Education
#357 US State Name Stories - Midwest
In this episode of the Speak English Now podcast, Georgiana explores the fascinating origins of U.S. state names in the Midwest. From Michigan's 'great water' to Minnesota's '...
#357 US State Name Stories - Midwest
Education •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hi, I'm Georgiana and I'm back with a new episode of the Speak English Now podcast.
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The podcast that helps you speak English fluently with no grammar and no textbooks.
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On my website you can find the five secrets to speaking English and my premium courses.
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Okay, let's start. This is the third episode of our state name series. This time we're
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traveling to the Midwest. Let's quickly list all the states in the Midwest. They are...
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That's 12 states in total. I'll just focus on a few of the most representative ones.
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Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Here many names come from Native American
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languages, rivers, and the land itself. So let's discover the hidden stories of the Midwest.
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The Midwest is famous for friendly people, farms, big lakes, and very cold winters. So yes,
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bring your warmest coat for this trip. But as always, we're here for the names and the Midwest has
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some really interesting ones. Let's start with Michigan. The name comes from a native
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American word, Michigan, which means great water or large lake. And it makes sense, right?
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Michigan is surrounded by great lakes. Love water, then Michigan is perfect, except in the winter,
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when everything freezes. Our next stop is Ohio. This name comes from another Native American
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language, the Senica. It means good river. The Ohio River was very important in the past for
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travel, fishing, and trade. That's why they called it the good river. Today, Ohio's known for
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cities like Cleveland and Columbus, and also for their rock and roll hall of fame. Yes, music again.
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Now let's go to Illinois. The name comes from a French version of a Native American word.
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It means the people, or tribe of superior men. The French explorers changed the spelling and
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pronunciation. So now we have Illinois with a silent S. Don't say Illinois. It's Illinois.
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Can you try it? Illinois. Americans will notice immediately if you say the S. So here's a little
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pronunciation secret for you. Okay, Wisconsin. This name also comes from a Native American language.
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It probably means river running through a red place. French explorers wrote it down and the
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spelling changed over time. Today Wisconsin is famous for cheese. Yes, cheese, rivers, red land,
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and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. And finally Minnesota.
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The name comes from the Dakota Sioux language. It means sky tinted water or cloudy water. Beautiful
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right? It makes you imagine lakes and reflections of the sky. And that's perfect because Minnesota's
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called the land of 10,000 lakes. Honestly, I think they stop counting at 10,000. There are even more.
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In winter, those lakes freeze and people even drive cars on the ice. Crazy but true.
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So what did we learn today in the Midwest? Michigan means great water or great lakes. Ohio means
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good river. Illinois means the people or tribe of superior men. Also remember about the silent S.
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It's pronounced Illinois. Wisconsin means river through a red place. And today is famous for cheese.
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Minnesota means sky tinted water and the land of 10,000 lakes.
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The Midwest shows how Native American languages shape the U.S. map. Almost every state comes from
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those languages. And now you know what they mean. Let's continue with a point of you story.
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I will tell you the same story, but in different points of view. This will help you practice
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grammar in a natural way. You can find more about this method in my premium courses.
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Visit SpeakEnglishPodcast.com slash courses to get my premium courses. They are designed for learning by listening.
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First I'll tell you the story in the future tense. Let's start.
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Next winter I will take a trip to the Midwest of the United States. My first stop will be Michigan.
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I'll imagine beautiful lakes, but they'll be frozen solid. And instead of swimming, I'll
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sleep on the ice. Great water, I'll motor. More like great skating rink.
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Then I will go to Ohio. I'll want to see the good river, but it will be browned and muddy after a storm.
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I'll laugh and say good river. Maybe not today. Next I'll visit Illinois.
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I'll carefully practice. Illinois. But people will correct me right away. It's Illinois. The S is silent.
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I'll think why are silent letters everywhere? After that I'll arrive in Wisconsin. I'll expect rivers and forests.
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But the first thing I'll see is cheese. Cheese shops, cheese hats, cheese everywhere.
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I'll shake my hand. Forget the rivers. This is definitely cheese constant.
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Finally I'll reach Minnesota. I'll imagine 10,000 beautiful lakes. But of course it will be winter.
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And the lakes will be frozen. People will drive cars on the ice. I'll gasp. Are these lakes or parking
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lots? When I return home, my friends will ask. So how is your trip to the Midwest?
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I'll smile and say, well, Michigan will freeze me. Ohio will disappoint me. Illinois will
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embarrass me. Wisconsin will feed me. And Minnesota will shock me. But hey, at least I'll never forget
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the state names. Great. Let's listen to the story in the past tense. Last winter we took a trip
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to the Midwest of the United States. Our first stop was Michigan. We imagined beautiful lakes,
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but they were frozen solid. Instead of swimming, we slipped on the ice. Great water, we muttered.
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More like great skating rink. Then we went to Ohio. We wanted to see the Great River,
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but it was brown and muddy after a storm. We laughed and said, good river, maybe not today.
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Next we visited Illinois. We carefully practiced Illinois. But people corrected us. It's Illinois.
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The S is silent. We thought, why are silent letters everywhere? After that, we drove to Wisconsin.
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We expected rivers and forests. But the first thing we saw was cheese. Cheese shops, cheese hats,
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cheese everywhere. We shook our heads and said, forget the rivers. This should be named
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cheese-conson. Finally, we reached Minnesota. We imagined 10,000 beautiful lakes, but it was winter,
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and the lakes were frozen. People drove cars on the ice. We gasped. Are these lakes or parking lots?
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When we returned home, our friends asked, so how was your trip to the Midwest?
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We smiling said, well, Michigan froze us. Ohio disappointed us. Illinois embarrassed us.
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Wisconsin fed us. And Minnesota shocked us. But hey, we'll never forget the state names.
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Great. I love using stories like these. They're easy to remember and really helpful for learning English.
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A bit of humor also makes the process more fun and enjoyable.
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You can find more about this method in my premium courses.
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Visit SpeakEnglishPodcast.com slash courses to get my premium courses. They are designed for
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learning by listening. See you soon. Bye-bye.