# Resolved: Delaware Does not Exist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2000, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358 "2000-08-22T21:33:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/21 "2000-08-23T06:38:07Z")
Delaware was originally part of Pennsylvania. They broke off when the Penns weren’t paying attention, and nobody even noticed until approximately 1857. Delaware has the distinction of being the northernmost slave state, not abolishing slavery until the 13th Amendment. Delaware’s main function is keeping Connecticut and Florida separated on lists of the states. Hey, _somebody_has to do it. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/22 "2000-08-23T06:45:15Z")
Hmm…I noticed that several of my bills goes to banks in this fantasy land called Delaware. If I ignore them, will they send repo-fairires to my house? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/23 "2000-08-23T06:50:06Z")
A list of people who are supposedly Delaware natives: Gomez Addams, Valerie Bertinelli, Boris Badenov, Divine, Philip Glass, Billie Holiday, H.L. Mencken, Babe Ruth, Upton Sinclair, Superman, John Waters, and Frank Zappa. I ask you, how likely is it that all of these people are from one small state? I think it’s like when the Coneheads claimed to be from France; these people had to say they were from somewhere and “Delaware” was the first thing that popped into their mind. And if these people really exist how come nobody knows what to call them. Everyone’s heard of New Yorkers, Californians, and Texans. But who knows a Delawarian, Delawarite, Delawaroid, or Delawarerer? And can it be a coincidence that the last four letters of “Delaware” are the last four letters of “beware” and that they can be rearranged to spell E-war warning us of their plans to launch electronic warfare from their orbital mind control lasers? And can it be a coincidence that the first four letters of “Delaware” can be rearranged to spell “lead” the only material which can be made into a helmet to block those laser transmissions from entering a human brain? And can it be a coincidence that the odd letters of Delaware are all consonants and the even letters are all vowels? Okay, that last one could be a coincidence. I’m still working out the details here. ---
**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/24 "2000-08-23T07:37:01Z")
I’ve lived in Delaware the last 10 years; even graduated from the University thereof. It’s a pleasant little place. The only problem with Delaware is that (at least in Northern Delaware where I live) there’s not whole lot going on. It’s mostly suburbs and the largest city, Wilmington, is like a ghost town after 9 pm. And our sports teams have weak names. The UD football team is a consistant top 10 team in Div II, but with a name like the “Fighting Blue Hens” it’s kinda hard to be taken seriously. And our local baseball team (Kansas City’s A affliate) is called the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![activgurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@activgurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/activgurl)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/25 "2000-08-23T09:08:50Z")
Ah, you have to go to Delaware to enjoy the loveliest of vacations at Slaughter Beach! Nothing like a beach full of horseshoe crabs to make a memorable trip! ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/26 "2000-08-23T11:43:40Z")
/slight Hijack I was watching Sports Center the other day & they were showing scores from the Little League World Series. There was a team from New Hampshire. My first thought was “what’s a team from England doing in the American pool”. Then I said “Oh Yea, we have a state called New Hampshire”. At least Delaware has some credit card companies. I say New Hampshire doesn’t really exist /end slight Hijack ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/27 "2000-08-23T12:16:51Z")
I have been through this so-called Delaware many times, on my way to Hunt Valley, Maryland-- a small stretch of hotels and strip malls that itself may exist only in the mind. I’m not sure if anyone really lives there. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/28 "2000-08-23T12:47:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > A list of people who are supposedly Delaware natives: Gomez Addams, Valerie Bertinelli, Boris Badenov, Divine, Philip Glass, Billie Holiday, H.L. Mencken, Babe Ruth, Upton Sinclair, Superman, John Waters, and Frank Zappa A lot of those people are from \*\*Maryland. \*\* In fact, these here are all from the fine city of Baltimore, MD: John Waters Divine Billie Holliday Frank Zappa H.L. Mencken Philip Glass Upton Sinclair Babe Ruth Valerie Bertinelli is the only confirmed Delaware native (and how on earth do you put Superman in there? He was born on another planer, and wasn’t raised in Delaware either). See? There really \* isn’t \* anybody famous who even claims to be from Delaware… ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/29 "2000-08-23T13:27:46Z")
Thank you Myrr. I was just about to bring that up. Actual Delaware natives (according to IMDB): **Valerie Bertinelli Judge Reinhold Elisabeth Shue Ryan Phillipe Jessica Darlin** (pornstar featured in such films as _Planet of the Gapes_) **William Alland** (producer of _Creature from the Black Lagoon_ and many MST3k movies) **Yvette Freeman** (one of the regular nurses on _E.R._, also was in the show _Working_) Died in Delaware: **Cab Calloway** ---
**Author:** ![Yankee\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7ea924/32.png) [@Yankee\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankee_Blue)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/30 "2000-08-23T13:32:05Z")
Well, I’ve driven by Caesar Rodney High School countless times and I don’t know what other state would name something after him. And he did sign the Declaration if Independence under the heading Delaware. I’ve been to a couple of beaches preported to be in Delaware. I’ve been to Winterthur Museum also listed as a site in Deleware. And one of my credit card does hail from there. So I think Delaware exists, I just think it’s a subversive state. