State Quiz - Illinois

Since I'm not from around these parts, could someone please explain the Peoria clue?

It became a popular phrase during the era of Vaudeville. It's not necessarily whether or not it will be any good, but whether it will appeal to dull, mainstream Americans. Supposedly if they like it, anyone will like it.

"Will it play in this city?" All I could think of is the World Series and NO.

Nothing about the Sucker State?

Sucker? I hardly know her!

I'm from illinois and i don't even know some of these lol

Same

I'm not from Illinois and I knew more than I thought I would.

Didn't know the sitcom....I don't watch much traditional network TV

Maybe you could add a question about the four governors who were sentenced to prison in a span of less than 40 years. Good times. Also, the official state nickname is actually the Prairie State. Nobody calls it that though...

I'm not sure they CAN cut taxes very much. It's literally in the Illinois state constitution that they can't reduce pensions for state, local government, or school district workers, and the Illinois Supreme Court upholds that pretty strongly. So between the fact it would require a constitutional amendment to even make it possible to address their pension crisis, and the fact that voters shot down a progressive tax rate that would have at least helped some, the Illinois government's hands are pretty well tied on this.

Everyone calls it that here in Illinois

I was about to disagree, as I also live in Illinois, but it occurs to me I've spent the last eight years in Chicago, where nobody discusses Illinois as a state, and all my experience before that was in the northeast. So I should say...everybody in the northeast calls it "the Land of Lincoln" and nobody in Chicago seems to call it anything because we're transfixed with our tiny little world here.

Land of Lincoln was on the license plates for many years. Living in Missouri I saw a lot of Illinois plates.

Charles Dickens pronounced Cairo a "dismal swamp". 150 years later, it looked the same to me.

The Army Corps of Engineers considered Cairo, population 3000, important enough to blow the Bird's Point Mississippi River levee in 2011 which flooded out 130,000+ acres of the richest farmland in Missouri and over 100 homes plus grain bins and outbuildings. I suppose it all depended on the perspective of which side of the levee you were on, but they wiped out a lot of valuable property because of a likelihood - but not certainty - the levees would be breached around Cairo. I had compassion for the fears of the people of Cairo, too, but they had the Corps to protect them. We live 60 miles from Cairo beyond a ridge and the blast rattled windows here. The conspiracy theories were that the Corps knows they will eventually lose the battle with the weather for the southern Miss. River ports, and they want to someday build a new major port at Cairo, situated at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi. Who knows? I only know I wept that night for what those farm families went through.

I think KAY-roe is a more accurate pronunciation. Practically a ghost town.

Grew up near the town. Heard it pronounced both ways. But it's never "ki-ro" like the city in Egypt. Southern Illinois is nicknamed Little Egypt, so hence the name. Always found it strange, being at the confluence of two major rivers (Mississippi & Ohio), that it never really grew. Though in the mid-19th century it was bustling.

I knew that one because of American Gods!

Guessed penitentiary...ugh!

why is northwest just accepted for northwestern

I agree that the full name should be required

"The Conners" should be accepted for the sitcom question.

Agreed. It is set in Lanford and lord knows they haven't moved up in stature in the new series.

Only one I missed was Sue. Didn't know what that was. One of my guesses was dinosaur so I was close.

I remember reading somewhere it was a dinosaur, but when I tried that it didn't work so I moved on. Looking back, I see that species was the important word in the clue I missed.

66 worked for me. No Rte or anything like that.

i dont know why but i tried to be the fastest to comment once making an account i got 1 hour, 17 minutes

Cairo is pronounced both Cay-roe and Kair-oe all over this area - but never Kye-roe.

Come check out this quiz I made! This is my first quiz, and I would really appreciate it if you checked out my quiz! https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1372750/30-most-populated-cities-in-illinois

I miraculously guessed "Peoria" right on the first try. I've never heard that figure of speech.