[ti:America's Fifty States, What's In a Nickname? ] [ar:Barbara Klein] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]go to 51voa.com for more... [00:10.99]Now, the VOA [00:13.08]Special English program [00:15.41]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.90]A nickname is a shortened form [00:21.19]of a person's name. [00:22.83]A nickname can also [00:25.22]be a descriptive name [00:27.36]for a person, place or thing. [00:31.13]America's fifty states [00:33.72]have some of the most historically [00:36.41]interesting nicknames. [00:38.31]Alabama is known as [00:41.54]the Heart of Dixie because it is [00:44.98]in the very middle of a group [00:47.21]of states in the Deep South. [00:50.05]Dixie itself is a nickname [00:53.24]for the American South. [00:55.08]It started when Louisiana [00:58.47]printed notes with the French word [01:01.61]for "ten" on them. [01:03.80]"Deece," or D-I-X, led to "Dixie." [01:10.12]Way up north, Alaska is called [01:13.85]the Last Frontier [01:15.89]for understandable reasons. [01:18.33]Near the Arctic Circle, [01:21.07]it was the final part of the nation [01:23.55]to be explored and settled. [01:26.39]Arizona is the Grand Canyon State [01:30.77]because of the famous winding canyon [01:33.95]carved by the Colorado River. [01:36.74]The southern state of Arkansas [01:39.73]is the Land of Opportunity. [01:42.66]The state legislature [01:45.20]chose this nickname. [01:46.25]Arkansas is rich [01:48.39]in natural resources [01:49.83]and has become a favorite place [01:53.21]for older people to retire. [01:55.75]In a popular Spanish book, [01:59.19]a fictional island called "California" [02:02.57]was filled with gold. [02:04.91]Sure enough, [02:06.55]plenty of it was discovered [02:08.74]in the real California, [02:10.98]in eighteen forty-eight. [02:13.27]This started a gold rush [02:16.26]unlike any other in American history [02:19.04]in the Golden State. [02:22.03]You would think Colorado [02:25.66]would be known [02:26.46]as the Rocky Mountain State. [02:28.70]But its nickname is the Centennial State. [02:32.78]That is because it became a state [02:36.21]in eighteen seventy-six, [02:38.65]exactly one hundred years [02:41.69]after the nation declared its independence. [02:45.07]Connecticut is called [02:48.06]the Nutmeg State after a spice. [02:51.09]Connecticut Yankees, as people [02:54.57]in this northeast state are called, [02:56.96]are known to be smart in business. [02:59.95]So smart that it was said [03:03.48]they could sell wooden, meaning false, [03:05.72]nutmegs to strangers. [03:07.51]Little Delaware is called [03:11.10]the First State because it was [03:14.53]the first state -- the first to approve [03:18.01]the new United States Constitution. [03:20.96]The southern state of Florida [03:24.15]likes to tell about its [03:26.29]sunny days and fine beaches. [03:29.17]So Florida is the Sunshine State. [03:33.05]Florida's neighbor to the north [03:35.94]grows some of the sweetest fruit [03:38.78]in America. So Georgia [03:41.41]is the Peach State. [03:44.10]Hawaii, far out in the Pacific Ocean, [03:48.83]is the Aloha State. [03:51.52]That is the friendly greeting [03:54.05]that means both "hello" and "goodbye" [03:57.34]in the native Hawaiian language. [04:00.08]So, aloha for now. [04:03.21]Next week we will tell you about [04:06.60]the nicknames of more American states. [04:09.98](MUSIC) [04:20.04]This VOA Special English program [04:23.92]was written by Ted Landphair. [04:26.87]I'm Barbara Klein. [04:29.12]You can find more [04:31.06]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES [04:32.85]at www.51voa.com.