favo(u)rite US state

I've never been to the US, so get canvassing right away!

Wisconsin for mine. Love ya Cheeseheads!

ive gone with the state itself, rather than for cities within it, and while that still leaves me with a few contenders, ive gone for new mexico, good scenery, good food, doesnt seem too colonized by suburban enchroachment (it might be, just not where ive been)

this is more about who comes in second, i imagine

Why? Is there an obvious winner?

i think there is

i presume you mean california?

come on Idaho

Dear ILX,

There are going to be, what, a maximum of 150 people responding to these polls, so do yourself a favour and keep the options down to a number that might give results that are even slightly statistically relevant.

Ta.

Maybe 696 should've split it up into regional conferences - top two from each advance to the national playoff.

Oh, what did della wear boy,
What did della wear?
What did della wear boy,
What did della wear?

She wore a bran new jersey,
She wore a bran new jersey,
She wore a bran new jersey,
Thats what she did wear.

One, two, three, four!

Oh, why did calla phone ya,
Why did calla phone?
Why did calla phone ya,
Was she all alone?
She called to say how ar ya,
She called to say how ar ya,
She called to say how ar ya,
Thats why she did call.

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro! ( spanish )

Oh, what did mrs sip, boy,
What did mrs sip?
What did mrs sip, boy,
Through her pretty lips?
She sipped a mina-soda,
She sipped a mina-soda,
She sipped a mina-soda,
Thats what she did sip.

Un, deux, trois, quatre! ( french )

Oh, where as ore gone, boy,
Where has ore gone?
If you want, Ill ask er,
Ill ask er where shes gone
She went to pay her taxes,
She went to pay her taxes,
She went to pay her taxes,
Thats where she has gone.

Eins, zwei, drei, vier! ( german )

Oh, how did wiscon sin, boy,
She stole a new brass key,
Too bad that arkan saw, boy,
And so did tenne see?
It made poor flora die, boy,
It made poor flora die, you see,
She died in misery, boy,
She died in misery.

Oh, what did della wear boy,
What did della wear?
What did della wear boy,
What did della wear?

perhaps mark is right, and i should have removed some of the states, limited it to a rundown of say, michigan, hawaii, california, georgia and maine

perhaps mark is worried that if we rub all 50 states together there wont be enough resulting paste left to enjoy

My dad used to sing that song when I was a kid but he only new the Delaware bit. Tis very nice to know all the words now.

And I went for D.C. cos it's where I lived and still where I would like to live when I go back. but Michigan was also a consideration.

GOTV for Wyoming yerrrr

i presume you mean california?

Really? Why's that?

states I have lived in and love include ohio, michigan and new york plus california where I spend time but have never officially lived. but my vote goes to pennsylvania for its unique blend of rural and urban, farmland and decayed industry, natural beauty and relative obscurity.

demographically pennsylvania is becoming the oldest state WRT population, all the young people are moving away. which is a shame on many levels though it does make penn a cultural repository of "the old weird america" driving around on its back roads = time travel.

runner-up: virginia, just the most beautiful sylvan glade of a state. see also oregon and maine for exotic and remote coastal grandeur.

sometimes when im traveling just for kicks i tell people im from california which is technically true but not really so actually true and they get all psyched. hey foreigners how come u luv cali so much wtf!

hey foreigners how come u luv cali so much wtf!

We don't

i want to go there more than most places.

UH YA U DO

XP

It's never interested me much

i mean i know why you love it so much - but thats really no excuse

I don't know really know what you're talking about, to be honest!

which is your favourite state, Tom D.?

i voted New York so there.

I don't really know, I've just never heard of this idea that California is obv. the most popular state - esp. with non-Americans

I don't know really know what you're talking about, to be honest

Hard question. I'm a bigger fan of singles rather than albums.

I think I would like Oregon the best, even though I've never been there.

do you like rain

what did you vote for, jhøshea?

i voted for new york cause thats where i live and its the best. i also enjoy the work of vermont colorado arizona louisiana texas and california - i vote for hawaii and alaska too even though ive never been there.

