Some people eat, sleep and chew gum, I do genealogy and write...

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Oh dear, I almost forgot Demonyms

Thanks to Nathan Murphy for broaching the subject of demonyms (rhymes with M&Ms) in his recent blog post entitled simply, Demonyms. He gave the following definition of the subject which falls into the same category as animal congregations and such.

The term "demonym," rarely used outside of geography, is "the name used for the people who live in a particular country, state, or other locality." (Dictionary.com)
In my drive to appear as politically correct as possible and offend the least number of people possible (get real) I appreciate the reminder that I may have stepped on the collective toes of some group or another at some undefined time in the past when I referred to them by reference to their national origin.

Notwithstanding all of my previous faux pas (now what is the plural form of faux pas?) I am now on notice of the need to tighten my standards yet another notch and try not to be so obdurate in the future. And now that I am an old time Mesan or Arizonian (Arizonan? Zonian? Zonan? Zoned? Arizonded?) I will try much harder in the future to avoid the subject altogether by referring to everyone as" those guys from..."

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