In the age before "LOL," "OMG," and "JK," there was New York, Pennsylvania, and Montana. Turns out our ancestors have been abbreviating for centuries. Cartographers Stephan Hormes and Silke Peust have taken our beloved United States map and added in the proper names of the states we've come to call home.
Their "Atlas of True Names USA" shows the monikers our nation was comprised of before our lazy butts decided that writing "New Yew-Tree Village" (that's what New York State was called) on our letters and contact information sheets was too laborious. And understandably so; we'd have had a bad case of carpel tunnel if we were living in Illinois and had to write "Land of Those Who Speak Normally" every time we had to write a letter. Some names are obvious like Montana, which was known as the "Mountainous Land", yet others have us questioning what we remember from history class. Correct us if we're wrong, but weren't the Carolinas and Georgia named after kings? No matter, though. We're not going to revert back to the days when California was called "Land of The Successor" any time soon, but we can at least humor the idea for a hot second. (Slate)
Photo: via Slate; Courtesy of Stephan Hormes and Silke Peust.