It's not where you start, it's where you finish

There are 50 states in these United States of America, and not a single one of them starts with the letter B, E, J, Q, X, Y, or Z. That must mean something, but darned if I know what.

Let us therefore consider where they finish.

Five states end in 'ia' - California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. That last one (the ult) actually was carved out of the next-to-last one (the penult) in 1863, during the Americn Civil War, because people in the western part of Virginia didn't want to secede from the Union to be part of the Confederacy. Count knowing this as your historical trivia factoid of the day.

Sixteen states end in 'a' alone (without a preceding 'i') - in no particular order, certainly not alphabetic, they are North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, Minnesota, Iowa, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, and Alaska. (Actually, they are in a sort of order geographically, in four groups approximately equivalent to their time zones, excluding Alaska, which is in a class by itself.)

Four states end in 'n' - Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Two states end in 'd' - Maryland and Rhode Island
Four states end in 'o' - Ohio, Idaho, New Mexico, and Colorado
Five states end in 's' - Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois, and Massachusetts
Two states end in 'y' - Kentucky and New Jersey
Four states end in 'e' - Tennessee, Maine, Delaware, and New Hampshire
Two stated end in 't' - Connecticut and Vermont
One state ends in 'g' - Wyoming
One state ends in 'h' - Utah
Three states end in 'i' - Hawaii, Missouri, and Mississippi
And, finally, one state ends in 'k' - New York

Put them all together, they spell mother add up to 50 states in all. There is a 51st area, the District of Columbia, which also ends in 'ia' but it is not a state. It is a district. There's a world of difference. As such, it is not included in the list.

What does this post mean, exactly?

Maybe (a) nothing, or (b) that one can waste an awful lot of time on a computer, or (c) that there's no fool quite like an old fool.

Pick one or add one of your own. If you pick (c) do not identify the fool you have in mind out of consideration for th undersigned.

I remain, as ever, yours truly, rhymeswithplague