Someone from Texas is a Texan. Someone from New York is a New Yorker. Someone from from Glasgow is a Glaswegian. Each of these is a one-word designation for a person's geographical origin or current residence. Is there a word-- a noun--that means such one-word designations?
Welcome, Co1827. I sure hope you feel like explaining your
name! I have this tickling and tugging at the edges of my
memory that makes me think I used to know the significance.
Anyway--I just read this week's theme--p'raps your word will appear courtesy of Anu.
sorry to pull this off course a little.
why are people from canada canadians?
what's wrong with canadans?
<what's wrong with canadans?>
.....that they don't come from Canadia, as would be logical?
If people from Manchester are Mancunians what are people from Winchester called?
>>what are people from Winchester called?
Winstons ?
I've also wondered why things relating to a governor are called gubernatorial rather than governorial. They're both weird sounding words.
Wykehamists. Something to do with some bloke called Wykeham. Can't remember now, no doubt someone will know.
I think Wykehamists is the word for people who went to the school rather than people who live there. Similarly I don't think you would refer to someone who lives in Eton as an Etonian.
Bingley
In reply to:
why things relating to a governor are called gubernatorial
They both come from the Latin gubernare (meaning govern would you believe) but by different routes. For more details see: http://www.word-detective.com/061300.html#gubernatorial
Bingley
I'm originally from Connecticut. I guess the word authorities really wrestled with that for a century or two. CT is the Constitution State or the Nutmeg state. We are called Nutmeggers and I used to know why just as I used to know the name for the term being sought here.
Most of us just say "I'm from Connecticut."
My schoolboy Latin tells me that gubernare was also to steer or navigate as in a ship
Brewer says: Wykehamist. A member of Winchester College, past or present, which was founded in 1378 by William of Wykeham (1324-1404), Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He also founded New College, Oxford, and was born at Wickham in Hampshire.
> Someone from Texas is a Texan.
Interestingly, there was a fierce debate in the middle of the 19th century over whether people from Texas would call themselves Texans or Texians. Apparently Texan won. My historian friend from Texas says that occasionally you will hear the term Texian but most Texans would reject it.
I have heard it said that women from Michigan are Michigeese because men are Michiganders. But I have no idea what the generic word is for these designations, though I assume there is one.
>f people from Manchester are Mancunians what are people from Winchester called?
Well, the boys are Colts.
>If people from Manchester are Mancunians what are people from Winchester called?
But the most famous guy from Winchester simply called himself "The Virginian"
>I have no idea what the generic word is for these designations, though I assume there is one.
okay, I can't keep this to myself any longer. terms such as Nutmeggers and Hoosiers are called "nicknames" and the others such as Mancunians and Texans are called "sobriquets".
anyone know where "taswegian" for "tasmaninan" comes from?
* Origin of Taswegian [ZS]
Tasway n, {Colloq.} Tasmania [backformation from TASWEGIAN by analogy
with {Norwegian} adj, from {Norway}
Taswegian n -> Tasmanian [TAS(MANIAN) + {-wegian} (by analogy with
{Norwegian, Glaswegian,} etc.)]
{from soc.culture.australian FAQ}
just noticed my sp. error,
anyway... never heard of "tasway"! amazing.
does that mean taswegian came before tasway?
never cease to amaze will language!
In reply to:
terms such as Nutmeggers and Hoosiers are called "nicknames" and the others such as Mancunians and Texans are called "sobriquets".
I think we need something more specific. Since nobody has come up with anything, why don't we coin the expression "adjectival toponyms" for them? I did think of toponymic adjectives but decided that would probably be adjectives used in place names such as High Wycombe and New Zealand .
Bingley
apologies, tsuwm, I read your post in another thread before seeing your post in this thread which answers my question about Taswegians. Life can get complicated sometimes, especially just before midnight!
>I think we need something more specific.
hey! you didn't quote my wink, indicating that it was "just a joke", from which it could be inferred that I actually don't know this one!
>>Life can get complicated sometimes, especially just before midnight!
paulb,
it gets better after midnight.
not for me, william -- after midnight my mouse turns into a pumpkin!
>after midnight my mouse turns into a pumpkin!
Then there's the modern day Cinderella. At midnight she turns into a motel.
<At midnight she turns into a motel.>
And a whole host of foot-fetishists keep knocking on her door with transparent [or fur, if you pre-fur!] slippers!
>>
<At midnight she turns into a motel.>>>
And a whole host of foot-fetishists keep knocking on her door with transparent [or fur, if you pre-fur!] slippers!Yep--heading straight for the gutter again!
Well, it's never far from your feet, is it?
Bingley
we're all of us lying in the gutter ....but are some of us are looking at the stars
Given how prone to the gutter this board is, we wouldn't be able to see the stars.
Bingley
Haven't you two ever heard the expression,
"Her head may be in the stars, but her feet are firmly
planted in the gutter"?
>I think Wykehamists is the word for people who went to the school
Quite correct - named after a clerical gentleman of that name. He was, I believe, a headmaster of some repute. (He left before my day)
A resident of the town, rather than the school would be called, I suppose, a Wincastrian. "Caster" and "Chester" are interchangeable, meaning "castle"- usually denotes a town where there was a Roman fort in the good old days of the Empire.
However, people from Newcastle are not New castrians - they are Geordies.
>>
people from Newcastle are not New castriansOld or New--"castrian" sounds painful.
> Old or New--"castrian" sounds painful
When I moved from Northampton to Lancaster, I changed from being a "Northamptonian" (there we go again, - why not "Northamptonan"? I guess because it doesn't roll off the tongue so easily.) to become a "Lancastrian." The only pain I remember was that associated with removal from the scenes to which one had become accustomed to those less familiar. Certainly, it has not caused me to sing alto, which, given my voice, is probably just as well ---