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Rhode Island to change it's formal name

New England is one state. If you all have to share one Football team, you're one state.
 
It was a Jeopardy final answer many years ago--what state had the longest name. They'll have to be sure to pull that episode from any streaming service.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Plantation in America has a deeply unfortunate nuance which isn't actually in its literal meaning, but it's what everyone calls to mind when you mention the word.

It's not all roses over the pond either as the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s is the policy which parcelled out land there to British Protestants and led us eventually to the troubles of Northern Ireland.
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Yup: both the Strange Woman across the table and I have Lowland Scots Protestant transplanted to Ulster ancestry. In both cases some wandered back to to North East England - I kinda assume mine had something to do with the Marquess of Londonderry being a major land owner over there and in Co Durham.

Many words are freighted with meaning...
 
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The state had a referendum on changing the name ten years ago. It was decisively voted down.

This time around, the "hey we already voted on that, no second bite of the apple" segment (voting no) will far outnumber the people who actively do (voting yes) or don't (voting no) want the change.
 
Matthew Best said:
I have a bigger issue with the use of the apostrophe in "it's". It should be "its", although given the ignorance some people demonstrate I suppose it's not unexpected.
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Much as I disagree often with Arcade22, he's from Sweden. I assume English is his second language, or at a minimum, one of two languages he speaks.

And it's an easy typo.

Your criticism is flawed.
 
Darat said:
And gay can mean glad, carefree, wanton or homosexual.

What matters is how the word is actually used and understood today - not the words history. And I suggest in countries like Jamaica and the USA - to give 2 examples - the word is inextricably tied into slavery.
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I guess anyone called Gaylord should be encouraged change their name then, since people might take offence...
 
Meadmaker said:
My guess is the name change has been advocated for a long time, just because no one ever calls the state by that name. It's more one of those trivia questions, an historical curiosity that the smallest state has the longest name. In actual practice, it's always just "Rhode Island", which is kind of interesting because it isn't on an Island, and no one knows the origin of the name.
However, I do find it a bit irritating that the name change is prompted by people who don't understand the meaning of words, but figure there must be something wrong with it because elsewhere that word was used to mean something entirely different. "I don't understand what you said, but it sounds bad!" is an unfortunate way to shape public policy.
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It's not a twerking of Isle of Rhodes? Just kind of assumed so
 
My favorite thing to do as a teenager was to take people to the Cornell Plantations, walk them around, take in the beauty of the place, and then say "It's great, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it really is."
(Tossing a cigarette to the ground, extinguishing it with a heel, and grimacing) "Slaves built this."

Anyway, I like to think I'm more more mature now.

I like to think that.

I guess they changed the name to the Cornell Botanic Gardens a few years back. The word has some bad connotations, for some reason.
 
Arcade22 said:
I guess anyone called Gaylord should be encouraged change their name then, since people might take offence...
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If they were born in the last 50-60 years or so, they should be encouraged to change their name because their parents were dumb jerks.

Names go in and out of favor all the time. "Gaylord" has been out of favor for a very long time.
 
mumblethrax said:
My favorite thing to do as a teenager was to take people to the Cornell Plantations, walk them around, take in the beauty of the place, and then say "It's great, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it really is."
(Tossing a cigarette to the ground, extinguishing it with a heel, and grimacing) "Slaves built this."

Anyway, I like to think I'm more more mature now.
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I certainly hope you at least use ashtrays.
 
mumblethrax said:
My favorite thing to do as a teenager was to take people to the Cornell Plantations, walk them around, take in the beauty of the place, and then say "It's great, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it really is."
(Tossing a cigarette to the ground, extinguishing it with a heel, and grimacing) "Slaves built this."
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In all likelihood, slaves also built the tobacco company that made that cigarette.
 
shemp said:
Actually, in Ancient Greek the word "Rhodes" or "Ρόδος" meant "to twerk" or to "shake your booty." So Rhode Island should be renamed "Twerk Island" or "Booty Island."
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Motion to translatet 'Island' as the Phonecian 'Licious'? Always wanted a State of Booty Licious
 
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