# Aesthetically pleasing state boundaries **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578 "2001-08-02T02:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/21 "2001-08-03T04:36:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by BunnyGirl \* > > \*\*Sure, but how many of you can show someone where you live by holding up your hand and pointing to a spot on it?! 😃 \*\* > > I always thought Quebec could be described by the shape of your hand (sure, sure, its not a state, but its nearby - and I want to join in!). Just lay your hand out flat, with fingers together and thumb a little to the side… I’m from the middle of the lowest thumb joint 🙂 > > \*\* We’ve got everyone beat. Our state really does look like a hand. **Bunny** –as much as you’d like to, you can’t forget the UP. Just don’t get me started on why you even have it (not that we’d really want it). Sen. Feingold’s hand and the phrase “He knows Wisconsin like the back of his hand” were used in his last campaign. And yes, we actually do point to our hands to indicate where we’re from. Except when we’re using our hands to hold beer mugs 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Omniman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omniman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/22 "2001-08-03T04:48:23Z")
That round part at the top of Delaware has always intrigued me. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/23 "2001-08-03T05:03:45Z")
Olentzero I literally, not figuratively, fell out of my chair (damned casters) laughing at that remark, and boy am I gonna use it. (Sorry, no commission.) Personally, I like the way the whole pattern of states look from the East out to the West. You’ve got these tight, tortuous boundaries circling around each other in the East, speaking of internecine warfare and gerrymandering politicos battling it out when they all still thought that a township or two was something to fight over. Then the Midwest. You can just see how easy latitude was to lay out and when they needed any north-south boundary was needed there was always a river over the next ridge. And then the Far West. I swear most of those lines were laid out by God-and-His-Holy-Angels one slow weekend when they used the Mother-Of-All-Chalklines. Of course G laid out Hawaii’s boundaries, but picture how Alaska’s lines were laid out: US: Everything east of this line we get, right? Russia: Da! US: How about a little bonus coastline? Russia: Sure, no problim. Canada: Eh? How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/24 "2001-08-03T05:49:20Z")
**Qadgop** That’s really nice of you, but that’s ok. **sewalk** I don’t know what they can do, but the Virgin Islands better keep their guard up, or they’ll just be The Islands. Florida is quite phallic, but limply so. Maybe if they changed the name of Jacksonville to Viagraville? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/25 "2001-08-03T14:29:58Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by MonkeyMensch_ > **I literally, not figuratively, fell out of my chair (damned casters) laughing at that remark, and boy am I gonna use it. (Sorry, no commission.)** Don’t encourage me, it only makes me do more. Like this… > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jinxie_ > \*\*Florida is quite phallic, but limply so. Maybe if they changed the name of Jacksonville to Viagraville? > \*\* “In a bizarre geographic event Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is calling an ‘act of God’, the renaming of the Town Formerly Known as Jacksonville resulted in the Florida Keys ending up at the approximate same latitude as Bermuda…” ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/26 "2001-08-03T14:41:25Z")
I’m particularly fond of the way Vermont and New Hampshire fit together into a mostly rectangular package. Re: roundness and Delaware Part of Delaware’s northern border is a segment of a circle twenty-four miles in diameter, centered on the courthouse in New Castle. I believe this was laid out in the court decision that defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania–the line of latitude chosen intersected Delaware’s territory near the coast, so the border arcs around that part of land. –Yersinia ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/27 "2001-08-03T15:14:57Z")
Hey, as a resident of Colorado and a former resident the the pretty, great state of Utah (actual tourism campaign motto) we have great borders. You just have to get out of your 2 dimensional mind set. In 3d the states have all sorts of wierd and interesting nooks and crannies. Aw who am I fooling? Only Euclid could like those borders. I have always thought the borders could have only been set up by someone who had never even seen the region. Two of my favorites are the folks who live in North-east Utah and have to drive through Wyoming for a couple of hours to get to the county seat. The other favorite are the poor Arizonans who live north of the Grand Canyon. How that was given to Arizona and not Nevada or Utah still amazes me. That said Delaware’s arc border is pretty cool. Rivers and lines of longitude/latitude are boring. Delaware has a restraining order. I can see the judge now --Pennsylvania you are not allowed to come within 12 miles of the New Castle Courthouse–. ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/28 "2001-08-03T18:00:59Z")
Oklahoma’s Panhandle is just a little _too_ thin. But then again, I’m from Texas so I’m probably biased. 😉 I also appreciate the nice interlocking of Vermont and New Hampshire. “Wham! Take that, Arkansas!” That cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/29 "2001-08-03T19:08:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferggie \* > **I also appreciate the nice interlocking of Vermont and New Hampshire.** 'S called the Connecticut River. Beatuful country, that, especially when it finally hits the Mass. border. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/30 "2001-08-03T19:12:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > \*\*'S called the Connecticut River. Beatuful country, that, especially when it finally hits the Mass. border. \*\* I do believe that you’re mistaken. The Connecticut river doesn’t flow through Massachusetts. It runs through WESTERN Mass, an entirely different state. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578/31 "2001-08-03T19:51:55Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Flymaster_ > **The Connecticut river doesn’t flow through Massachusetts. It runs through WESTERN Mass, an entirely different state.** Amen to that! God bless and keep the Berkshire hillfolk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aesthetically-pleasing-state-boundaries/74578.md?page=1)