Tag Archives: place names

What’s in a Name’s Ending?


Have you ever wondered why we say Californian and Bostonian, but then say New Yorker, Londoner and Midwesterner? A friend recently used the term Kendallites to refer to habitues of Kendall Square, Cambridge MA. I understood perfectly what he meant … Continue reading

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Place Names


It has long been observed that the words for places tend to survive a long time; even when much of the lexicon of a language has otherwise changed or been replaced. Even when one group of people conquers another, the … Continue reading

Posted in names, social context of language | Tagged , | 3 Comments