Things Oklahoma is famous for (at least in the UK):
1. The Oklahoma Bombing.
2. The musical (though beware: ‘Oklahoma’ is actually the official state song).
3. The Grapes of Wrath (the central characters are ‘Okies’).
4. The Flaming Lips (so I am reliably informed).
5. Absolutely nothing else.
Things Oklahoma is not famous for, but should be:
1. The shopping trolley and the parking meter were invented here.
2. The headquarters of both the American Choral Directors' Association, and the World Organisation of China Painters.
3. The only State Capitol in the USA to have a working oil well in its grounds.
4. Route 66 goes right through the middle (‘Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty…’, as it says in the song).
5. Oklahoma was the only state in the 2008 presidential election where every single county voted for McCain.
6. It only became a State in 1907, 300 years after Virginia (before that, it was merely a ‘territory’).
7. Absolutely no-one famous has come from Oklahoma. The State’s most famous son is Will Rogers, who was an actor, comedian and ‘goodwill ambassador’, whatever that is. The airport here is named after him, but I’d never heard of him before.
8. Wikipedia says that the State Meal is 'fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, pecan pie and black-eyed peas'. I sincerely hope that's not all at the same time.
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Actually, I am thinking that sounds rather a good meal! The okra, squash, black-eyed peas,corn, cornbread and biscuits are all sides. Bbq pork and chicken-fried steak are mains. Then you have strawberries (made into succulent shortcake with lashings of whipped cream) and pecan pie for dessert. Ok, so the sausage and gravy over biscuits are what you had for breakfast. Thanks for the interesting facts!
Also: Brad Pitt, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Ron Howard and Toby Keith were all born in Oklahoma!
Keep it up! Raquel
OK, Brad Pitt is famous, I'll allow you that. ;-)
Ah, but do you know what the OK state soil is?
I have to confess I didn't know until I looked it up, no. Good job they don't have an Oklahoma citizenship test where they ask you questions like that...
Ok. State quarter?
Sadly it's too new (OK's the 46th state, and they're still working through things, it seems) to get into the marvellous Lore Fitzgerald Sjoberg's quarter ratings.
Never mind. We still have the State Beverage (milk), the State Game Bird (wild turkey) and the State Percussive Instrument (drum) to keep us going.
Of course, the official state song is missing its essential exclamation mark!
According to the New York Times Almanac 2009 which we've just bought (and which is possibly the world's nerdiest book) the official animal of Oklahoma is the American buffalo, the floral emblem is mistletoe (nothing if not seasonally appropriate) and the state poem is called 'Howdy Folks'. Any idea how that goes?!
Actually, I think you'll find that I was referring to the song, not the musical itself. The song, as far as I can work out, doesn't have an exclamation mark: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_(song). (What was that you were saying about 'nerdy'?)
Wikipedia lists the 'American bison' as the State mammal. I suppose the NYT ought to be more authoritative, but presumably other contenders for the State animal could include the State bird (Scissortail flycatcher), State fish (sandbass), State insect (honeybee), State reptile (collared lizard) and perhaps, with a certain generosity of spirit, the State fossil (Saurophaganax maximus).
I don't know the poem, but something tells me it's probably better that way.
Somehow I think you're right!
According to our friends at Wikipedia, the American bison is also known as the American buffalo - and its Latin name is Bison bison. So good they named it twice!
I think they are properly bison, but commonly called buffalo.
Oklahoma's also (unfortunately) famous for the Trail of Tears. In that the forced relocation and movement of Native American Indians from their eastern homelands to Indian Territory was present day Oklahoma.
Yes, I learnt about this recently; though I don't think this is a well-known story in the UK, even if it is in the US.
Incidentally, Will Rogers died in... a plane crash. Good idea to name the airport after him... Reminds me of the Saint-Exupery lounge and Icarus bar at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
Aha! Clearly Okies do have a well-refined sense of morbid irony after all... makes you proud to be British!
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