IllinoiSSS

I am from the great state of Illinois. Although I am from the IL, I attended the University of Oklahoma for undergrad. I loved almost everything about OU. BUT, there are 2 things will always extremely annoy me when I think about all the Okies I met. 

#2: From the moment I stepped foot on OU's campus, when told I was from Illinois, EVERY single person replied, "Oh, Chicago?" I don't mean this to be disrespectful of Chicago. I love Chicago, it is one of my favorite cities, but come on. It's not that big of a deal, but it can get annoying explaining that I'm from a small town around Springfield. Oh, nevermind, you've never heard of Springfield either. Okay, It's closer to St. Louis than Chicago... How's that?

I want to preface this by saying this annoyed me WAY more than #2.

#1. I always assumed that it was common knowledge that the S in Illinois is silent.... Apparently not. I literally heard IllinoiSSS once a week. I cannot understand this. Are you not taught United States Geography in Elementary School? I always think of the "50 Nifty United States" song. I'm pretty sure I knew all of the proper pronunciations of all 50 states and their capitals (I was in the Geography Bowl) by the time I was in 3rd or 4th grade. 

How uneducated do you have to be? A scarier thought.... Are elementary teachers in Oklahoma and Texas (OU is 60% Texans) actually teaching IllinoiSSS as the actual pronunciation of Illinois? That can't be good.