (talk) 13:52, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

Definite article
Some nicknames have a redundant "the". Let's keep it consistent and remove all appearances of "the" or add them to every name. --129.206.247.197 (talk) 13:54, 6 November 2017 (UTC)

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Derogatory nicknames
"Texass", "Columbine State" and various other nicknames that are used as an insult should not be included. This is only supposed to be for OFFICIAL nicknames that the state itself accepts. In OH & PA, we call WV "The Hoopie State" or "The Incest State", we call NJ "The Toxic Waste State" or "New York's Dumpster" but none of those should be included because it's not in any way an official state nickname. All the derogatory names need removed. Raszoo (talk) 03:34, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

Arkansas
It seems like "The Razorback Crystal State" should be separate nicknames? As in "The Razorback State" and "The Crystal State"? I assume "razorback" refers to the wild boar and "crystal" refers to the type of glass, but I am no authority on Arkansas. Is there a "razorback crystal" I am not aware of? Perhaps a crystal sculpture of a razorback boar that is famous? Or maybe a species of boar or type of crystal with the name? 66.91.36.8 (talk) 04:42, 7 December 2021 (UTC)