This message is completely off-topic. But, I was thinking about a post about how the Kansans went for Huck and it occurred to me that while Kansans might be what you call the people from Kansas, I had no idea what to call the people of Wyoming. Are they Wyomingans, the Wyomingese, Wyomingians, Wyomingers? I have no idea. This made me begin to compile a list of states for which I had no idea how to address their denizens en masse. Nevadans? Montanans? What about Connecticut? Or New Hampshire? Don’t even get me started about Massachusetts.
There seem to be three different ways that state names are converted into collective descriptors. The first is simply append an N or an AN to the end of the state name: Ohioan. The second is to add an IAN to the end: Floridian, Californian. The last is to add an -ER to the end: Vermonter, Michigander (no idea where the D comes from).
But the states named above don’t seem to work with those possibilities. New Hampshire in particular is difficult. If you add the -ER to the end, it sounds suspiciously like you’re trying to start an old car in cold weather: New Hampshirer(erererer). (Say it out loud. You’ll see what I mean).
I know that at least one state (mine) is not known by its state name, but by the term Hoosiers. I have never heard any politician attempt to address his “fellow Indianans.” So if Indianians can be be Hoosiers, maybe other states can be addressed by a term other than their state name.
If someone who lives in Maine could tell me how your politicians address you, it would clear up a lot of trouble for me. Because right now, I am inclined to call you Maine-iacs.
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