11 Comments
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Noah Haskell's avatar

Excellent. Gives notes of deep thought and thoughtful depth, with an subtle undercurrent of nonsense. Possibly exhibits a hint of grade inflation, but, at the same time, I can't argue with any of the ratings. So, perfect, instead.

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Drew R's avatar

What goes around comes around they say. So I will safely assume you're not from Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Mexico, or Washington.

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Edward Ashton, Jr.'s avatar

I can’t take credit for this—and maybe I wouldn’t want to since it’s a pun, but hey, it’s a pun I like—but it has always stuck with me for whatever reason: “Tennessee sounds like the answer to the quiz question: ‘Describe Roger Federer in one adjective.’”

Also, re: New York, it’s hard to judge it in a sort of phonetic way like you did with the others. Because downstate New York in particular is such an iconic place (Central Park in Manhattan is the most filmed place in the world, for instance), the fact that the place name “New York” is sorta generic almost doesn’t matter. The name has a lot of power and evokes a lot of feelings and associations for all sorts of different people. (I can’t tell if I’m agreeing with you or not in this comment, lol, which feels somehow appropriate.)

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Julie's avatar

Haha this made me laugh! I’m from Ohio which you dubbed poor. Now life in Arizona which you said was perfect . Ha!

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Drew R's avatar

Disclaimer—these name judgments should suggest nothing about the actual beauty and glory of the states themselves!

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Steve High's avatar

Very good. As a Brit, looking forward to the follow-up on British counties…

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AXL's avatar

Quare id faciam fortasse requiris. A favorite

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Drew R's avatar

Nescio sed fieri sentio et excrucior ✍️

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FLWAB's avatar

Great post! Though I do want to ask, you know Oregon is pronounced “Ore-gun” and not “Ore-eh-gone”, right? Only, the oregano and origami comparisons concerned me.

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Drew R's avatar

Thank you! I appreciate the read and comment : ) I didn't know locals pronounce it in two syllables rather than three, swallowing the "eh" syllable you mention. That's interesting to know. Thankfully I do know that it's not GONE which would make me think of a polygon.

But I will say as a poetry fanatic/sometimes-poem-writer, my fascination with words and names is not just in their pronunciation and meaning but also how they look ie their visual connotations and shapes, and how they behave in other ways.

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Maxwell E's avatar

Most locals pronounce it something like “Oh-ruh-gihn” with the last syllable clipped, and an absurd amount of stress on the first syllable. It’s pretty great.

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