Talk:Rhode Island

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Shouldn't this page be "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"? There is no U.S. state called "Rhode Island." --Daniel C. Boyer

Unless you want to call it the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, I doubt it. user:Montrealais

Yeah, but on the other hand, the article on Newfoundland is called by its official name of "Newfoundland and Labrador". I am curious if most Canadians call it by the full name, or if they just call the province Newfoundland. soulpatch

As I explained in Talk:Newfoundland and Labrador, the full name is used regularly by the government. For example, http://www.state.ri.us is headed "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," but they proceed to use "Rhode Island" in the rest of the links. http://www.gov.nf.ca, on the other hand, refers to Newfoundland and Labrador all the way through the site. The federal government uses the full name consistently on its pages (for example, check out Elections Canada. And the newspaper I read every morning calls it Newfoundland and Labrador (well, Terre-Neuve-Labrador). Furthermore, they're changing the postal abbreviation from NF to NL. Until I see RP, I don't think the situations are comparable.

Bear in mind that the change to N. and L. is both recent and for a political reason (see Newfoundland and Labrador for details), which may explain the difference. But all indications suggest that N. and L. is much more common than R.I. and P.P. -montrealais

I am curious not so much as to whether the Canadian government uses the full name in its documents (or even newspapers), but how do ordinary Canadians refer to the province? Is it really true that Canadians give the full name whenever they refer to it in conversation? soulpatch

I have not heard a sufficient number of Canadians refer to the province since its name was changed; it is quite recent, as I say. Suffice it to say that it is much more courant than R.I. & P.P. -mtlais

In any case, Rhode Islanders are not using the long formal name of their state but just Rhode Island. The formal name appears only once per couple of years in discussions wheter the name of the state should be changed to simple "Rhode Island". - tracian

Island?

Look at bottm please. So it's all "Rhode Island" for short and the island is just part of it (and part of the full name), right? That's not very clear. Could someone know knows such things clarify that somewhere? The First paragraph eludes to it, but I'm still not clear. --Spikey 21:12, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

• • • THAT IS TOTALLY INCORRECT WHAT YOU WROTE DOWN THERE!! I am a Rhode Island resident. The name Rhode Island doesn't come from any English settlers at all! NOPE! Not from Roger Williams, The Narragansett Indians, NOT FROM ANY EUROPEAN SETTLERS! Rhode Island was first visited by the Vikings, specifically Eric The Red..When they came to Rhode Island; way before Columbus even deiscovered the new world. He saw that the cliffs of Block Island were the color of red (terracotta to be exact), He so name it Rhode Island. The Viking word for red is rhode...

Silly people get it straight!

Weren't the Vikings European? Originally from Norway? Even Iceland, though not geographically connected, is considered part of Europe, isn't it? --Larry G 18:55, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Spot on Larry. Also, to the anonymous user, shouldn't it be "Norse" or "West Norse" word and not Viking? But then I'm not an expert, even if I am a descendent of one. --hedpeguyuk 9:31, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

The "Viking" (Old Norse) word for red is most certain NOT "rhode". The "Rhode" comes from the explorer's comparison of Manisses (now Block Island) to the island of Rhodes in Greece. There is absolutely no evidence that the Vikings ever landed in what is now modern day Rhode Island. --Roger Williams 01:30, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

RE: Island

I'll explain it here and somebody else can put it into the right format:

Originally, there were two settlements, one on the actual island of "Rhode Island", and one in Providence, so the whole state name was The State of (Rhode Island) and (Providence Plantations), in other words, the state was the combination of the two settlements.

Later on, the vernacular name was shortened to just "Rhode Island", and the original island by the name of "Rhode Island" was renamed to "Acquidneck Island" to avoid confusion.

Hope this helps.

Brian Narragansett, RI --ZeLonewolf 22:07, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Use the whole name, goddamnit. Hehehe. The formality would help people understand it better. Commonwealth of Virginia, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". I'd compromise with you for "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations".

