Maine Voted “State Most Likely To Be Cold” In Online Poll

In the midst of a brutal Summer heat wave that has melted candy and gingerbread houses in Bangor, an online poll has named Maine “The State Most Likely To Be Cold”.

Conducted by AAA (The American Automobile Association, not Angry Alocoholics Anonymous…I can only imagine the confusion when the member of one group accidentally calls the toll free line number of the other!), the survey had over 250,000 participants, and Maine was the landslide winner in this category.

“We were surprised,” said a spokesperson from the Maine Tourism Board, who spoke to this Modern Philosopher under the condition of anonymity.  “Alaska has won that one every year since the award’s inception.  It’s not that we’re not excited about winning, but we would prefer that Maine be associated with a more tourism friendly honor.”

That made sense, so I asked my source at AAA how Maine fared in other areas of voting.  “Maine didn’t finish in the top three of any other categories,” she told me after skimming through her records.  “We did have a word association question for every state, though, and I could let you know what the top three answers were for Maine.”

That sounded perfect, so I told her I would love to hear the top three replies.  “Please tell us the first word that comes to mind when you think of Maine,” she read the question aloud for me.  “The number one answer was lobster, number two was lighthouses, and number three was a tie between white, frostbite, and blizzard.”

Whoa!  White?  I wondered if that was a racist answer, or just another comment about all the snow.  Either way, I knew it would not please my source at the Maine Tourism Board (even if it was the truth!).   I thanked the AAA lady and decided to not push my luck with any other questions.

It’s always interesting to find out what other people think about my home state.  It had been my hope that writing this blog would help get out the word that Maine is a magical and wonderful place that people would be clamoring to visit.

Apparently, I’m not doing a good enough job of getting my message out there.  Guess I’m just going to have to work harder.

What about you, Modern Philosophers?  If you had to give Maine an award, which one would you choose?  What word first comes to mind when you think of Maine?  Could you please tell your friends Maine is a nice place?