Countdown to The Census: Arkansas & Kansas

Two state names, Arkansas and Kansas, share all but two letters in the exactly the same order. So why do we pronounce them differently?

We can thank the French. Arkansas was named for the French plural of a Native American tribe, while Kansas is the English spelling of a similar one. Since the letter “s” at the end of French words is usually silent, we pronounce Bill Clinton’s home state “Arkansaw.” Business Insider

Wether you say “Our”Kansas or “arrr”kansas or ARkanSAW they still count.  We will be talking about Arkansas and Kansas.