Friday, January 24, 2014

Salemites Disco for Trails at Ike Box Tonight

Salemite, get down tonight!

Friday is SATA-day for Salemites and tonight's the Salem Area Trail Alliance benefit at the Ike Box.

Salem Area Trail Alliance
Disco Bingo Night
From 6pm to 9pm they'll be playing bingo, dancing, and raising funds for trail planning and building.  Check the facebook for more on the raffle and the festivities.
And yes, the proper word for those who live in Salem is Salemite!

Over at Salem Weekly, there's a Hinesian suggestion to replace Salemite with Salemian.

No, no, no!

Salemian merges with So-Lame-ian too easily.

Besides, Salemite is well-attested. Here are two examples - one from before Statehood!

Pre-Statehood!  Oregon Argus, August 28, 1858

Front Page:  Capital Journal, April 5, 1907
I realize that the claim isn't that Salemite is not well-attested.  Indeed, Hines admits, "I am not out to rewrite the history books...I recognize that Salemite is part of our city’s heritage."  But he proposes "[f]rom now on the word can be regarded as we look upon a phrase like 'ladies suffering from the vapours' —an archaic reference meriting a smile."

On the contrary, Salemite is far from an archaic word.  It has a well-established usage at least to the mid-19th century, and it extends into common usage today. 

There's no need to change!

Update, June 12th, 2015

Mostly in tweets...

1 comment:

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

It's still Salemite! Updated with more on Salemite.