[ti: State Nicknames, Part 2] [ar:Barbara Klein] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES ] [by:51VOA.COM] [00:00.00]Now, the VOA Special English [00:14.13]program, Words and Their Stories. [00:17.70]As we told you last week, [00:20.26]every American state has a nickname. [00:24.11]Here are some more of them. [00:27.31]Idaho is known as "The Gem State." [00:31.70]This is not because it has diamonds [00:34.90]but because it believes it [00:37.53]is the jewel of the western [00:39.73]Rocky Mountains. [00:41.71]Illinois is "The Land of Lincoln." [00:45.25]It is named for Abraham Lincoln, [00:49.05]the sixteenth president [00:51.09]who led the nation [00:52.60]through the Civil War [00:54.30]in the eighteen sixties. [00:56.67]The midwestern state of Indiana [00:59.42]is called the "Hoosier State," [01:02.81]but nobody is quite sure why. [01:06.04]One story is that the word [01:10.33]was used to mean poor farmers [01:13.18]or uneducated people. [01:15.63]No wonder the state legislature [01:18.17]instead calls Indiana [01:20.43]"The Crossroads of America." [01:24.46]Iowa's nickname, the "Hawkeye State," [01:28.00]is in honor of Black Hawk, [01:30.89]an Indian chief who spent most [01:33.67]of his life in neighboring Illinois! [01:36.96]Kansas also has a "hawkish" nickname: [01:42.37]"The Jayhawk State." [01:45.37]Jayhawkers were free-state [01:47.82]guerrilla fighters opposed [01:50.16]to the pro-slavery fighters [01:52.54]in the years before the Civil War. [01:56.08]Kentucky is "The Bluegrass State." [02:00.47]Bluegrass is really bright green [02:03.96]but looks bluish from a distance. [02:07.45]Louisiana is "The Bayou State." [02:11.64]A bayou is a slow-moving stream. [02:14.29]Hundreds of them flow [02:16.74]through this southern state, [02:18.85]and many are full of alligators! [02:21.45]Maine, in the nation's northeast, [02:25.28]is "The Pine Tree State" because it [02:28.88]is covered in evergreen woods. [02:31.68]And directly across the country, [02:35.22]on the Pacific Coast, [02:37.11]is the state of Washington. [02:39.14]It also has lots of evergreen trees so, [02:43.82]not surprisingly, [02:45.17]it is "The Evergreen State." [02:48.59]The eastern state of Massachusetts [02:52.59]is the "Bay State." [02:54.99]This body of water separates [02:57.69]most of the state from famous Cape Cod. [03:01.62]Six state nicknames are taken [03:04.85]from native animals. [03:07.15]Michigan is the "Wolverine State." [03:10.75]A wolverine is a small, fierce mammal. [03:14.44]The badger is a similar [03:16.98]and equally fierce creature [03:19.55]and Wisconsin is "The Badger State." [03:23.18]Neighboring Minnesota, "The Gopher State," [03:26.72]is named for a much nicer animal [03:29.76]that builds hills and tunnels. [03:32.61]However, "The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes" [03:36.50]is written on Minnesota's vehicle license plates. [03:40.92]North Dakota gets its nickname, [03:45.14]"The Flickertail State" not from some bird, [03:49.14]but from a little squirrel. [03:52.04]South Dakota takes its nickname, [03:54.68]"The Coyote State," [03:56.52]from an animal that thinks flickertails [03:59.42]are good to eat! [04:01.07]And Oregon, "The Beaver State," [04:04.50]borrows its nickname from the large, [04:07.58]flat-tailed rodent that uses trees [04:11.03]to build dams. [04:13.01]Next week, we will tell you [04:16.03]about more state nicknames, [04:18.17]including one that is about people's feet! [04:22.56](MUSIC) [04:33.14]This VOA Special English program [04:36.48]was written by Ted Landphair. [04:39.39]I'm Barbara Klein. [04:41.08]You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES [04:44.51]at 51voa.com.