# United States contraction: Which states should go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283 "2002-04-07T05:50:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/41 "2002-04-07T20:03:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BigKahunaBurger \* > \*\*Mississippi. Can you think of a single positive thing it has contributed to the nation? \*\* [Great Mobile Homes of Mississippi](http://www.drbukk.com/gmhom/park.html). Where would we be without 'em? (It’s not limited to Mississippi, either–ex-urban Montana has some doozies, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/42 "2002-04-07T20:33:06Z")
> [@](#): > > And Idaho–I mean, it was just the state of what was left over in the first place, right? Sure get rid of Idaho. See if you get your French Fries at McDodald’s then. You can have Utah. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/43 "2002-04-07T20:36:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Alabama… I can not think of a single redeeming quality, the only thing I think of is that alphabetically, it’s the first state Well, along the Sela Ward-from-Mississippi line… Alabama has produced **Courtney Cox-Arquette** and **Amber Benson**. Nuff Said. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/44 "2002-04-07T20:39:44Z")
I’ve always thought that we should combine Idaho, Ohio and Iowa into one state (never mind that they are not contiguous) and call it **Idahiowa** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/45 "2002-04-07T21:30:01Z")
Yes, Mississippi and Alabama are the cradle of numerous fabuluos babes. Is this an arguement for or against getting rid of the states? Remember, the rest of us GET the population. ---
**Author:** ![Minor\_Irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Minor\_Irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minor_Irritant)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/46 "2002-04-08T00:04:51Z")
Hey, can Canada do this, too? Sorry, PEI. We’re selling you to Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/47 "2002-04-08T01:26:46Z")
A related thread I started. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108230](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108230) It may be of intrest. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/48 "2002-04-08T01:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JBirdman12 \* > **I’m thinking what we need to do is merge some states together. Especially here on the east coast. Why do we need 5 (or is it 6) states in New England? Lump them all together with upstate New York (dividing line: Hudson River) and call it The Northeast Reigon. Join lower New York with New Jersey (which it pretty much already is anyway), add Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia (dividing line somewhere in Pr. Wm. county). Call it the Mid-Atlantic Reigon.** You want the bloodshed of another civil war on your hands? Remember that many citizens in some of the states you mention legally own fully automatic weapons. And we aren’t gving them up. Now, dividing New York State into two states is a good idea, certainly many residents of upstate New York have more in common with **Northern** New England than with NYC. ---
**Author:** ![cykrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f19dbf/32.png) [@cykrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cykrider)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/49 "2002-04-08T03:13:07Z")
Just an interesting note: Most of the states that we mentioned have no/ crappy sports teams. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/50 "2002-04-08T03:25:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptMurdock \* > \*\* > > Alabama has produced **Courtney Cox-Arquette** and **Amber Benson**. Nuff Said. \*\* So KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT! Right? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/51 "2002-04-08T03:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BigKahunaBurger \* > \*\*Mississippi. Can you think of a single positive thing it has contributed to the nation? \*\* I’ll thank you that as a native of Ackerman, Mississippi, I am most undoubtedly among the positive contributions made by my fair home state. (Yes, I was in pageants, why do you ask?) Mississippi is a very quiet, low-key kind of place, and save for the wretched mosquitoes, it wouldn’t be a bad place to retire. But if we’re merging, I think that perhaps Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida would make a good, contiguous state. Call it Florissama. I could live with that. Just keep that damned Louisiana out of the mix. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/52 "2002-04-08T03:40:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tinkertoy \* > \*\* Sure get rid of Idaho. See if you get your French Fries at McDodald’s then. > \*\* Ummm…you know that nice big chunk of western Montana that is shown on every sack of Idaho potatoes? [sub]pssst…they grow potatoes there, too![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/53 "2002-04-08T03:44:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamex \* > \*\*And Idaho–I mean, it was just the [state of what was left over](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40009) in the first place, right? \*\* I’ll take Idaho (I’m a Canadian). I love the wild water rivers and the wilderness hot springs. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Martin\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_E)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/54 "2002-04-08T03:45:12Z")
How about Puerto Rico? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/55 "2002-04-08T03:57:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JBirdman12 \* > \*\*I’m thinking what we need to do is merge some states together. Especially here on the east coast. Why do we need 5 (or is it 6) states in New England? Lump them all together with upstate New York (dividing line: Hudson River) and call it The Northeast Reigon. \*\* What do you do with the massive part of New York that is upstate, but west of the Hudson River? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/56 "2002-04-08T04:33:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by racinchikki \* > \*\* > > What do you do with the massive part of New York that is upstate, but west of the Hudson River? \*\* Three words: Missile Test Site ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/57 "2002-04-08T06:24:08Z")
We’d be MUCH better off without you (characterizations deleted) 😃 Then SF could split - dynamite the bridges, cut a moat across the county line… Heaven ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/58 "2002-04-08T10:24:53Z")
Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/59 "2002-04-08T11:40:30Z")
Hey, **Tamex** , nobody has to fudge numbers about Alabama’s low rankings in state-by-state comparisons. We earn those low rankings fair and square. But I vote for Arkansas, they deserve some kind punishment for giving us the Clintons, the McDougals, Paula Jones, etc. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283/60 "2002-04-08T14:53:27Z")
We Virginians have long memories and would never accept those West Virginias back as part of Paradise (well, maybe if they asked really, really nicely). My vote - merge Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada into “The Forbidden Zone.” Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island would become “Up There.” (Remember the slogan: As goes Maine, so goes New Hampshire). Connecticutt would be annexed by New York. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and most of Maryland would be combined. What was left over of Maryland would be ceded to Virginia. Combine North and South Carolina, as well as Tennessee and Kentucky. Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida would be combined into “Down There.” All those rectangular states in the mid-west would be combined into “Square Land.” One state would run from the Pacific Coast of Washington all the way along the border and include Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesotta, Wisconsin, and the UP of Michigan. Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa (the part not picked up in Square Land) would be combined into “The Sort of Midlands.” Oklahoma and Texas are merged just to get rid of Oklahoma. California would become an independent country, Alaska would be ceded to Canada, and Hawaii would be ceded to French Polynesia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-states-contraction-which-states-should-go/102283.md?page=4)