My State Is Soooo Small...

My State Is Soooo Small...

Whenever I travel around the country to make a presentation or give a seminar, I find that people have no concept of the size of Rhode Island. For instance, they can’t believe that in the entire state there is only one NBC television station, while other states may have five to ten, depending on how many metropolitan areas their state has. So when describing Rhode Island, I say it’s about the size of an Australian sheep farm. Of course, most people don't know how big a sheep farm is, so they still don’t get it. All they can visualize is sheep manure stretched from here to the horizon.
—FindRI.com, "Local color; size does matter," by Michael A. Sisti, April 12, 2004.

Despite all the controversy, [Julie] Pizzi said yesterday she thinks the show [Real World/Road Rules Challenge] would raise Rhode Island's profile across the country. When she went to get a California drivers license, she said, the woman at the counter would not accept her Rhode Island license. "The lady in California did not know Rhode Island was a state," Pizzi said.
Providence Journal, "MTV hopes to survive vote on island," by Jenny Holland, June 26, 2003.

For its size, Rhode Island provides tremendous entertainment value. Then again, so did Dudley Moore. That doesn't mean you'd want them at a dinner party.
—holecity.com, "Five States With Room For Tourism Growth," by Emil Gam, August 12-18, 2002.

Isn't it about time Rhode Island was known for being something more than just a unit of measurement, as in a forest fire or an oil spill, "the size of Rhode Island?"
Newport This Week, "Heritage Harbor Museum—Very Much Alive," by Albert T. Klyberg, April 26, 2001.

Look at the way it cringes there, occupying a sliver of land so inconsequential that the names of its cities and towns have to be entered vertically on the map. It is foolish for something so microscopic to go around posing as a state. Anyone who has ever been there knows what I mean. You drive into Rhode Island, nod off for 10 or 20 minutes or embark on an interesting conversation and—zap—you're in Massachusetts. You're out of the place before you can settle into it. Flying over Little Rhody is absurdity itself; you can traverse it in the middle of a sentence.
Smithsonian Magazine, "Good-bye, Rhode Island," by Donald Dale Jackson, January 2000.

Last Edited
2022-11-02