I’ve been fairly quiet for the last couple of months, mostly due to the fact that I have returned to work after being away on maternity leave and I don’t have as much time to devote to writing for my blog as I used to. I’ve also been quiet during a recent debate regarding which is the correct term to call a citizen of Lethbridge, a Lethbian or Lethbridgian. It’s been covered on the local TV news, and polls have been done by local radio stations and print media, but a clear winner never really emerges.
Being that my my blog includes the term Lethbridgian, I felt that I should explain my reason for picking it over Lethbian, Lethbridgite, and other demonyms.
When I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I knew that I wanted to use the official name of a citizen of Lethbridge, but I really didn’t know what that was at that time or if one even existed. I decided to do some Google-Fu to find the answer only to find about a handful of articles scattered around the Internet that reference the word Lethbridgian. One article I remember reading was a Wikipedia entry on Lethbridge-West MLA Greg Weadick. I decided that Lethbridgian sounded pretty legit, so I went with it and registered my blog.
A few years later, while taking photos for a blog post I was planning to write about the Lethbridge wind gauge, I found this plaque on the side of it.
The “a Lethbridgian considers it” part was what sold me, even though the plaque is meant to be humourous.
Lastly, I am a big fan of consistency. If a citizen of Edmonton is an Edmontonian, and a citizen of Calgary is a Calgarian, then naturally, a citizen of Lethbridge is a Lethbridgian.
Now, even though I consider myself a Lethbridgian and am passionate about the moniker, I know that technically there isn’t an official term, but I am going to continue using it proudly and regularly, and continue on my merry little Lethbridgian way.
