When you refer conversationally to the state you live in, do you use a nickname?

All I know is people need to stop calling Oregon “Ore-gone”, like Octagon. It’s “Ore-gin” like “again”.

Once in a while I’ll say “Jersey” but generally I’ll say “New Jersey.” If I say “Jersey” the questioner invariably comes back with, “Oh, You’re from Joisey” which I kind of hate.

Wisco for Wisconsin.

Wisconsinites have a nickname for our neighbors south of us. If you are from Illinois you are a FIB (ducking Illinois bastard.) Wisconsin is known as Illinois’ playground.

Never a nickname for the state itself, but I occasionally refer to the natives here as “Nutmeggers”, if they have been here for generations.

Never, because amazingly, some people in the US do not realize that West Virginia is a state and not part of Virginia.

I live in Maryland….and sometimes sarcastically refer to it as the People’s Republic of Maryland because it’s a one party state. But that’s not really shorter.

I could use the postal code – MD, but MD is Doogie Howser’s title. I don’t feel like that’s useful.

Nope. Just Kansas.

No. I just say California.
Having read this, I might start calling it Californi, like they do in the Beverly Hillbillies song.
No, I guess not. Sounds too much like Horny.

No. I’ve lived in 5 states and I’ve never called them nicknames.

No. I always say ‘Massachusetts’.

I either say “New York” or “Nueva York” or “Nueva Jork.”

I say the name with the correct pronunciation.

Here in Canada we refer to British Columbia ,as B.C.

@cookieman, how about “Mass. Ave.”?

Just Idaho. Not Iowa.

Sometimes Land of Entrapment.

I just say: “New York”. It’s only two syllables and the meaning is lost if one is missing.

Pea Soup (Washington)

I have always said “California” in full.

People who say “Cali” drive me nuts and I will correct them. They are usually from out of state.

And Cal only refers to the University of California, Berkeley campus.

@Jeruba: Certainly. That works for me. Plus, “Massachusetts Avenue” sounds too Charles Emerson Winchester for my taste.

I will shorten the name when speaking to people that know me or are from the area. Otherwise I say the full name.
example:
When in New England and speaking to someone from the area I say Mass for Massachusetts’s.
When speaking to family about a trip home, I will say Minni for Minnesota
I have been known to say Cali to friends and family who live there. I even say Dak or Yooper to people who understand the reference.

Missouri=Mo(e)

No, I always use the proper title “Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation”.

Ah, @ragingloli, so that’s why you always refer to the U.S. as “the colonies”: you’re oriented to a time period centuries past.

@Jeruba
No, that is just me acknowledging neither your statehood, nor the legitimacy of your rebellion against the Crown.

Nope, just Illinois. Do people really say IlliNOISE?

@anniereborn…..I now live on Illinois street, and it baffles me how badly people can mangle the name! Do you not recognize it as the state???

I often do use nicknames (I guess they are more accurately mottos) here are the three I use most:

The Sunshine State
La Tierra de Mickey
The Land of Mickey

The last two are the same just one written in Spanish and one English.

I use mottos referring to other states too, but that’s off topic.

Sorry for a second post, but I think I was wrong and it actually is nicknames and not mottos. Maybe the OP knows. I’m second guessing myself.

@zenvelo People who say “Cali” drive me nuts and I will correct them. They are usually from out of stat

It bugs me, too. I lived off-and-on in Los Angeles for 9 years. I did not once hear “Cali” while I was there.

“The OC” for Orange County, California is equally cringey. It’s simply “OC”.

@anniereborn Do people really say IlliNOISE

I was once called into a meeting of our executive team when I worked in California (I was a lowly cubicle dweller) to clarify whether it was “ILLINOY” or “ILLINOISE”.