# If you could get rid of any state... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724 "2017-11-15T21:44:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/41 "2017-11-16T07:17:31Z")
Delaware, obviously. I’m not really convinced it exists in the first place. I mean who has ever met someone from Delaware? ETA: > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I lived in Delaware. I’m skeptical :dubious:. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/42 "2017-11-16T07:24:45Z")
Solid. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/43 "2017-11-16T11:48:16Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Delaware, obviously. I’m not really convinced it exists in the first place. I mean who has ever met someone from Delaware? > > ETA: > > I’m skeptical :dubious:. Delaware is my vote as well for the same reason. I have been to every state on the East Coast many times and have seen signs that said I was in “Delaware” but I think it was just a toll shakedown. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it. I have met people that claimed to be from Delaware but they are oddly quiet about the details just like all of the corporations that are supposedly based there. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/44 "2017-11-16T11:59:30Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Solid. But then you’d have people saying “do me a liquid” which conjures up gross images. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/45 "2017-11-16T12:10:30Z")
If we’re just reducing-by-one by redrawing borders, we don’t need two Dakotas. There’s barely enough people for one up there. If we’re ejecting one state from the union, let’s give Alaska to Canada and have done with it. Maybe we could swap for the Vancouver area, which we could add to Washington, and New Brunswick/PEI/Nova Scotia which we could tack onto Maine. If we’re vanishing an entire state, people and all, Alabama or Mississippi are certainly tempting at the moment. But really, would anyone miss Delaware apart from some credit card companies? > [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [California](https://media.nbcbayarea.com/images/706*367/2012-still.jpg), without a doubt (sorry **Bone** ). But then who will fund all the government money propping up the red states? > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I’d say Maryland. I just don’t like the shape of it. Too confusing. As always, [there’s an XKCD for that](https://xkcd.com/1902/). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/46 "2017-11-16T13:10:33Z")
Back in the days of halfway across the country road trips, I would’ve loved to have eliminated Pennsylvania. Five hours of I-80 driving to get across, and on Sundays in western PA, practically the only thing I could get on the radio was polka party music. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/47 "2017-11-16T13:20:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Five hours of I-80 driving to get across, and on Sundays in western PA, practically the only thing I could get on the radio was polka party music. So there was an upside. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/48 "2017-11-16T13:47:17Z")
Jefferson. Those people need to give it up already. As far as real states, I agree we don’t need two Dakotas. Also, what’s the point of Rhode Island, and Delaware for that matter? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/49 "2017-11-16T14:23:46Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Back in the days of halfway across the country road trips, I would’ve loved to have eliminated Pennsylvania. If that’s the criterion, then Ohio. Most boring state to drive through. I have deliberately taken a longer drive down to Kentucky and up through WVA, to avoid laterally crossing Ohio, when I have driven from Indiana to New York or DC. Still really thinking Texas, though. Can I squash Ohio so it’s not such a long drive? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/50 "2017-11-16T14:26:19Z")
Huh. I assumed we’d all universally agree that New Jersey has to go. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/51 "2017-11-16T14:35:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > If that’s the criterion, then Ohio. Most boring state to drive through. Clearly you’ve never driven across Iowa. After a couple of hours it’s such a relief to see Des Moines…and then you’re past it and there’s another couple of hours of nothing but windfarms, corn and pig sheds. Even Nebraska is better than Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/52 "2017-11-16T14:36:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > … and The Providence Plantations. There is no The before Providence Plantations. [https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php](https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/53 "2017-11-16T14:37:15Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Clearly you’ve never driven across Iowa. After a couple of hours it’s such a relief to see Des Moines…and then you’re past it and there’s another couple of hours of nothing but windfarms, corn and pig sheds. Even Nebraska is better than Iowa. I haven’t driven through every state in the country, but I have to agree that, of the states I have driven through, none is more boring than Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/54 "2017-11-16T14:41:25Z")
“I wanna write a book about all 68 states titled ‘Skip It!’ The first 13 pages would be blank, then at the end it would read ‘See? That was North Dakota!’” - Kathleen Madigan (from memory) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/55 "2017-11-16T15:05:00Z")
Oklahoma, just to get rid of the song. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/56 "2017-11-16T15:07:25Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Delaware is my vote as well for the same reason. I have been to every state on the East Coast many times and have seen signs that said I was in “Delaware” but I think it was just a toll shakedown. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it. I have met people that claimed to be from Delaware but they are oddly quiet about the details just like all of the corporations that are supposedly based there. Protip: you think you’re in Jersey but you didn’t have to pay sales tax on that thing you just bought? You’re in Delaware. Another vote for Maryland, here. The state’s only three miles wide at one point. Just squeeze the PA and VA borders together and be done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/57 "2017-11-16T15:08:02Z")
First, I would grant Washington, DC statehood… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/58 "2017-11-16T15:17:12Z")
Well, if you absolutely have to get rid a state, California gets my vote. They’re self-sustaining, and the influence/money of Hollyweird-types will be gone. They’ll do fine on their own. And if they get bored, they can annex/return to Mexico. Maybe the Golden State’s influence can create a better run Mexifornia government? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/59 "2017-11-16T15:27:07Z")
> [@WreckingCrew](#): > > There is no The before Providence Plantations. > > [https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php](https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php) Holy shit! I’ve seen this written a million times, my family is from RI (I was born there) and I have been reading a non-existent “the” in that name for decades. I shall begin lobbying to have it added in at once. This grand historical mistake must not stand!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724/60 "2017-11-16T16:33:32Z")
I say kick out ALL the states except California. The heck with the rest of y’all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-get-rid-of-any-state/801724.md?page=4)