I have 3 generations in the state. Oh, please, trust me. We say Rodeyland, or Li'l Rodey. Mafia-infested Providence is the biggest feature of our little place, besides the few hundred islands scattered around the shores.

Kenneth Chepachet, RI --Lord Kenneð Alansson 02:06, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

Commonwealth of Virginia, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and others are redirects to the common names Virginia and Massachusetts. Rhode Island and Providence Plantations redirects here already. --ZeLonewolf 14:23, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

Ok, lol. Lord Kenneð Alansson 00:25, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

As far as I know (4 generations in Rhode Island, and I had to research this in high School once), Acquidneck Island is the Native American name for the island referred to as Rhode Island. All you Rhode Islanders can admit that there are LOTS of Native American names in RI.

Rhode Island was never "renamed." That is completely inaccurate. It is still officially Rhode Island, though most people in RI call it by the Native American name, Acquidneck Island. It must be true -- I saw it on Jeopardy! once. ;-) I think the topic should be the full name because most people don't know that is the name, and we shoudl be educating them. I remember chanting "smallest state with the longest name" growing up. The silly things we are proud of...

-BevinT

WEll you know I am a 7th grade student looking for a lot of info on my report on Rohde Island can anyone recomend any nice wensotes on Rohde Island history before 1750. Its also really hard find ing smething before the american revolution. If you have any nice websites then email me at kdslhb@hotmail.com please email me asap its due in 2 weeks.- 13 year old in need
Lincoln, RI

I had always heard and been taught (by a variety of Providence Public School history teachers and a number of sources, including Verrazano's first hand recount) that Giovanni da Verrazano, who explored much of the United States East Coast, had remarked that the area bore a large resemblence to the Island of Rhodes (off the coast of Turkey) and thusly had gained its moniker. As to the "Providence Plantations" part of our name, the state is generally referred to as Rhode Island, even by major publications and federal government forms. You'll notice during an election that Tom Brokaw did not go: "And the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has cast its four electoral votes in the favor of [insert democratic candidate]" he said "the State of Rhode Island." TheMadjester

• De jure: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
• De facto: Rhode Island

Legal documents, people, etc... all call it Rhode Island.--Loodog 02:13, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Removed text

The following text does not belong in the introduction but I can't find a good other place to put it:

The Ohio Class nuclear missile submarine USS Rhode Island was named in honor of this state, which boasts the Newport Naval Station and its associated Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

- Centrx 22:06, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Some trivia

I don't know where this would fit in, but the first 100 Marines (in 1775) were from Rhode Island.

gabereal Chepachet/Woonsocket

Slavery

The article states “On May 18, 1652 Rhode Island passed the first law in North America making slavery illegal”. If this is true it is misleading.

Britannica, Encarta and several other sources indicate that slavery was extensive in Rhode Island and continued into the 1800s. Also, that Newport, RI, was not only a major slave trading center but had its own slaving fleet. The slave trade in RI was restricted by legislation in 1774 and an act in 1807 began the phasing out of slavery itself.

KJB

That's a result of Roger Williams settling Providence, in which (by charter of the King of England) all men were allowed to pracice as they pleased, and no slaves could be held, since that was contrary to RW's views on letting people be. Once Providence, Aquidneck and Newport had all been bound together as a colony, those laws were removed. It is true that RI was a major hub for the slave trade, John Brown (not the famous abolitionist) could look from his house down on the Providence River and see his molasses and slave ships coming into port. However, by the time of the Missouri Compromise, RI had eliminated the holding of slaves within its boundaries, just like every other northern state. TheMadjester

This is easy to clear up. Owning slaves was outlawed in Rhode Island in the 17th century, but it was legal to participate in the slave trade long after that. I agree that the language could be cleared up. --Roger Williams 01:32, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Rhode Island flag

The new version of the flag that I posted is actually official, and it solves the problem that the old flag has in that the border on the old flag is invisible. Before I posted the new flag, I looked for other versions without the border, and found that the version with the border is the most common.

