US State Names
US State Names
[A political map of the United States is shown. The title reads:] Geography challenge: Name all 50 states
[The state names in red text color are:] Alabama => Bandana Alaska => Alberta Arizona => Verizona Arkansas => Arkanoids California => Cafeteria Colorado => Colocated Connecticut => Connect Four Delaware => Delorean District of Columbia => District of Colubrids Florida => Fyoridor Georgia => George Hawaii => Kawaii Idaho => Idolatry Illinois => SK8RBOIS Indiana => That Other One Iowa => Iota Kansas => Candice Kentucky => Kennedy Louisiana => Loisa Maine => Spanish Maine Maryland => Maybelline Massachusetts => Masseuses Michigan => Mishy Minnesota => Minestrone Mississippi => Misstate Missouri => Mossouri Montana => mount -a Nebraska => Nebrunswick Nevada => Fallout New Vegas New Hampshire => New Hamper New Jersey => Nude Juggalos New Mexico => Namaste New York => Newark North Carolina => Sweet Caroline South Carolina => South Caroline Ohio => Oh Hi Oklahoma => Okay Oregon => Organs Pennsylvania => Pencilmania Rhode Island => Roald Dahl South Dakota => Dakota North Dakota => More Dakota Tennessee => Thennessy Texas => Hexxus Utah => Uhaul Vermont => Vermouth Virginia => Virjayjay Washington => Willwheaton West Virginia => Wyvern Wisconsin => Wainscot Wyoming => WYSIWYG

Randall has taken a map of the United States of America labeled "Geography Challenge: Name all 50 States" and filled in the states with words that sound similar to the states' names. The joke is that Randall is apparently terrible at remembering states by heart, or else that he interpreted "name" as "give a name to" and is giving each state a name similar to but different from its previous name. A similar joke is also seen in 1554: Spice Girls . Songs such as the 50 Nifty United States make these issues seem rarer, thus making it funnier. Below is the list.
This also may be a play on the ambiguity of the phrase "Name all 50 states".  When you are asked to "name" something, it can be a request to supply its given name or to come up with a new name for it.  Randall has apparently taken the latter interpretation.  He also may be playing with the distinction between an object's identity and its label, e.g., "The state of Texas (identity) is named Hexxus (label)", though you can argue that "Texas" is also a label.
This comic is similar to 1759: British Map . Also note that the text at the top of the comic is not in all caps.
Below are the Randall's fictional state names, next to the actual ones in parenthesis, and a short explanation for each one.
Alberta ( Alaska ) Alberta is a Canadian province known for being parochial, politically conservative, and having a strong independence movement, similarly to Alaska. Arkanoids ( Arkansas ) Arkanoid is an arcade game, developed by Taito in 1986. Bandana ( Alabama ) A bandana is a large handkerchief cloth, worn either around the head or neck. Often used in Westerns. Cafeteria ( California ) A cafeteria is both a kind of restaurant and a name for a lunch room that serves food. California is large and diverse, offering a wide variety of choices. California also grows a large proportion of common vegetables available in the US ( Source ), making it a 'Cafeteria' for the country. Candice ( Kansas ) Candice is an alternate spelling of the girl's name " Candace ", which comes from the Latinized version of " kandake ," a title used in the Kingdom of Kush (an ancient African monarchy) for a reigning queen, queen consort, or queen mother; possibly used for female members of the royal family in general. Colocated ( Colorado ) May refer to computer servers located in a colocation centre , or to collocation , a linguistic term for words or terms that appear together with a frequency greater than chance. Connectfour ( Connecticut ) Connect Four is a two-player game, in which the objective is to connect four of your checkers in a row while preventing your opponent from doing the same. It has already been mentioned in 1002: Game AIs . Dakota ( South Dakota ) Setting up the joke in North Dakota. Delorean ( Delaware ) The DeLorean DMC-12 is a car, made famous as the time machine in the Back to the Future movies. District of Colubrids ( District of Columbia ) The Colubridae are the biggest family of snakes, accounting for about two thirds of the world's species.  