A second-grade class at my school tried, a few years ago, to make the orb weaver be NC’s official state spider. They failed, because another class elsewhere in the state was trying for the wolf spider, and the politics just got too ugly. The teachers were trying to give the kids a lesson in how to be an involved citizen, but the lesson they got in how politics work is surely more valuable.
NC’s official state shell is the scotch bonnet. Somewhere, I believe I read that the official state pepper is the scotch bonnet. In my family we’ve decided that the scotch bonnet is our official state anything, so if a scotch bonnet is mentioned, we’ll follow up with whatever we’ve been talking about: “…our official state board game! Our official state squabble! Our official state laundry detergent!”
But looking at our list, I think my favorite is that we have an official state marsupial. I have to imagine the competition was fierce for that one.
North Carolina has an official state art medium (clay), an official state carnivorous plant (Venus flytrap), an official state fossil (megalodon shark teeth), and an official state marsupial (hilariously, the Virginia opossum).
ETA: Just noticed Left Hand of Dorkness’s mention of the marsupial, hope the additional ironic detail is worth the repeat.
Not weird, but Wisconsin has a state animal (Badger), Domestic animal (dairy cow), and wildlife animal (white tailed deer)
It has a state mineral (galena) and a state rock (red granite) and a state fossil (trilobite), and state soil (Antigo silt loam)
Most make some sense (ex: galena – since lead mining was important in the founding of the state)
Not ridiculous but sad, the California Grizzly. Sad in a couple of senses; that the people of the state chose an icon that they went on to exterminate*, and also the story of the last of its kind.
The last wild grizzly, Monarch, is the model for the California state flag. He was captured in 1889, the result of William Randolph Hearst’s challenge to a reporter to find proof of the last remaining California Grizzly. Monarch spent 22 years in captivity before being euthanized in 1911. His stuffed remains are on display in the Academy of Sciences.
*I’m not particularly keen on re-introducing the grizzly to California, mostly because I figure they’d end up getting killed off all over again.
Why did Kansas name the Etch A Sketch as its official state toy? It was invented in France, was manufactured in Ohio, and the rights are now owned by a Canadian company.
Apologies for the slight hijack - I am a big proponent of apex predators in close proximity to humans, keeps us from getting to full of ourselves, yah? I love LOVE that there are mountain lions within the city limits of Los Angeles (and bears and deer and coyotes, etc). What other major metropolitan area can claim to have f*cking LIONS? (um…Detroit?)
The Official State Gun of Tennessee is the Barrett M82 sniper rifle, a giant of a gun that fires .50BMG heavy machine gun rounds. Every other state gun is a historical piece but Tennessee just picked a recent gun made by a Tennessee gun maker, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing.
You left off the official popular dance, shagging.
I had a GF from Australia. She heard a news report the governor was in shagging contest. She asked me if she heard it right. Then she told me the other meaning of shagging.
Utah’s state bird is the California Gull. The local gull was proclaimed before ornithologists discovered thah Utah’s gulls are California’s gulls in their migratory range.
Missouri’s unofficial-official nickname, “The Show Me State.”
First of all, no one even knows what the hell it means.
Second, no one is even sure where it came from. There are two theories as to how it became our motto, both equally apocryphal. The first is that it came from some politician who said that the people of this state are not swayed by flowery speech (“I’m from Missouri; you have to show me,” he said). The other is that there was a miners’ strike in Colorado, and the mines imported [del]scabs[/del] temporary replacement workers from Joplin-area mines. Supposedly the Missouri miners didn’t understand the Colorado mines’ advanced ways and developed a reputation for having to be shown how to do things.
The former interpretation portrays us as hardscrabble bumpkins who care not for eloquence or prose. The latter that we’re downright stupid.
And yet somehow it’s a source of pride? Fuck that.
^Take some satisfaction that it’s said in, “Jonny Quest,” (Hadji says it to Jonny in one episode. Actually he says, “I’m from Missouri.” [I don’t think he is])
