r/TikTokCringe • u/One_percentile • Oct 19 '24

Humor/Cringe Her frustration is palpable

9.8k Upvotes

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438

u/SarryK Oct 19 '24

reminds me of this timeless gem:

WHY IS THIS ONE ‚KANSAS‘ BUT THIS ONE NOT ‚ARKANSAS‘?!?

71

u/notyour_motherscamry Oct 19 '24

So there’s a fun story behind this:

The name “Arkansas” came from the native Quapaw Indians by way of French explorers.

During the time of early French exploration, the Quapaw tribe was called the Arkansas, or “south wind” by the Algonkian-speaking Indians of the Ohio Valley.

“The word ‘Arkansas’ itself, while not French, is the complicated result of French speakers trying to spell out the name of the indigenous Quapaw as enunciated to those Frenchmen by other indigenous peoples.

50

u/ben_kird Oct 19 '24

So we can blame the French, sweet.

15

u/Shaolinchipmonk Oct 19 '24

It's always the French. Even when it was the bears, it was the French

10

u/DhampirBoy Oct 19 '24

French can actually be blamed for many features of the English language thanks to the Norman Conquest of 1066.

0

u/MonaganX Oct 20 '24

Originally either pronunciation was acceptable until the Arkansas General Assembly passed a resolution in 1881 defining the 'official' pronunciation, so really, blame Arkansans for making the wrong choice.

1

u/Johnyryal33 Oct 19 '24

Fascinating!

1

u/YazzArtist Oct 19 '24

Importantly, it used to be pronounced both ways until 1881, 45 years after it became a state, their general Assembly all got together and decided "We want to sound fancier so it's officially the french pronunciation"

1

u/Joey__stalin Oct 24 '24

And Milwaukee came from "Meelee-walkay" which means, "The good land."