It looks like New York's the winner here!

i mean yeah everyone loves nyc and the rest of the state has some nice stuff but its really nothing compared to some of the nice stuff to be found elsewhere particularly out west

everyone should see the grand canyon its actually beyond comprehension

my home state (north carolina) is the only one I have enough information to form an opinion about. but most people seem to like it well enough, and it's got a pretty wide range of stuff in it, so what the heck, I'll vote for it.

tennessee has a nice name so it wins

i'm tempted by illinois because i love chicago so much... i love san francisco too, but not la, so i won't vote california. i love every bit of new york state i've travelled to.

I won't vote for New York until we get rid of New Jersey.

who the hell loves new york state that much?

i can't vote for california because of the people, from california (except all you ilxors obv, you guys are bros).

i have never been to alaska but it seems cool.

maybe americans shouldn't actually vote in this, and we can all see whatever wrong and fucked-up state you guys pick.

e.g. new york or illinois (!?)

see, tho, the problem is most non-USers will have little experience of the states beyond the major cities, i would have thought (which is why i side towards illinois, despite having only travelled to a couple of non-Chicago cities)

lolnois

DC listed but no Puerto Rico?!!!

guam '07

spread the word

kentucky needs hstencil to come out of retirement

or us saying his name 3 times:

HSTENCIL

voted for colorado obv

If Long Island -- excluding NYC Even -- New Jersey would still suck more than it.

do they not teach you how to use verbs in new york?

jon, have you ever been anywhere in NJ? (besides the meadowlands or hudson county)

If Long Island -- excluding NYC Even

You do realize that excludes Brooklyn and Queens, right?

jon, have you ever been anywhere in NJ? (besides the meadowlands or hudson county)

YES

You do realize that excludes Brooklyn and Queens, right?

YES. FUCK YOU. EVEN THE SUBURBS OF LONG ISLAND ARE BETTER THAN JERSEY

WAHT'S UP NOW BITCHES?!?!?!?

MAX, I AM TIRED AND YOU ARE TIRESOME.

Long Island = Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, Dream Theater, Blue Oyster Cult

Actually you also have De La Soul, Rakim, Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, and Dee Snider

STILL HAVEN'T SAID WAHT IS SO GREAT ABOUT NJ!!!!

xpost

I'm basing this on most of the people I meet from LI being sweet and quite a few of the NJ people being total assholes.

NJ = Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Lauren Hill, Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Redman, P-Funk, Isley Bros., Bill Evans, Misfits, Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, Patti Smith, Sugarhill Gang

Springsteen >>> Joel as local icon.

I think LI wins hip-hop but NJ wins otherwise

NJ has almost everything, even if sometimes it's a slightly watered down version

It's one of the most diverse states, it has a wide variety of landscapes, its population has one of the highest levels of education of any state

it has a wide variety of landscapes

In about 20 minutes you can go from a charming colonial town to a frightening urban apocalypse

MN ought to have come second because, well, we come second in every major sporting contest we have been in. And we could all probably compete well in a 'my parents are weirdest, RUN AWAY NOW' smackdown. This, as well as any form of being "differnt" (local pronounciation emphasised) means that you just want to get the fuck out at 18 but when you look back, you realise that most of the people you were hanging out with weren't afraid to make their own amusement.

Also I laugh because Dan escaped to the "not freezing" east coast just before the biggest, coldest and way-too-earliest blizzard in MN; it's so much less cold than when I was little, but I can't cope with the car culture.

beaches, mountains, farmland, etc.

NJ has a wide variety of landscaping

few suburban areas have better ethnic food than hudson, middlesex, bergen counties

Warren & Sussex counties = awesome

i like NJ, not so much the suburbs just the other side of the river, but a little further out. theres a lot of that 'last summer together' kinda feel about it, plus jbrs description of michael mcdonalds sweet freedom as 'jersey shore music' is pretty persuasive. it feels like a state to have some nostalgia in, for something that never existed. i like that

i didnt vote NJ though, or the top two, i voted new mexico, for a while on this thread it looked like it might even get 3rd!

I don't think I voted for NJ myself, in fact I may not have voted. If I were to vote again I think I'd actually vote for California.

I mean I'm defending it but no wai is it the best state.

i voted for NJ = SURPRIZE SURPRIZE SURPRIZE.

that said, if someone doesn't like NJ -- or anywhere else -- that's their prerogative. still, i am always curious whenever anyone puts NJ down as to whether or not they've ever been there and, if so, if they've been anywhere OTHER THAN the NJ turnpike or sopranos-land.

you guys are funny

NB: I looked at a few schools in NJ

also, i don't really like north jersey myself -- too many assholes and too NYC-ish.