BTW, the gold border is not "strange", in that all flags in the USA - the US Flag included - come in versions that include the gold border. The US Flag with the border is used as a "Standard" by the US Military.

CORNELIUSSEON 23:27, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

I think the gold border doesn't add anything to the image, especially if it's on most states' flags. That means it's just a flag thing, and not a Rhode Island thing. The idea is for readers to see the design of the flag, and the gold border isn't really a part of the Rhode Island flag design per se. IMO. —Cleared as filed. 23:32, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

why is everything in Metric?

I don't understand metric, but I did grow up in Rhode Island. Would somebody be so kind as to insert the avoirdupois along side? -super90

what do you mean metric? oh rhode island uses metric most of the time,i grew up in rhode island too,i like kph,meters, and km better than the american metric system.lets put it this way 113KPH=70mph,30C=around 80F and Kilometers is 1/3 shorter than feet or miles.ok?. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.207.156.197 (talk • contribs) 09:23, 22 June 2006.

I think you might be confused on which Rhode Island. This is the article about the U.S. State named Rhode Island (and Providence Plantations), which certainly does not use the metric system. Perhaps you want Rhodes? Counterfit 21:04, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Pop-Culture References

First off, I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who contributed to the page. I absolutely love what you've done to it. In the pop culture references, it only mentions Rhode Island as appearing in a single episode of Family Guy. Wouldn't it make more sense to mention that the entire show takes place in Rhode Island? --Ghettobean3 20:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860-1929

Can somebody translate this paragraph to English?

Done. EvilOverlordX 23:23, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Depression/Great Depression

I assumed, as a result of the capitalisation, that the reference to the Depression in the Economics section referes to the Great Depression and have directed the link accordingly. I did have a look for something to substantiate this, but failed - perhaps someone with a greater knowledge about the economic history of Rhode Island could confirm that this is acceptable (or indeed tell me that it referes to a different Depression). Thanks. - Politepunk 17:42, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Nickname

Actually, parts of RI are further than 30 miles from the ocean, not including NArragansett bay. Can we just mention the nickname as is unless we have more sourcing on it's originss? Thanks!Tom 14:30, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, if you don't include Narragansett Bay, a good portion of the state is further that 30 miles from the ocean. But isn't this rather moot, as the bay is part of the ocean? Counterfit 22:10, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Narragansett Brewing Company

Hello folks.

I am hoping that I can talk an editor who is interested in Rhode Island into giving some love to the Narragansett Brewing Company article/stub that I just created. I've looked into it a bit and it has a rich and fascinating history complete with wealthy industrialists, a huge philanthropic gift to Brown University, prohibition-era hijinks and early-80s economic doom. It's too far afield for me, unfortunately, but I am glad to at least have put a stake in the ground with the stub. Anyone? --AStanhope 20:29, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

• I am actually a Beck's/St.Paulie Girl man myself but I'll try to help, ANYTHING to do with beer is a GOOD cause right? Just give me a few days, thanks Tom 17:16, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Who thinks it's an island?

"The name Rhode Island leads some out-of-staters to believe - mistakenly - that the entire state is an island."

Um...who thinks that, exactly? I mean, I'm from Massachusetts, and I've never met anyone who thinks Rhode Island is an island, even the West-coasters in the schools. I could see someone from outside the country thinking that, but not someone from another state. Twin Bird 15:50, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Having been all over the country, I have to say "plenty of people". A common misconception is that it is an island off the coast of New York. --gabereal

It is commonly misinterpreted to be Long Island, New York. some people (not nearly a majority of course) who make these errors range from people out in Maine, Canadians in Toronto, West-coasters and Gulf-coasters. It could very well be that a) they hid their ignorance from you or b) you simply have not met all the people outside of the state of Rhode Island (it does only have 1,000,000 residents) and cannot vouch as to whether "some" people do believe Rhode Island is an Island. After all, its not like their doing polls on these types of things TheMadjester

