Friday, June 8, 2012

Friday trivia (U.S. Geography edition)

Quincy, Massachusetts, used to be called Braintree.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, used to be called Hot Springs.

Atlanta, Georgia, used to be called both Terminus and Marthasville.

Los Angeles, California, used to be called El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles or possibly El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula or even La cuidad real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco d’Assisi de la Santa Porciuncula de la Santa Maria de los Angeles. Take your pick; different articles say different things. Apparently the jury is still out.

The little state of Rhode Island has a much longer official name: State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, but the second most densely populated of the fifty United States. It was the first of the thirteen original colonies to declare independence from British rule and the last to ratify the United States Constitution. Its official nickname is “The Ocean State” and I was born there. I had no choice. I wanted to be near my mother and she happened to be there at the time.



8 comments:

  1. Random comment due to Snowbrush's post. I truly never noticed there is a CTRL on the lower right! Ha! I guess that's for lefties. Thank you!

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  2. Interesting. In England we have chickens called Rhode Island Reds. Though you're not a chicken you could still be a Rhode Island red. Have you seen the You Tube clip in my latest post? How many of the questions could you answer successfully?

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  3. lotta, welcome to me blog, matey! Arrrrrggghhhh! (I'm not really a pirate, but I play one on television...that is a lie.) Oh, and about the CTRL key, live and learn is what I say, live and learn!

    Nigel, I suppose if I were Communist (I'm not, by the way) you could call me a Rhode Island red. Otherwise, no. I did see the You Tube clip in your post and I could answer every one of the questions except "What is the coalition of the willing?" which I had never heard of before, but have now come up to speed on, thank you very much. The You Tube clip was cute, and it was definitely along by the misleading captions on the man's map!

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  4. Grrrr! Stop calling me Nigel! I'm Yorkshire, Yorkshire Pudding! If you persist in calling me Nigel I will dream up a few new names for you - most of them beginning with the letter "D"!

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  5. "Rhode Island is the smallest in area...but the second most densely populated"

    And you're suggesting that this has something to do with you having been born there? If so, and you die in Georgia, we can expect an influx of new residents who will make pilgrimages to your headstone just as they now make pilgrimages to your birthplace in Rhode Island. By the way, was it a home-birth or a hospital birth?

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  6. Lord Pudding, I explained at length on your blog in response to a question from John Gray or Earl Gray or somebody why I call you Nigel. I have always thought of it as a term of endearment, but if it really bugs you, I will cease and desist.

    Snow, I don't know why you should want to know, but I am told that it was a home birth. I have no recollection of it at all, so I must rely on the testimony of others (you might try doing that also).

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  7. "I don't know why you should want to know..."

    Because so many births back then were home births.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...