A FRANKFURTER, ANYONE?

BY DAN MILLER
May 16, 2006

Would a person who lives in Frankfort, Kentucky be referred to as a "Frankfurter"?

That's the question someone asked me the other day.
I said I didn't know.

Wanting an answer, I did the obvious.... I called a TV newsroom in Kentucky and asked the guy who answered the phone how citizens of Frankfort refer to themselves.
"Idiots", he said, then laughed heartily.

He then explained.... (and I think he's wrong on this).... that, in Frankfort, they don't have a word (known as a demonym) to describe the people of their fair city.
He said they just call themselves "Kentuckians".

If that's true, it is highly unusual -- because there's a demonym for the residents of most cities, states and countries.
And it's usually easy and logical....

In Nashville, we're Nashvillians....
Folks in Memphis are Memphians (I think)....
In Atlanta, they're Atlantans....
In New York, you'll find New Yorkers....
Chicago is inhabited by Chicagoans....
And in Los Angeles, they refer to themselves as Angelenos.

But some are not so easy.
In Hamburg, Germany.... are they Hamburgers? I don't know.
And even close to home, I'm puzzled.... Are folks in Ashland City.... Ashlanders??
And are those in Charlotte known as Charlottans?

How 'bout Red Boiling Springs? Please don't tell me they call themselves "Red Boils".

The following are names of real towns.
Just let your imagination run wild.... you'll come up with funnier demonyms than I could possibly get away with writing.

Hooker, Arkansas
Square Butt, Montana
Tightwad, Missouri
Hicksville, New York
Camel Hump, Wyoming
Goobertown, Arizona
Intercourse, Pennsylvania
Idiotville, Oregon
Big Ugly, West Virginia
Bucksnort, Tennessee

And maybe the best of all.... Sugar Tit, South Carolina.
What could possibly be the descriptive word for the good people of Sugar Tit?
Let's don't even go there.

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