Thursday, August 14, 2008

What's In A Name? -- Georgia the US State and Georgia the Country

In case you were wondering why the American state and now-beleaguered country have the same name, here's the explanation! Kind of cool, actually. Did you know that Georgians (from the nation) don't actually call the place "Georgia"? Who knew?

Also, FYI, for the actual usage of the name "Georgia" in both cases, you can blame the Brits.

Oh, one thing more: as McCain just said, we are all Georgians. Hm, that didn't clarify matters much -- at least not on the linguistic front.

UPDATE: Since Georgia the state is in the American South, I found this really amusing: In the CIA World Factbook entry for Georgia the nation, its size is described as "slightly smaller than South Carolina."

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