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/31 "2000-08-23T15:43:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Ah, you have to go to Delaware to enjoy the loveliest of vacations at Slaughter Beach! Has anyone here seen **Dark City**? I still am not convinced that Delaware exists outside the imaginings of some crafty and covert cabal of corporate conspirators. The fact that some of the posters here _claim_ to be from Delaware simply means the conspiracy is more widespread and better-organized than I thought. I fear for my hard drive… It occurs to me that I have never seen a Delaware license plate. Why? I have seen licence plates from Hawaii, Alaska, and even _Guam_, for crying out loud, but never Delaware. If there were such a state, would its citizens never venture outside its borders? > [@](#): > > Well, I’ve driven by Caesar Rodney High School countless times and I don’t know what other state would name something after him. And he did sign the Declaration of Independence under the heading Delaware. _Caesar Rodney???!!!_ How made-up can a name **be**? Where did he sign? Right under Kilroy? Pfffttt! This “Caesar Rodney” person belongs on the list with Gomez Adams, Superman, Boris Badenov, and all the other fictional characters who hail from this pretend “state.” > [@](#): > > The UD football team is a consistant top 10 team in Div II, but with a name like the “Fighting Blue Hens” it’s kinda hard to be taken seriously. And our local baseball team (Kansas City’s A affliate) is called the Wilmington Blue Rocks. See, this just reinforces what I’m saying. There cannot possibly be a football team called the “Blue Hens!!” I mean, come on! Who would go to their games??? It’s all a big inside joke for those “in the know.” Don’t you get it? “Blue Hens.” “Blue Rocks.” I begin to wonder if the color blue has some special meaning to this sinister Delaware group… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/32 "2000-08-23T15:53:05Z")
Sure Delaware exists…it’s a long strip of land you have to drive through to get to the discount cigarette stores and fireworks stands near Chincoteague, Virginia. Much like Indiana being a thing one must drive through to get to Chicago, and Connecticut being a thing one must drive through to get to New England. Besides, all us hep cats and beatniks pay it homage when we say “That guy’s a square, man…strictly a square from Delaware.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/33 "2000-08-23T16:09:32Z")
I have actual pictures of signs that say “Welcome to Delaware.” Although, I do have to admit that I never felt particularly welcome there, so the “Delaware” part might have been a lie as well. ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/34 "2000-08-23T16:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*I have actual pictures of signs that say “Welcome to Delaware.” . \*\* And I have pictures of Jackalopes. Your point? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/35 "2000-08-23T19:48:58Z")
According to [http://www.findagrave.com](http://www.findagrave.com) there are exactly sixteen famous people buried in Delaware. Most of them are famous Delaware statesmen, so I suppose getting planted in Delaware after they died was part of the job description, plus the ubiquitous Caesar Rodney. The other famous person is Bill McGowan, the famous baseball umpire. Hey, don’t mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/36 "2000-08-23T20:37:52Z")
Hey, Mrs. O and I have been to Delaware City, where you feel like a king and a king feels like a crazy super coo-coo king. Oh no wait, that’s _Capital_ City… Actually we went there to find the Tzeroling and her auntie, who were reportedly there for a Civil War reenactment camp on Pea Patch Island, the site of a Union war prison. But since we didn’t actually _find_ them there we could have dreamed the whole thing up. Now if Sweden had held onto it instead of selling out to the English, the place woulda been something. All we got now is the _Kalmar Nyckel_ in Wilmington, and even that’s not there all the time. Now, to address a few pointedly misguided comments… From **andygirl** : > [@](#): > > I eat Cthulhu sandwiches! No, Cthulu eats you sandwiches. Remember that. From **AWB** : > [@](#): > > Besides the toll for the priviledge of driving 15-20 minutes in their state (NH is the same way) New Hampshire is only like that if you’re driving via Portsmouth to Maine, instead of heading north to the White Mountains like the real adventurers do. From **Fugazi** : > [@](#): > > “Oh Yea, we have a state called New Hampshire” > > I say New Hampshire doesn’t really exist Moved to Merrimack in 1973, Hudson in 1986, Nashua in 1992. Driven the length of the state three or four times. Sorry, pal, it’s there. I’d hate to think I chose to flee Vermont because I kinda like the state and I was born there. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/37 "2000-08-23T21:30:09Z")
Myrr, I write that everyone should be wearing a lead foil helmet to protect themselves from orbiting mind control lasers and the biggest fault you can find with my logic is that I misplaced Baltimore? What can I say, at 2:45 AM I’m easily confused. For the record however, Superman is indeed a Delaware resident albeit not a native son. _The Atlas of the DC Universe_ clearly states that his hometown, Metropolis, is in the state of Delaware. Consider the implications of the fact that Delaware’s most famous citizen is a fictional character. ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/38 "2000-08-23T21:42:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*Myrr, I write that everyone should be wearing a lead foil helmet to protect themselves from orbiting mind control lasers and the biggest fault you can find with my logic is that I misplaced Baltimore? What can I say, at 2:45 AM I’m easily confused. > > For the record however, Superman is indeed a Delaware resident albeit not a native son. _The Atlas of the DC Universe_ clearly states that his hometown, Metropolis, is in the state of Delaware. Consider the implications of the fact that Delaware’s most famous citizen is a fictional character. > \*\* Delaware?!? Metropolis is in frigging _Delaware_? I’m ordering this book through Bibliofind just to find more to gripe about. That and I want to see where they stuck Gotham. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/39 "2000-08-23T21:43:11Z")
Well, you see, Baltimore–despite it’s problems–is a \* real \* city in a \* real \* state, not some dinky little theoretical triangle putting the “Del” in “DelMarVa”; we get a little antsy when people forget that 🙂 Now repent for your sins or I’ll have to exile you to Delaware. Ooh, boy, that’d be fun: “hey, I’m supposed to be in Delaware…but it…doesn’t…exist…auuughhh!” ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358/40 "2000-08-23T22:16:44Z")
I’ve been thinking. Okay, so apparently Delaware doesn’t exist… and yet, the area I am in has a very large gay community. Delaware is a gay conspiracy! Oh, there is no _way_ that Superman is from here. We’d have it in all the papers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-delaware-does-not-exist/30358.md?page=3)