I think it deserves to be mentioned simply because it has "island" in it's name. If we renamed Utah to Lake Utah, it would make sense to explain that Utah is not actually a lake.  :) -Quasipalm 15:55, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I have met people from other, mostly western, US states who think that the entire state is an island, and have had to answer questions like "do you have to take a ferry to get off the island, or is there a bridge?" --Roger Williams 01:34, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

vandal-reversion

Some knucklehead vandalized the page. Will endeavor to fix. Can others please review? --C.Bell

Your reversion looks fine. Why would someone want to advertize that by size, he's the smallest in the US? DMacks 16:50, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

NPOV

There's an NPOV in the culture section, with no indication as to why it's there, and I don't see anything obviously wrong with it after reading it, so I'm removing it.

Quahog

I think that Quahog should be removed from the Rhode Island box on the bottom of this page and the rest of the rhode island pages. Unfortunately I don't know how to access that. Quahog shouldn't be listed among the actual cities and towns. --Forestfufighting 19:30, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Makes sense to me. That box is Template:Rhode Island, so its talk page is a good place to discuss it. DMacks 19:39, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

A couple things...

I live on Aquidneck Island. Us residents call it Aquidneck Island and accept it as the name. However, some of us are aware that the name of the island is actually in dispute, but noone seems to want to do anything about it. I think... until "we" can decide whether it is Aquidneck Island or Rhode Island, that it should be labeled as Aquidneck Island. I've lived here my whole life, and have NEVER heard it referred to as Rhode Island... always Aquidneck Island. Only doing research I've learned that the name of the island is in dispute... just a thought.

Also... we do not use the metric system here. There was an effort some decades ago to switch to metric, but as with many places in the US, it never stuck. Standard US measurement for us.

I think at the very least... that regardless of what is official and verifiable, that the above info should be acknowledged.

And lastly... maybe I'm nitpicking... but the name of the state is officially "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." For the sake of being an official reference, shouldn't the name of the article be the name of the state, with everything else redirecting to it?

--Zetabill 00:46, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Independence

Someone had this article reading that RI was the second colony to declare independence (after NH) rather than the first. Of course this conflicts with everything I was taught back in elementary school in Cranston. I have found a reliable source (RI Secretary of State [[1]]) and edited the article, sourced appropriately.

Culture Section

This section needs attention from a Rhode Islander. The NPOV tag someone removed probably was in reference to the patronizing tone of the section. Some of the stuff in that section is just plain wrong, such as:

"stuffies", sometimes called "quahogs", which are large cherrystone clams mixed with stuffing and spicy minced sausage and then baked in the shell"

Rhode Islanders have a particular fascination with coffee. There are coffee shops on almost every corner and it is common belief that more coffee ice cream is sold here per-capita than any other state.

Quahogs aren't stuffies. If they're stuffed, they're stuffies. Stuffies aren't called quahogs. "Coffee shops on almost every corner" needs some kind of citation and that coffee ice cream claim is laughably unencylopedic. --Cranston, RI icydid 18:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Gaspee

As a native RI-lander, I take our history with the Gaspee very seriously, can someone add it in?

Done.--Loodog 03:02, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

References

The references section should be cleaned up, there should be titles for all the weblinks. -Ravedave 18:43, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Hispanic (Lusitanian)?

Greetings,

As per the edit history I removed a line that labeled the county average of 8.6% portuguese-descent as "Hispanic (Lusitanian)". There is no such thing and the labeling of "Hispanic" is not meant to be applied to iberian immigrants, even if the Census would make it so; fortunatly in this case it doesn't: as anyone can see in http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/44/44001.html Bristol County as 1.4% of "Hispanic" population, and much more than the average of 8.6% of portuguese-descendent americans. --195.245.185.32 13:39, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I strongly suggest re-evauliating the demographs and religious numbers in this article, and re-sourceing them. There has been an IP vandal changing these stats in several State articles. See Minnesota for sources if needed. -Ravedave 16:51, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