Driving along, say, Route 4 around the Garden State Plaza, or Route 3 from Wayne to the NYC area or the stretch of the Turnpike right by NYC I can undertand the hatred for NJ.

everyone supporting jersey is otm, but i think jon might have asperger's syndrome or something

People in NYC seem to complain about people from north jersey but they never hang out in North Jersey

I'm basing this on most of the people I meet from LI being sweet and quite a few of the NJ people being total assholes.

;__;

I'm so busted re: voting for South Dakota.

how did kentucky get no votes?

I was on vacation when you all took this poll.

Also I laugh because Dan escaped to the "not freezing" east coast just before the biggest, coldest and way-too-earliest blizzard in MN

Hahahaha yes! 4 feet of snow on Halloween! Oh how I called FB and John and laughed at them.

oh shit i remember that blizzard. totally awesome -- i was at a halloween party at 4fton 4lps, and we went sledding!

that was the greatest halloween ever.

NH got screwed. I went to college there-best eight years of my life.

ditto

I like the look of North Jersey very much, but I mean, like, "north of Saddle River", not "north of Hoboken". It's pretty up there around Pompton Lakes & surrounding.

NH would've won a best state motto poll.
also best state liquor store, probably.

I'm biased here, but Michigan has the coolest shape. You can make a map from your hands and point to where you live. On an accurate map of the country or world it's easy to see exactly where I grew up. It's in two oddly shaped pieces that just look like they belong together. There's only one way to travel between the two. And so on.

I've only heard groans from native Michiganlanders when I ask them about the mitten/map thing.

And really. The U.P. should just be ceded to Wisconsin. Seems like it's more theirs than Michigan's.

Don't get me wrong. I like Michigan. It and my home state of Arkansas are "related" by basically being admitted together as free state and slave state. Many Arkansasians migrated to Michigan to escape the oppressive nature my state had back in the last century.

If you ever want to check out a good book from the library (it's out-of-print now), check out Land of Opportunity. It's about the sons of sharecroppers going to Detroit in pursuit of the American Dream. They formed their own business, set up their own financial parameters, and heaped many a profit during the 1980's. Unfortunately, they made their fortunes selling crack. But they were really good at it. There are chapters in the book where Lee Iaccoca and Nancy Reagan are blocking traffic downtown with their pro-business and anti-drug sentiments while the Arkies make the most of the opportunities given to them. It's better than any Ayn Rand novel, I tell you that.

We gave up the Ohio Strip for that northern piece of rock and mineral, and we aim to keep it.

Illinois got hosed too. Wrigley Field and its surrounding environs should have garnered it at least three votes on its own. And I'm not even a baseball fan.

Illinois has my favorite building ever - Carbide & Carbon. But that was not enough to win my vote.

er, the part of lakeview that "wrigleyville" is in could disappear from chicago and it would be fine with me.

re:

It is very funny, on most levels I couldn't possibly care less about being an American citizen but I fucking ADORE the fact that I grew up in Minnesota.

(xp: ha narcissistic cat is narcissistic)

-- HI DERE, Monday, June 4, 2007 11:49 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

are you an indie?

-- Serge Protecteur (nordicskilla), Saturday, January 28, 2006 9:58 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

I am a Minnesotan.

-- gbx (skowly), Saturday, January 28, 2006 10:03 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

Minnesotans have every right to be proud. The best and ironic part is that they're taught it's a sin to show one ounce of pride to anyone about it.

I've only heard groans from native Michiganlanders when I ask them about the mitten/map thing.

I was at a party recently and a guy was from Michigan and I asked him to make the mitten and he pointed way above his hand because he was from the UP and I hadn't been attracted to him up to that point but suddenly he had a sliver of a chance (though I doubt he was interested in me).

You can do the UP with your left hand if you don't care about the lower bit with Escanaba and Menominee, which is fine for me cause I'm only interested in the left thumb.

The right hand only comes into play as a point of reference to illustrate how far away Detroit / Ann Arbor / Lansing / Kalamazoo / Grand Rapids were.