So I was just wondering if someone in America says that they are from Washington what does that mean? Is there ever any confusion over this and things to do with that?
Very rarely.
People will usually say that they are from Washington State or from DC just to make sure there isn’t any confusion. Often the context will also avoid any confusion, as in talking about politics in Washington almost always implies DC for example.
And if you are close to someplace like Washington PA, we tended to call that “little Washington” to avoid any ambiguity.
So basically, if you are in a situation where which Washington you are talking about can’t be inferred from other conversation clues, people generally will clarify which Washington they are talking about.
I experience constant confusion from people regarding Washington, D.C. and Washington state. My parents used to live in Washington, D.C., and now live in the surrounding area. When I tell people in California that I am visiting my parents in Washington, they often think I mean the state, even when I include the D.C. I finally started talking about going to Virginia, rather than going to Washington, since there was so much confusion. But I don’t always remember, and there are still people who think I am from Washington state, and comment to me about events or sports teams there.
The fact is, I’m not even from Washington, D.C. I’m from California – my parents just moved to D.C.
There are plenty of Americans, particularly in California, who don’t seem to grasp the difference between the state and D.C., even though they are thousands of miles apart. For those people, even a specific clarification won’t help.
If I say I was born in Washington people will say “Washington State or Washington D.C.?”. So usually I say I was born in Washington D.C. Just to mess with people sometimes if they ask what state I was born in I’ll say I was born in the District of Columbia and about half the time I’ll get a blank stare in return. It’s not difficult to clear up even when there is confusion. Also in context it’s often clear which one is being referred to.
The OP assumes that most Americans know that there is a difference. Lack of knowledge about the geography of our own country is legendary.
And those two names aren’t the only potentially ambiguous ones in this country either. We’re surrounded by repeating place names.
I think the vast majority of Americans know that there is a difference. They may not know very well the locations of the city or the state, but it’s pretty rare to find someone who doesn’t know there’s a big difference.
Yeah, but California is full of idiots. It’s the sunshine - it bakes peoples’ brains.
I’m from the DC area and was recently vacationing in Seattle. The issue never came up. However, months ago I was lunching with a friend who though the Redskins were from Washington State. I corrected him.
At least years ago, people who lived in Washington, DC referred to their home as “the District”. As I recall, tho, all the road signs say “Washington”.
It seems to me that people say Washington State (and New York State) when they refer to the state. I cannot imagine saying that I’m from Pennsylvania State or even the State (or, strictly, the Commonwealth) of Pennsylvania when asked what my home state is.
My son, who lives in Seattle, tells me that the original name proposed for WA was Columbia and that this was discarded because of potential confusion with the District! I’d like to know more about that story. Was the name Washington not much used then?
Two different processes are being discussed here.
Virtually all Americans know there is a difference between the state called Washington and the nation’s capital, Washington D.C.
Yet confusion between the two happens all the time when the antecedent to the reference isn’t clear.
“I went to Washington last week.”
“Washington just passed a law.”
“Who won the Washington game last week?” (There is a professional football team in Washington D.C. and the University of Washington plays college football.)
The country is full of duplicate names with a chance of confusion. This particular one is probably the premiere example, though, because of the sheer number of ways the two can be confused.
That was back in 1852. At the time, the city of Washington was only a part of DC. I don’t know if that made any difference. This Slate article has an interesting discussion on the topic.
When I went to Gallaudet (in DC) there was never any confusion, because the District of Columbia was very consistently referred to as DC. People from Washington State said they were from Washington State.
In Indiana, most people I know say "DC"and “Washington,” adding “state,” if there’s any ambiguity, but also using the city, if it’s known-- I mean, if someone is from Seattle, and you ask them where they are from, they are likely to say “Seattle,” not “Washington.”
I’m guessing that in the Pacific Northwest, you can talk about Washington without adding “state,” and everyone knows what you mean. There are some contexts where a person can say they are from “Washington,” and it’s clear they are from Washington, Indiana. FWIW, there’s a Vincennes, a Bloomington, a Moscow, a Peru, a Salem, and a Brazil in Indiana. Practically every state has a Bloomington, and many states have cities named after other states: there’s an Indiana, Pennsylvania.
If you are in New York city, you usually say you are from Manhattan, Brooklyn, etc., not that you are from “New York,” unless it’s clear that the state is all someone wants to know. In fact, if you are in Manhattan, and someone says where are you from, you are going to say “Morningside Heights,” “SoHo,” “Lower East Side,” or “Murray Hill,” or whatever. And that’s true for all the boroughs and Long Island.
I hadn’t ever thought about smaller countries not having repeating city names.
I moved to Boston from the DC area. I can’t be absolutely sure but I don’t know of a single instance when anyone thought I meant we had come from Washington state.
On the other hand my brother moved to San Diego. He has to specify that he came from Washington, DC otherwise a fair number will assume he came from the state.
On the other hand, one of my co-workers came from eastern Washington state. She has two levels of confusion. First people assume that she came from DC. Then they assume that she came from Seattle.
So I assume this depends on the coast you are on to SOME extent. In the Northeast people assume Washington DC. In California, it might be 50-50.
Here in Chicago, speaking for myself, yes, it’s confusing unless there is context. Hell, for years as a kid I thought the Redskins were from Washington state. I ref to the capital as “DC” and the state simply as “Washington” or sometimes “Washington state” if I remember to disambiguate. There’s a good number of place names like this. For example, here in Illinois, there’s a town downstate called Bloomington. But there is also the university town of Bloomington, Indiana. I generally assume the latter in conversation, but there have been a few times I’ve assumed incorrectly. Rochester is another one (Minnesota or New York, among others.) As any fan of the Simpsons knows, Springfield is another one. (And Shelbyville to a lesser extent, though I’ve never been involved in a conversation where Shelbyville comes up.) For Springfield, it’s geographical context that figures it out. Here it would almost exclusively be used to refer to our state’s capital. In New England, I’d assume Massachusetts.
If you live in the US capital city area: Washington is the federal government, The District is the city, DC is the metro area, and Washington state is where Seattle is. Otherwise, whether the city or the state is closer establishes the default case.
You can’t be serious 
*Of course *the overwhelming majority of Americans know there’s a difference. I will admit however that it wasn’t that long ago that I realized the Redskins aren’t based in Washington state.
It seems to me that folks usually say “DC” unless they’re referring to the state.
If the speaker pronounces it as “Warshington,” he or she is from the city.
Generally, if a professional level sports franchise calls itself the “Washington {somethings}”, they are out of DC - the Redskins, Capitals and Wizards. The ones in the state of Washington are identified with cities. I suspect a professional team in Washington State would avoid using the state name precisely to avoid confusion. Only Seattle has major league franchises at this point. Spokane has some minor league and lesser followed sports franchises.