In den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika gibt es auf Bundesebene keine offizielle Amtssprache, aber die Verfassung und sämtliche Gesetze sind Englisch abgefasst. Arkansas hat 1987 Englisch offiziell als Amtssprache festgelegt.
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The usual etymology derives the name from the French "arc" = "a bow", and "Kansas" = "smoky water", while another theory makes the prefix a Dakota word meaning "people"; hence, "people of the smoky water".
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The Quapaws, or OO-GAQ-PA, were also known as the downstream people, or UGAKHOPAG. The Algonkian-speaking Indians of the Ohio Valley called them the "Arkansas", or "south wind."
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Benannt wurde es nach dem Indianervolk der "Quapaw" (franz. Form) oder "Arkansaw" (englische Form). Da in der Sioux-Sprache "ar" soviel wie "unter", "nieder" bedeutet, übersetzte man "Arkansas" als "das stromabwärts wohnende Volk".
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So in 1924 the legislature placed three blue stars below the word "Arkansas" and one above, the way the flag is today.
The three stars below "Arkansas" retained the meanings Miss Hocker had set and the lone star above the word is to commemorate Arkansas' membership in the Confederacy.
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"PLASTIC SNOW":
I asked last week what names people gave to the white plastic bags that become caught in trees. Hilary Maidstone reported that the Norfolk Women's Institute Federation discussed the matter recently and that one speaker called them "Hackney Roses" ("Hackney" being a deprived inner-city area of London). Karen Mora said: "In my state, plastic bags blowing through town are called "Arkansas tumbleweeds", while Bob Rosenberg noted that in the eastern USA he had heard them called "Jersey tumbleweeds". (Perhaps they should call in Tony Soprano, the well-known New Jersey waste management consultant.)
(Michael Quinion: World Wide Words -- 18 Sep 04)
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The community was named for NY Gov. DeWitt Clinton.
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(anglais) = USA
