"Rackensack" (=Arkansas) query

[Donald M Lance]

The story behind Pukes = Missourians is that when the lead mines opened up
in northwestern Illinois, lots of somewhat unsavory individuals went up from
Missouri to work there.  Someone said that it seemed as if Missouri had
puked up the worst of its citizens.
DMLance

> From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 10:32:11 -0500
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Rackensack" (=Arkansas) query
>
>> I know nothing about the name, but here's an unabashed WAG (wild-ass
>> guess). It *looks* like a near-anagram of "Arkansas" ....
>
> That was too easy. What about "Puke" = "Missourian"? Or "Sucker" =
> "Illinoisan"? [I presume that neither of these is popular in its home state
> ....] [I also find one instance of "Puke" = "Kentuckian", from quite early
> ... possibly an error, though.]
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>