What is going on everyone? Welcome back to the world according to Briggs this
week we're gonna take a little bit light. No stats, no studies. We are just going to
look at all 50 states and we're gonna rank all 50 states by their state
nicknames state nicknames are very important they give the state an
identity to the people that don't know much about the state they're there to
promote tourism and curiosity for the state as an example if I told you my
cousin's nickname in high school was the Palm Pilot you'd want to know what's the
backstory why did they call him the Palm Pilot ten years before the Palm Pilot
was ever invented state nicknames can be powerful they can tell you about the
history of a state they can tell you about the people of a state and they can
tell you about the land some states have some well-thought-out nicknames that
have meaning and some have nicknames like someone forgot that the nickname
was due until about ten minutes before they had to turn it in on this video
we're gonna be ranking all 50 states by their respective nicknames and give you
a little backstory to how they came up with that nickname on this video we're
gonna start from the absolute worst and work our way up to the best so if we're
talking about the worst it's gotta be number 50 Oregon the abbreviation for
organ is Oro and the full nickname for the state is the beaver state this is
the absolute worst I live in the beaver state and I think this one is ridiculous
so it's like a giant rat that swims round and clogs up streams and creeks
who picked this name did they go to like the local kindergarten and ask them to
choose one and they picked beaver which was the second choice right behind
unicorn I get it we have a lot of beavers in this state and that has
nothing to do with the strip clubs which we have a lot of - beavers were a major
industry back in the 17 and 1800's but beavers we have a lot of really cool
waterfalls why not go with something like that or even about how about the
rain that would be good we have a ton of trees we had a great logging history
that would be great they have a secondary one called the Union state and
I searched for about an hour and I found nothing on it but it is their secondary
name number 49 South Carolina the deviation for South Carolina is SC the
full nickname is the Palmetto State South Carolina decided to name itself
after Bush technically a tree but it's really a bush the Palmetto tree is what
it is but it's like a palm tree forgot to grow a respectable trunk like
a palm tree in Hawaii or California it is actually called the Sabal Palmetto
but it has other names the Palmetto the Cabbage Palmetto the blue Palmetto the
Carolina Palmetto the common Palmetto Swamp cabbage and sable pong Swamp
cabbage that sounds kind of weird anyway that's South Carolina and they don't go
for a backup nickname they're just sticking with the Palmetto State it's on
their coins and it's on their flag number 48 Wyoming the abbreviation for a
Wyoming is WY the full nickname for the state is the quality state this one has
a great reason why it should use this nickname sort of but it really doesn't
fit the state Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote
in 1869 this is you know long before the 19th amendment which guaranteed that and
that was in 1920 so they were well ahead of the curve but the reason why was kind
of weird they needed more voting citizens to meet the requirements for
statehood that's the only reason they did it so I
guess Wyoming was cooking the books so to speak this action led to the nickname
the suffrage state then later the Equality state it's back up nickname is
far better it's the cowboy state that fits Wyoming not the Equality State
which is really not what they were trying to do is give women rights they
were just kind of you know playing a game with numbers number forty-seven
Mississippi deviation for Mississippi is ms the full nickname of the state is the
Magnolia state and there are magnolias all over the state the Magnolia is also
the state flower and the state tree the state went all in on Magnolia is
obviously both the state nickname and flower are featured on the Mississippi
Quarter right here this nickname glows I have a new one for him the state that's
always picked glass in kickball now they do have their own backup one which is
the hospitality state Mississippi people are very very nice and very hospitable
that one makes sense the one that doesn't make sense
they also have a third one there called the mud cat state mud cat that sounds
like the name of a minor league baseball team number 46
Nebraska the abbreviation for Nebraska is n e their full nickname is the
Cornhusker state now right now you probably want to ask me Briggs what is a
corn Husker I'm gonna tell you a corn Husker is someone who grows corn
competitively yes this is a sport in the state of Nebraska I
but so is being bored to tears I could never imagine getting excited to go to a
corn growing competition if you know someone who thinks this is fun and
something to do you should check in on them every once
in a while because they ain't right in the head
in 1945 the Cornhusker state became the official nickname of Nebraska apparently
at some point they were the beef state - the beef state okay I imagine had some
new cows cows and corn sounds like something you do on a lot of flat land
like Nebraska number 45 Arkansas the abbreviation for Arkansas is AR and the
