I’m not picking on New Hampshire. I never even been there. But I have seen the license plates with the kick ass “Live Free Or Die” motto.
It’s probably the most hard-assed state motto of the lot. Certainly nothing boring like “Show Me State” (whatever that means).
I once had a “Skate or Die” shirt when I was kid. I didn’t really mean it.
My biggest complaint about “Live Free Or Die” is that if you really think about, it’s kind of like giving up. Sure, “Live Free Or Die” and you’re bound to go out in a blaze of glory, but at the least, it’s pretty pessimistic. “Live Free Or Die” takes any kind of lasting struggle to make a real change in the way you’re governed out of the picture.
You can be hard-assed with your state motto and be positive about the whole thing. Look at Virginia - “Sic Semper Tyrannis”. Yes, nobody knows what the hell it means unless they speak latin. I prefer the mis-intrepetation of the motto myself, “Death Unto Tyrants” instead of the actual “Thus Always To Tyrants”, but it’s still pretty hard-assed without giving up on things.
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It’s part of a famous quote by John Stark, a soldier from New Hampshire who fought in the revolutionary war. The full quote is “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” This is the wikipedia page about it. I equate this to a quote from Magneto in an old X-Men game for the Sega Genesis. “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” I think Stark and Magneto both had in mind that one should only die striving for what is right.
Id rather die standing on my own two feet then live crawling on my belly to the whim of another man!
Mark on September 13th, 2007 at 2:37 pm | Link
How do you think the prisoners in NH stamping out the plates feel?
The Virginia motto is only understandable if you are familiar with the Seal of the Commonwealth. It’s a woman (presumably personifying Liberty ) stomping on a deposed king, symbolized by the crown lying next to the body.
Grendel on September 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am | Link
See this picture for further info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Virginia.svg
Grendel on September 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am | Link
They prolly feel like duh!!! I shouldn’t dun that!!!!!!!
The prisoners in NH that is!
Mark on September 21st, 2007 at 3:28 pm | Link