You are right, I regreted having completely deleted the sentence when thinking about it while driving home :) The Hispanic statistic was correct, the "Lusitanian" part was what falsified the meaning. Thanks for the quick feedback and FWIW I agree with the revert and edit. I'm not sure if you were refering to me as the possible "IP vandal", I'll create an account in this wikipedia to prevent this confusions.--89.26.150.34 22:15, 18 August 2006 (UTC) Update: I've revisited the RI census page and the Hispanic statistic is 10.3%. I don't know if there is a better source than this, so I'll abstain for editing, but feel free to do so --89.26.150.34 22:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Nonono not you, you are doing everything right. This is one of the IP's I have seen making random edits: User:71.87.214.99 there have been several though. This is the source I would use for demographics: [2] and this is the one for religion [3] Make sure the sources are very clerly added before the stats are listed out. If you need help using the <ref> style feel free to leave me a message. -Ravedave 22:49, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Food

It should be noted that "dynamites" are another nickname in the long list of nicknames for hot weiners. I was born and raised in Rhode Island(and continue to live here) and have never heard anyone refer to a sandwich with ground beef and spices as a "dynamite". Any type of nickname for weiners can be found in the 2006 Best of Rhode Island issue of the Rhode Island Monthly.

I've corrected the "food" entry vis-a-vis Dunkin' Donuts. The original edit claimed that there were "over 30 in the state alone" - a gross undercount. There are over 100 locations within Rhode Island. Scary, I suppose, but true. --Roger Williams 01:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

My father's family (originating in Woonsocket) refers to ground beef, peppers, onions, and spices on a roll as "dynamites", and I can't say I've ever heard the term applied to weiners. I've also seen "gaggers" defined as a footlong hot dog, rather than a weiner (which isn't really long enough to gag anyone old enough to have teeth). Counterfit 21:08, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I concur. The above beef, spice, etc. mixture (which I haven't encountered anywhere else in the USA) was always labeled dynamites when I lived in Chepachet and Woonsocket. Also on the Dunkin Donuts: Some RI folklore suggests that jelly-cream donuts are only available in the DD shops in Woonsocket RI and nowhere else on the planet. Gabereal 23:39, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Restored Page

edited the page back to the 15:51, 21 September 2006 Version because a User vandalized the top of the page with nonsense insertions.

- Duke23 21:32, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Demographics section - "Hispanic" is a proper noun

The word "Hispanic" in the box in the Demographics section needs to be capitalized. I'd do it myself, but I'm not sure exactly how - when I hit "Edit," I don't see the box come up. Funnyhat 03:24, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

New Sports section added to updated Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states format

The Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states format has been updated to include a new Sports section, that covers collegiate sports, amateur sports, and non-team sports (such as hunting and fishing). Please feel free to add this new heading, and supply information about sports in Rhode Island. Please see South_carolina#Sports_in_South_Carolina as an example. NorCalHistory 13:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi I am a sixth grader in need of information for a brochure project on Rhode Island. I need info as fast as possible so that I can finish on time. If you need other stuff on RI I am making a page called rhode island benefits and could use some help. Thanks.

--Moodyboy11 02:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)GMR

Help please!

I am a sixth grader and I need help on a project on rhode island. If anybody could give me some info that would be great. Please help. Thanks.  :]

--Moodyboy11 23:54, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Sure. Look it up.--Loodog 00:20, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Proposed WikiProject

I have created a basic proposal for a WikiProject to deal exclusively with the state of Rhode Island at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Rhode Island. Any editors who would be interested in being a part of such a group should indicate their interest there, so that we can know whether there is enough support to begin the project in earnest. Thank you. Badbilltucker 00:29, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't see a wikiproject Rhode Island proposal on there.--Loodog 01:52, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Follow the link above. It should take you right there. Badbilltucker 01:58, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll do it! --Moodyboy11 00:54, 23 January 2007 (UTC)