As the title text mentions, the District of Columbia, although not part of any state, is technically not a state itself, but is usually labeled on the maps like the 50 others for practical reasons. Here, Randall humorously explains the reason as people not wanting to upset the aforementioned snakes by dismissing their district for this pedantic reason. Fallout New Vegas ( Nevada ) Fallout New Vegas is a video game set in post-apocalyptic Nevada. Fyoridor ( Florida ) Possibly derived from the Russian name Fyodor, as in Fyodor Dostoyevsky . George ( Georgia ) Georgia was named for George II of Great Britain . Hexxus ( Texas ) The antagonist of FernGully . Ferngully is said to be the model for the later film Avatar . This is the second time Hexxus was mentioned in xkcd, the first occurrence being in 1750: Life Goals and the third being in 1918: NEXUS . May allude to the Texas oil industry and the state's general reputation for a lack of environmental protection. Idolatry ( Idaho ) Idolatry is the worship of a physical object as a god, forbidden in the Abrahamic religions. Iota ( Iowa ) Iota is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet . In English, the word iota may also mean "an inconsiderable amount". Kawaii ( Hawaii ) A Japanese term for cute, commonly romanized similar to Hawaii. Not to be confused with Kauai , a Hawaiian island. Kennedy ( Kentucky ) Kennedy Fried Chicken is New York City–based fast food brand that shares its initials with KFC, which was formerly (and still conventionally) Kentucky Fried Chicken.  "Kennedy" is also the name of a former US president ( John ) and two former US senators ( Robert and Ted ). Louisa ( Louisiana ) Louisa, feminine of Louis, is an Old German name meaning "famous warrior". Louisiana was named after King Louis XIV when it was founded as a French colony. Masseuses ( Massachusetts ) Women who give massages professionally. A contentious term in the therapeutic massage industry due to its appropriation by prostitutes. Randall might be making fun about how difficult he thinks it is to spell Massachusetts. Maybelline ( Maryland ) Maybelline is a make-up brand. Minestrone ( Minnesota ) Minestrone is a thick vegetable soup, originating in Italy. Mishy ( Michigan ) According to the Urban Dictionary, "mishy" means " mushy and horny at the same time ".  Or it could just be a nickname, the way a lot of people's names, often children, get shortened with a trailing y (Bobby, Becky, Johnny, Suzy, Davey, Jimmy, etc.). Misstate ( Mississippi ) The word "misstate" means to state improperly. "Mis-" is also a prefix meaning "wrong," "incorrect," or simply negating. "Misstate" could be a non-state. Miss State is a university in Mississippi. This may also be a joke on the fact that Mississippi is one of the most commonly misspelled state names. More Dakota ( North Dakota ) Might be a reference to "More Dakka" , a catchphrase by Orks from the Warhammer 40000 universe which is also a page on TVTropes referring to the large-scale use of ammunition. May also allude to the idea that North Dakota is less visible in popular culture than its Southern neighbor, owing to the fact that the latter contains Mount Rushmore but the former does not have any major landmarks. mount -a ( Montana ) A command to mount all disk volumes in fstab (except for ones with the noauto flag). Mossouri ( Missouri ) The single different letter represents probably a typo (O is adjacent to I in a keyboard). This typo has about 22,000 results on Google. Alternatively, this could be an attempt to "correct" the spelling of the state name to match its non-intuitive postal abbreviation , MO, which is sometimes used as a pronounceable acronym. Or it could be a reference to Katie Mossouris . Namaste ( New Mexico ) Namaste is a Hindu greeting. Probably unabbreviated from NM (postal code for New Mexico). Nebrunswick ( Nebraska ) New Brunswick , a Canadian province.  New Brunswick is abbreviated "NB" in the Canadian postal system , and "NB" was also as the postal abbreviation for Nebraska until 1969. It was then changed to "NE" specifically to avoid the confusion between the two. Nevertheless, people sometimes still use "NB" to refer to Nebraska. New Hamper ( New Hampshire ) A hamper is a large basket, often with lid, used for laundry. Also another name for a picnic basket. Newark ( New York ) The city of Newark is a suburb of New York City (NYC), and many people who live in Newark commute the 14 miles to work in NYC, however it is actually located in the state of New Jersey rather than New York. Other references: Newark Liberty International Airport (a major flight hub serving the New York metropolitan area ), the village of Newark, New York (near Lake Ontario), and Newark element14 (or simply "Newark"), the official distributor of Raspberry Pi. Possible reference to William Gibson's works. A mispronunciation of New