[ti:Words and Their Stories State Nicknames, Part 1] [ar:] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:18.74]A nickname is a shortened form of a person's name. [00:24.18]A nickname can also be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. [00:32.03]America's fifty states have some of the most historically interesting nicknames. [00:39.93]Alabama is known as the Heart of Dixie [00:44.97]because it is in the very middle of a group of states in the Deep South. [00:51.28]Dixie itself is a nickname for the American South. [00:56.87]It started when Louisiana printed notes with the French word for "ten" on them. [01:05.14]"Deece," or D-I-X, led to "Dixie." [01:11.33]Way up north, Alaska is called the Last Frontier for understandable reasons. [01:20.25]Near the Arctic Circle, it was the final part of the nation [01:25.08]to be explored and settled. [01:27.73]Arizona is the Grand Canyon State [01:32.31]because of the famous winding canyon carved by the Colorado River. [01:37.99]The southern state of Arkansas is the Land of Opportunity. [01:44.03]The state legislature chose this nickname. [01:47.70]Arkansas is rich in natural resources and has become [01:53.23]a favorite place for older people to retire. [01:57.48]In a popular Spanish book, [02:00.60]a fictional island called "California" was filled with gold. [02:06.47]Sure enough, plenty of it was discovered in the real California, [02:12.67]in eighteen forty-eight. This started a gold rush [02:17.97]unlike any other in American history in the Golden State. [02:23.60]You would think Colorado would be known as the Rocky Mountain State. [02:30.91]But its nickname is the Centennial State. [02:34.76]That is because it became a state in eighteen seventy-six, [02:40.72]exactly one hundred years after the nation declared its independence. [02:46.81]Connecticut is called the Nutmeg State after a spice. [02:53.06]Connecticut Yankees, as people in this northeast state are called, [02:59.16]are known to be smart in business. [03:02.31]So smart that it was said they could sell wooden, [03:06.61]meaning false, nutmegs to strangers. [03:09.75]Little Delaware is called the First State because it was the first state -- [03:18.18]the first to approve the new United States Constitution. [03:23.08]The southern state of Florida likes to tell about its sunny days and fine beaches. [03:31.07]So Florida is the Sunshine State. [03:35.03]Florida's neighbor to the north grows some of the sweetest fruit in America. [03:41.51]So Georgia is the Peach State. [03:46.00]Hawaii, far out in the Pacific Ocean, is the Aloha State. [03:53.04]That is the friendly greeting that means both "hello" and "goodbye" [03:59.19]in the native Hawaiian language. So, aloha for now. [04:05.03]Next week we will tell you about the nicknames of more American states.