In the Doghouse Over Outhouse
Alaska is represented by an igloo, California by a cable car and Kentucky by a horse. But West Virginia’s symbol didn’t go down as well.
A Kentucky software maker uses graphics to symbolize each of the 50 states in a software program to be used by students for illustrations. Under protest, it has agreed to throw out its West Virginia emblem: an outhouse.
State Sen. Sondra Lucht said this week that she bought the Coopergraphics program Images at a Martinsburg computer store.
“It had all these symbols for the states,” she said. “When I got down to West Virginia, I was irate.”
She said she tracked down company owner Jim Cooper, who said he didn’t intend to offend West Virginians and got the idea during a trip through the state.
“At every gift shop, they had hordes of these ceramic outhouses,” Cooper said. An outhouse, he thought, would make a good “tongue-in-cheek” symbol.
Cooper said he is upgrading the program and will probably use a cardinal, the state bird, as West Virginia’s symbol.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
