Napoleon Dynamite. McLovin. Steve Urkel.
What do these characters have in common? The pocket protector? The calculator in the pocket? The best grade point average in high school?
They’re all nerds.
A Jan. 24 post on the blog pleated-jeans.com rated Ohio the “Nerdiest State” in the United States. It compiled a list titled, “The United States of Shame: What is your state the worst at?,” which highlighted one thing each state in the U.S., well, sucked at.
Lamonte Hose, a fifth-year in political science, said he is surprised by the blog’s claim.
“Ohio is basically a sample of the rest of the U.S.,” Hose said. “I tend to disagree with that claim.”
Arguably across the entire list of states, Ohio’s “worst feature” is the only one that can be taken as a compliment. North Dakotans certainly aren’t bragging about their claim to fame: “Ugliest Residents.”
And who knows what really goes on in Washington? Keep your animals away from them, as Washington has the biggest “Beastiality” problem.
Some, like Washington and North Dakota are puzzling, but others make more sense. New York has the worst “Daily Commute,” hardly surprising with traffic and commuters going to and from New York City. California is mentioned as having the worst “Air Pollution” problem. Nothing ground-breaking there.
Maine was dubbed the “Dumbest State.” Colorado has the biggest “Cocaine Use” problem. Florida has the biggest “Identity Theft” problem.
Kentucky has the most “Cancer Deaths” per capita, with 277 per 100,000 people. Kentucky also has the highest smoking prevalence, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
The blog uses a statistic, scholarly or not, to back up each claim. For example, Ohio received “Nerdiest State” because its population makes the most library visits per capita.
According to StateMaster.com, Ohio has 6.9 visits to the library per capita, almost five more than the bottom of the scale, Delaware and Alabama.
Matthew Frahry, a first-year in biology, was excited to hear that Ohio was named the “Nerdiest State.”
“It’s great people want to go to the library to learn,” Frahry said. He said other than going to Ohio State’s libraries to study, he doesn’t go to many libraries.
This story’s original content contained a factual error.
Correction: Feb. 23, 2011
The Lantern reported “The United States of Shame: What is your state the worst at,” was from Time Magazine. In fact, the post is from the blog pleated-jeans.com
