Читать книгу Let's Explore America - Raj Boone's Gadasalli - Страница 7

4

States of the Union

The 48 contiguous states called the continental USA together with Alaska and Hawaii constitute the 50 States. In addition, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands are governed by the US.

The States, 2 letter codes and names of capitals:

Two letter state codes are used to identify cities. Instead of writing Chicago, Illinois it is enough to write Chicago, IL.

The Big Apple

New York City is often referred to as the Big Apple. In the early years of the nineteenth century refugees from war torn Europe began arriving in New York in large numbers. Landing without money or friends many women were forced to survive by their wits and charms. That is when, a beautiful, charming and educated French lady by the name of Evelyn set up a bordello for the well heeled, calling her vivacious temptresses as “my irresistible apples” - pretty, round and firm! So, for a long time the term came with sexual connotations. The phrase became pretty well sanitized in the 1930s, after the Apple Marketing Board in upstate New York, which got alarmed by declining apple sales, launched a vigorous “Product positioning campaign” to boost apple sales. The term ‘The Big Apple’ or ‘The Apple’ soon passed into popular use as a sobriquet for New York City. So NYC is The Big Apple – Pretty and desirable. Destination, that is!

A Church in the small Midwestern city of Burlington Iowa.