which reminds me...

[darth vader]

why DO americans quote Washington DC as 'Washington DC' and not simply 'Washington'?

[KEJ2000]

Well, since I live there (here) I had better know the answer!!!! The reason is so as not to confuse this place, the capital city, with the state, Washington. Washington, D.C. and Washington the state are two very different places located in different regions of the United States. The state is located in the northwest corner of the USA, south of British Columbia, north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean! The capital city, however, is located in the east, in-between Maryland and Virginia. People who live in the District of Columbia refer to this place (which, by the way, is officially a "district" and neither a city nor a state, though it has some legal/governmental characteristics of both) as either just "D.C." or "The District". If I said "Washington" to someone else who lived here, they would reply, "You mean, the state?" I hope this helps! If not, ask and I will add more. :-)

[Pickle]

Hi KEJ2000, I second that. I lived and worked in DC until just recently and soon learned never to call it just 'Washington' as Washingtonians would immediately explain at length why not to do that. I did wonder why Washingtonians was OK though. Surely you could still mean someone from Washington State.

[KEJ2000]

Hi Pickle!! I would love to chat with you, if you know of a good place!!! You are absolutely right that (somehow) "Washingtonians" is still proper. I thought of a few possible reasons why: (1) It sounds better than "Dee-Cee-ers" or "Districters". (2) From the context of the sentence in which it is used, it is usually easy to guess the group of people to whom one is referring. It is most often used when distinguishing amongst those who live in D.C. and their very close neighbors, the Marylanders and the Virginians. (3) There isn't much reason to group residents of the state of Washington together-- since they are indistinguishable from the other inhabitants of the "Pacific Northwest" region of North America. In contrast, residents of D.C. are truly a "breed of their own" (not necessarily meant as a compliment!!!), practically living on their own planet. They have their own unique concerns. As just one example, they are the only U.S. citizens who must pay all federal taxes, yet do not have any elected representatives in Congress, and thus have no "voice" [votes] towards how their tax dollars will be spent!!! (4) Washington, District of Columbia was "around" first, having been founded in the late 1700s. Washington state wasn't so 'christened' until 1889. By that time, the term "Washingtonians," meaning residents of the nation's capital, had long since become commonplace. Some old habits die hard! P.S.-- It's true, we have no star on the flag!!!

[bagel]

Because if we don't, stupid people get confused and think we are talking about the state of Washington