BLAME IT ON REBA!

I was online looking for a map for the state of New England today. I used Google Maps and it pointed to an area just south of Boston. I thought to myself "gee, New England must be so small because it's not even on the map." Since the map wasn't giving me the information I was looking for, I decided to Wiki New England.

I was quite a surprised and a little mortified to learn that there is NO state by that name.

Evidently, the term "New England" is used to reference those states in the upper right hand corner of the map. As stated by Wikipedia, New England is a region of the United States located in the northeastern corner of the country, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and New York state and consisting of the modern states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

What about the "New England Patriots"? Or New England Clam Chowder? or Reba McIntyre's song "Whoever's in New England" which has the following verse:

"When whoever's in New England is through with you
And Boston finds better things to do
You know its not too late 'cause you'll always have a place to go
When whoever's in New England's through with you"

Which leads me to ponder.....
If Boston is in Massachusetts and Massachusetts is part of New England, then it's all Reba's fault for my geographical snafu!