Words and Their Stories: State Nicknames, Part 3

Third of a four-part series | WORDS AND THEIR STORIES

15 January 2011

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today, we tell about more interesting nicknames of American states.

The mid-Atlantic state of Maryland is called the

Free State.

A Baltimore newspaper first called it that during the nineteen twenties when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were banned for a time. Maryland said it wanted to be free from this prohibition.

Mississippi is

the Magnolia State.

It is named for a tree with big, beautiful white flowers that grows in that hot, southern state.

The midwestern state of Missouri is called

the Show Me State.

The people of that frontier state were once famous for not believing everything people told them.

If you visit the western mountain and plain state of Montana you will know why it is known as

Big Sky Country.

Nebraska is the only state to have a nickname that honors sports teams! The state university's athletic teams are nicknamed Cornhuskers">Cornhuskers in recognition of one of the area's chief crops. The state borrowed the

Cornhusker

nickname from the university.

The western desert state of Nevada is called

the Silver State.

It was once home to many silver mines and towns that grew up around them. Today, most of them are empty “ghost towns.”