Anonymous asked: I have a question. Why is there Kansas but you travel a ways down on the map and suddenly it’s Arkansaw America Explain! Why not AR-Kansas?!

thegreatsnapescape:

That vine is pretty funny but actually I do have the answer to that.

Both “Kansas” and “Arkansas” are names of indigenous people in the area, but the lingustic root for both words is different. 

Kansas is the English word for the Kansa tribe, and so it’s pronounced according to English pronunciation rules (that is, voicing that last ‘s’). 

Arkansas was filtered through a few different languages. The Quapaw tribe was called the ‘akansa’ by the Algonquians, and when the French came through they turned ‘akansa’ into “Arkansas.” The reason we don’t pronounce “Arkansas” like “Ar-kansas” is because it’s a French word, not an English word, and so is pronounced by French rules (here, that would mean that the ‘s’ on the end of a word is silent).

Fun fact: though I’m from Arkansas, spent most of my life living elsewhere, and when I was a kid would get asked this all the time and other kids would tell me that Arkansas is a ‘stupid rip off’ of Kansas, but really it’s the other way around, because Arkansas was a state before Kansas was– AR joined the union in 1836, but Kansas wasn’t admitted until 1861. So really we can argue that Kansas should be pronounced Kan-saw.

Another fun fact: in Arkansas it’s actually illegal to mispronounce “Arkansas” (but the law only applies to official proceedings. you might get beat up on a street corner by angry Arkansans tho don’t risk it)

However there are many funny “Arkansas” puns I’ve heard over the years. My friends in Florida used to accuse me of having “Arkansass” when I was sarcastic, or assured me when I was preparing for a date that I have a nice “Arkanass.” Legally, I don’t know of their currant whereabouts, don’t ask again. 

Once I saw a BBQ in Little Rock called “Arkansauce”