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ThurberMingus · 1840 days ago · link · · parent · post: Anyone ever feel tempted to pronounce "Arkansas" as "Are Kansas" or "Kansas" as "Can Saw" just to mess with people?
Soooo all this is from skimming Wikipedia... Various siouan-language-speaking tribes in the area. Arkansas is the Algonquin name [passed through French] for the Quapaw Nation. Kansas is one spelling of one name of the Kaw nation. Probably also derived through French and Algonquin. Kansas City was founded in the Kansas River of course. I know that KCMO was in the Kansas territory at one point, but it's way too late at night for me to figure out when it ended up on the wrong side of the border. KCK is half a century younger so somewhere in there.