full nickname is the natural state that doesn't sound like a state nickname it
sounds like a beer commercial but Arkansas has a lot of natural beauty
hence the nickname the natural state Arkansas is one of the more amazing
states when it comes to nature the Ozarks sort of make up for all the bad
stuff this state has to offer but really the natural state it's just sort of a
bland nickname they could have done so much better the Ozark State would have
been better they do have some backup ones the land of opportunity and the
wonder state the wonder state maybe the land of opportunity that's just a
reference to family reunions and single people in Arkansas but the natural state
even though it's bland it is kind of fitting for this state especially the
way the people treat the land they care about the land in this state as an
example we talked about Superfund sites later on in this video you'll see and
some of the states have over a hundred Superfund sites these are toxic dumps
that are being cleaned up Arkansas only has nine others have in
the hundreds number 44 Idaho the abbreviation for Idaho is ID the full
nickname is the Gem State Idaho's known as the Gem State because of the show
Shawnee Native American word for gem of the mountain is Idaho they found out
later this was a load of crap some dude told everyone the natives told
him that that was the word for gem of the mountain Idaho when they asked the
natives they said they didn't even know what this dude was talking about turns
out he finally fessed up and said he named it after a girl he met named Ida I
don't know where he got the hoe part but I have my suspicions
so the Gem State is lame in the first place and then to find out it's all
about a lie they should probably just call it the big lie state or maybe the
dirty little secret state or something like that number 43
the Illinois Illinois's BRE VA is IL the full nickname is the Prairie State the
Prairie State is fitting I guess they have some flat lands and a lot of farms
but they also have Chicago couldn't they've tied that in maybe the home of
Al Capone or something or even better the state that killed her all de
Rivera's career that would be fabulous Illinois has a second nickname after
Abraham Lincoln they call it the land of Lincoln Lincoln lived in Illinois when
he was chosen as the President of the United States in 1861 he was originally
from Kentucky that's where he's born then Indiana then he died in Washington
DC so why is this the Land of Lincoln I mean he was there when he was chosen for
a job big deal it also has a third one that should be organs it's the rainy
State that's that's organs nickname or at least it should be
what's Illinois doing with it number 42 do Louisiana the abbreviation for
Louisiana is La sort of like Los Angeles the full nickname is the Pelican state
there are more pelicans in Louisiana than most any other place so Louisiana's
known as the Pelican state okay they got a lot of pelicans I'm not a fan of
pelicans I think they're kind of useless well I didn't think they were useless a
few minutes ago I have to tell you I wrote two minutes worth the solid
material on pelicans delivering babies and while I was recording it I guess my
wife heard it stuck her head in the room and said storks bring babies you idiot
not pelicans so that was that now they have four other solid nicknames that
they should go by the Bayou state absolutely they got bayous everywhere
the child of the Mississippi it's at the end of the Mississippi River totally
makes sense I like that one a lot better it was the child of Mississippi like the
state I totally axe that one but it's also known as the sportsman's paradise
tons of fishing tons of everything there and it's also known as the boot because
it's shaped like a boot that wasn't they throw out but the other three are pretty
good and number 41 I guess New Jersey deviation for New Jersey's NJ full
nickname is the Garden State which that makes very misleading in 1876 Abraham
Browning presented a speech during which he mentioned New Jersey's being the
Garden State and the nickname stuck ever since become an official in 1954 I guess
they drug their feet a bit kidding this one up for a vote I hear they're on the
fence between that and the toxic waste state I find it ironic that they go by
the Garden State yet they have the most contaminated locations in the country
they lead the country in Superfund sites and rude people the rude people thing
are just as toxic as some of their land it's really weird
New Jersey doesn't have any other nicknames they just stuck with Garden
State this whole time weird the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection oversees the Superfund program in New Jersey according to them
as of March 10th 2016 there were still 105 Superfund sites listed on the
national priority list in New Jersey 36 additional sites have already been
cleaned up and deleted from the list now to give me an idea how bad that is
California which is like three times four times the size of New Jersey only
has 90 in Texas which is huge too only as 53 calling themselves the Garden
State is a bit of a joke all right so that is the first of five lists we're
gonna have another one out tomorrow I hope you guys enjoyed this I liked them
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great day be nice to each other
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