When I first arrived in Virginia, I continually referred to the prosecutor as the State's Attorney. But I was very quickly corrected. They are not State Attorneys. They are Commonwealth Attorneys. Yes, I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia, not the State of Virginia. You wanna know the difference? I bet you do. Well, there is no damn difference. Virginia decided to remain a Commonwealth. I bet it's because it sounds more prestigious, like "Yes all of you other feeble minded states, you could never compete with a Commonwealth like us...haa haa haa."