Date:  Thu, 9 Mar 1995 23:06:56 -0800

From:  Anton Sherwood <dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM>

Subject: Ar-Kansas



Leonard Schiefer asks:

> A tangent: Why are sharpening stones quarried in the state of Arkansas

> called Ar-KANSAS stones (pronounced like the state of Kansas) instead

> of ARKANSAS stones (pronounced like the state of the same spelling)?



The name of the state hasn't always been consistently pronounced. I read

somewhere (probably in NAMES ON THE LAND) that the state's first Senators

disagreed, and the President of the Senate distinguished them as "the

gentleman from ARkansaa" and "the gentleman from arKANsass"!



Anton Sherwood  *\\*  +1 415 267 0685  *\\*  DASher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]netcom.com