York. Nude Juggalos ( New Jersey ) Juggalo is a name given to fans of the group Insane Clown Posse or any other Psychopathic Records hip hop group. Also shares the same initials as New Jersey. Oh Hi ( Ohio ) Oh (expression of surprise), Hi (greeting). A common utterance upon meeting an acquaintance unexpectedly. Okay ( Oklahoma ) OK is the state's abbreviation . Okay is a spelling of another abbreviation O.K., which means "yes" or "good", and has quite a few possible origins . Organs ( Oregon ) Could refer to either body parts that perform vital functions, or large musical instruments having rows of tuned pipes. Also a possible reference to Organ Trail , a retro survival video game that parodies The Oregon Trail . Pencilmania ( Pennsylvania ) Pencil Mania is a 1932 Tom and Jerry cartoon in which they pull out a pencil and proceed to draw figures in the air. Probably joking about how the first part of Pennsylvania sounds like the word "pencil". Roald Dahl ( Rhode Island ) A British writer , famous for child novels such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . This name does not actually rhyme well with Rhode Island. Dahl used the Norwegian pronunciation of his name (roo-ahl dahl, rather than ro-ahld dahl), as he had Norwegian parents. Because of how the pronunciation of the name has not been wildly known by readers, Randall may not have been aware of this. Sk8rbois ( Illinois ) "Skater Boys" or just "Skater Boy" if the '-ois' is pronounced the same as it is in "Illinois". Sk8er Boi is a song by Avril Lavigne . South Caroline ( South Carolina ) A further reference to song 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond, similar to 'Dakota' and 'More Dakota.' Plays on similarity between the names 'Caroline' and 'Carolina'. Spanish Maine ( Maine ) The Spanish Main was the mainland Spanish colonial possessions around the Gulf of Mexico.  Also refers to the surrounding sea, as in the opening of the (children's?) song, "Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main, ...". May also refer to the USS Maine (ACR-1) , which, upon sinking, started the Spanish-American war. Sweet Caroline ( North Carolina ) A song by Neil Diamond. That Other One ( Indiana ) 'That Other One' is something someone might say if they were trying to name all the states from memory, and knew where a state was but not what it was called. Appropriate for Indiana, due to being a state with relatively few distinguishing features. Thennessy ( Tennessee ) Hennessy is a brand of cognac. Uhaul ( Utah ) U-Haul is a company that rents moving vans which are frequently decorated with scenes from places that most people have never visited. Verizona ( Arizona ) Verizon , a telecommunications company, has the shared text "Rizon" with Arizona (Ve rizon , A rizon a). Vermouth ( Vermont ) Vermouth is an Italian alcoholic beverage. Virjayjay ( Virginia ) Virginia is similar to vagina . Vajayjay is slang for vagina. Wainscot ( Wisconsin ) Wainscot is a type of wood panelling covering only the lower half of a wall. Wilwheaton ( Washington ) Wil Wheaton is an actor and writer, famous for his role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek . Wysiwyg ( Wyoming ) Acronym for " what you see is what you get ". A reference to Types of Editors . Wyvern ( West Virginia ) A Wyvern is a mythical creature.

[A political map of the United States is shown. The title reads:] Geography challenge: Name all 50 states
[The state names in red text color are:] Alabama => Bandana Alaska => Alberta Arizona => Verizona Arkansas => Arkanoids California => Cafeteria Colorado => Colocated Connecticut => Connect Four Delaware => Delorean District of Columbia => District of Colubrids Florida => Fyoridor Georgia => George Hawaii => Kawaii Idaho => Idolatry Illinois => SK8RBOIS Indiana => That Other One Iowa => Iota Kansas => Candice Kentucky => Kennedy Louisiana => Loisa Maine => Spanish Maine Maryland => Maybelline Massachusetts => Masseuses Michigan => Mishy Minnesota => Minestrone Mississippi => Misstate Missouri => Mossouri Montana => mount -a Nebraska => Nebrunswick Nevada => Fallout New Vegas New Hampshire => New Hamper New Jersey => Nude Juggalos New Mexico => Namaste New York => Newark North Carolina => Sweet Caroline South Carolina => South Caroline Ohio => Oh Hi Oklahoma => Okay Oregon => Organs Pennsylvania => Pencilmania Rhode Island => Roald Dahl South Dakota => Dakota North Dakota => More Dakota Tennessee => Thennessy Texas => Hexxus Utah => Uhaul Vermont => Vermouth Virginia => Virjayjay Washington => Willwheaton West Virginia => Wyvern Wisconsin => Wainscot Wyoming => WYSIWYG
