h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The first thing in a Michelin guide in an entry on any town is (in brackets and in italics) what the inhabitants of the town are known as. Some of them are way obscure.

Given that the names of Essex, Sussex, etc. come from the Saxons, I suspect I should be called a native-raised Essexon, or possibly Essexan.

I think my starting contention would be that if people don't actually know or use the names, then they can't be considered to have names.

It's a bit like all those so-called collective nouns - a parliament of owls; a murmuration of starlings; a wunch of financial executives - that (I contend) are only *ever* used in lists of collective nouns.

Knowing what the collective nouns are for things is like knowing which fork you use for your avocado, imo.

The origins of those go back to the Middle Ages. Language was far more florid then, and I'm sure many of these collective nouns were devised with comic intent. These days we call it a meme.

I think MMF was writing an entry on them. I remember sending him some material.

I've just learned what these words are called: demonyms.