Now it can be told

For the last 15 months I have been writing a book and it is now finished.

For Christmas 2024, our oldest son and his wife gave me a subscription to Storyworth. I would be sent a question every week for a year and my responses would be made into a book at the end of the year. I did receive 52 questions during 2025 but life got in the way at times and I responded to only 29 of them. I was given another three months to edit and get the book ready for publication, which I did [edit and get the book ready for publication] and on March 29 of this year it was, as I said, finished. It has 158 pages, it is called Stories Of My Life, and there are four hardback copies of it in existence besides the pdf file on my computer.

Perhaps my life will now return to more or less what used to pass for normal. Then again, perhaps it will not, which, of course, is an altogether different kettle of fish from it cannot.

I ended my book with words from The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

not because I am pretentious (the jury is still out, I think) but just because I wanted to and I could because it is in the public domain.

Meanwhile, the world has been going on. Assassinations occur with regularity and for many reasons (Charlie Kirk, the Ayatollah Khomeini), leaders are replaced (goodbye Orban, hello Magyar), straits open and close (Hormuz) and some things never change (Vladimir Putin, Britney Spears, Nancy Pelosi).

Perhaps one result of my having finished my book will be that the number of my blogposts per month will return to former levels. I hope so, but I'm not promising anything. After all, as you may have learned recently, I am 85.

Somewhere someone is rolling his or her eyes and thinking, "There's no fool like an old fool".

Our three little babies are now 61, 60, and 58 and our next wedding anniversary will be our 63rd. Time flies when you're having fun, n'est-ce pas? (and sometimes even when you're not).

The correct answer is oui.

Anyhoo, I'm more or less back and I trust that my vast reading audience is more or less happy about it.

Demonyms 'R' Us

Demonyms have nothing to do with demons, in case you were wondering. According to Merriam-Webster (that's a dictionary), a demonym is "a word (such as Nevadan or Sooner) used to denote a person who inhabits a particular place".

I know that people from London are Londoners and people from Liverpool are Liverpudlians. I know that people in the British Isles are Irish or Scottish or English or Welsh, but what about people who identify with the historic English counties like Yorkshire, Essex, Wessex, and so forth? Maybe Janice or Neil or Rachel can help here.

What are people who live in the various Australian states called? You know, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and so forth. Maybe kylie can help here.

What about the provinces of Canada? British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and so forth. Is Saskatchewanian a word? Maybe Red (Keith) can help here.

The 50 states in the United States cause confusion enough when it comes to demonyms. Some are easy but some make me scratch my head. There is no pattern for choosing -an or -ian as an ending. Do you agree or disagree with the following list? Help me out here:

1. Alabaman or Alabamian?
2. Alaskan
3. Arizonian?
4. Arkansawyer?
5. Californian
6. Coloradoan? Coloradan?
7. Connecticuter? Connecticutsan?, Also Nutmegger
8. Delawarian?
9. Floridian
10. Georgian
11. Hawaiian
12. Idahoan
13. Illinoisan? Illini?
14. Indianan?
15. Iowan
16. Kansan (why not Kansasan or Kansasian or Kansaser or Kansasite?). Also Jayhawker.
17. Kentuckian
18. Louisianan?
19. State of Mainer (no matter how much you like Maniac)
20. Marylander
21. Massachusettsan?, Bay Stater?, Massacusite
22. Michigander (fitting for a male, but shouldn't a female be a Michigoose?)
23. Minnesotan? Minnesotian?
24. Mississippian
25/ Missourian
26. Montanan?
27. Nebraskan. Also Cornhusker.
28. Nevadan
29. New Hampshirian? New Hampshirite?
30. New Jerseyite?
31. New Mexican
32. New Yorker
33. North Carolinian
34. North Dakotan
35. Ohioan
36. Oklahoman. Also Sooner.
37. Oregonian
38. Pennsylvanian
39. Rhode Islander
40. South Carolinian
41. South Dakotan
42. Tennesseean
43. Texan (originally it was Texian, actually)
44. Utahan
45. Vermonter
46. Virginian
47. Washingtonian
48. West Virginian
49. Wisonsinite? Wisconsiners? Also Cheese Heads
50. Wyomingite? Wyominger?

Do you even care? Many don't. As the old saying goes, "I don't care what you call me as long as you don't call me late for dinner."

For those who do care, however, give me your opinions in the comments. Maybe we can reach a consensus.