‘Wednesday |

7 by Fa Noor oe

"What's In aname

‘accent. But’ what.are we people

‘of Terrace called?

To the world, of course, we

ate Canadians — crazy ..

Canucks living in the Great |
White North, And to Canada -
we are, ah — what’s out. there
on the west coast? Right, °

“British Columbians. Regional-

ly, we.call ourselves Pacific
Northwesterners. And the kids

divide themselves into Townies
and Thornies.

-Do we Terrace dwellers have
a name we caf declare to the
world?

In the current issue. of Cana-

‘dian Geographic. magazine,

Alan Rayburn has a bit of fun
‘with what we various Cana-

_’ dians call ourselves. Our fellow
Canadiens use the term gentile*
-(jawh-tee-lay) to describe

“‘residents of a geographically
defined place’. —

_ If you came to Terrace from
one of our major metropolises -
you were probably a Mon-
trealer (or Montrealais), Toron-
tonian, Winnipegger, Edmon-
tonian or Vancouverite. I am a
former Lotus Lander myself:.

‘How do we come up with

these terms? According to Alan

Rayburn, there are rules.
(There are always rules.) He ex-
plains five different ways to
form gentile’in English.
Applying these rules, perhaps
we can determine the gentile“
for some of our surrounding

neighbors. Why not for us too?
‘You’ ll find out,

_ How do we begin? “The
final syllable of the source
name usually provides a clue’’,
Rayburn says, which will deter-
mine whether it should end
with ”, ian, onian, ite, or er. -

“Rule #1: Use an if the name
ends with a or ia. This gives us
Kelonan, Victorian, — Kit-
wangan?

Rule #2: Use onian if the’
place name ends with ton, This
results in residents calling
‘themselves Fredricktonians,
Saskatonians, — and Hazel- -

“ tonians?

Rule #3: Use ian, ite or er if
the name ends with a conso-
nant or silent vowel. But here
we need to exercise caution, as
in the case of a place name en-
ding. with ville. The rule ap-
plied would suggest dropping

- the final e and adding ian,
“which would give us villian.
‘This is fine, except that — two
letters ‘accidentally switched

’ would give us instead villain.

‘Much safer to call’ the people

. We know that a Haligonian

hails: from Halifax: And a Hat- ©

ter inhabits Medicine Hat. A -
Newfie by any other name

: would stili have his’ delightful’

of Greenville — Greenvillers: «

Where i ian can be safely used is -
with Calgarians; Port Ed-. =
_. wardians, and perhaps: Ross-

woodians, _ oe
__ If you are visiting from the...
. Island, perhaps you are a.

Nanaimoite. Applying this suf-
fix locally we-could comed up |

= : with Kemanoite and Stewartite.

The suffix er is more flexi-

_ ble, and more common.. We

can find ‘Saint Johners, Lon-

- doners, Flin Flonners, Yellow-

knifers. How about Cedar--
valers, Kitwancoolers, Kiti-
matters, Lakelsers...

But sometimes the rules just -

can’t be applied. What do you
' call someone from Moose

Jaw??? Or a temporary resi-
dent at Cranberry Junction?
When the rules don’t fit the
name, you can have fun, Even
when the fules do fit: Residents
of Thunder Bay call themselves
Lakeheaders. The people of

P.E.1. are affectionately known -

as Spud Islanders. Uskovite,
don’t you think, sounds much -
more interesting than Usker or
Uskite?

Across the border from
Stewart, might we meet a

Hyderizer??? (Canadian gentile

rules do not apply in the U.S.
anyway.)

. “Many people are not above
compésing humorous geniiles’’,
Mr. Rayburn says, for their
own places. He mentions two.

of the best: Smithereens and
Terracites.
But I have heard it taken one:

step further. In the Yukon, for
example, asurvivor from
winter freeze-up to spring

_. break-up is considered a Sour-

dough, a name worn like a .
badge. The rest are just Chee- —

_chakos (the equivalent of a

greenhorn). And like the
Yukon, which spawned this dis-
tinction between its citizens, —
this great Pacific Northwest

also has similar seasons: early-
_ winter, winter, late winter, and
~ tourist season. I have heard it

said that those hardy souls —
among us who survive the
snowing and the blowing are
true Terracites. The word even

implies the sound of tenacity,

don’t you think? And those

’ who seasonally inhabit the

banks of the Skeena are known
as Terrarists (not to be confus-

ed with terrorists — see rule
-#3). What is implied here, and

hopefully understood, is
welcomeniess.
. Whether a Townie ora

* Thornie, a Terracite or a Ter-

rarist, we fellow Terrans share |
the most beautiful spot on
Earth. +

[BC's SECRET

‘AGAINST.

-DAINKING
DRIVERS |":.
dru, toe, enon Bd
direction ws going.

. mua Gi). amen
re ee

New. superintendent t takes 5 over :

Northwest ambulance service”

- TERRACE — Gerry Parrott has
-. been tiamed as the'new-Superin-:
- tendant for the B.C. Ambulance’
_y Service in regions six and seven.
“|. ° Working out
\.. Health Unit office in Terrace,

of his Skeena

Parrott is responsible for the

budgeting and fiscal control of

- all» ambulance services in the
_northwestern part of the prov-
ince. from’ Vanderhoof to the
Charlottes and from Kitimat to

. the Yukon border. _.
He replaces John Heavener,
who has been promoted and

now works in Victoria in the

- B.C. Ambulance Service Inspec-

- tions Services. °

Parrot began his career in the

Lower Mainland as a part-time

member .of the Metropolitan

‘Ambulance Service Reserves in
1969. During his two years in the
Reserves, Parrott received train-
ing in basic ambulance skills and

in May of 1971 he accepted. a

full-time driver/attendant posi-
tion with the Richmond Am-
bulance Service.

In. 1973 he transferred to
Richmond Ambulance’s recent-
ly acquired Anderson. Funeral
‘and Ambulance Service in Lang-
ley and managed the ambulance
portion of the business. His
duties included the operation of
the Langley service, making re-
quests to the municipal council
for operating grants, and the

Maintenance of the employee
_ payroll for ambulance services

in Richmond and Ladner as well

as.in Langley. Parrott worked.

with one other full-time em-
ployee in Langley on an on-
duty/on-call shift of seven days
a week, 24 hours a day,.with on-
ly an occasional break for the
next.two years.

Parrott took on a new. chal-
lenge in 1974 when he assisted
Carson Smith, the original
owner of the Metropolitan Am-

bulance Service in Vancouver,”

by gathering and correlating in-
formation relative to the govern-
ment’s Emergency Health Ser-
vices takeover of all ambulance

- services in the province in 1975.

With that takeover, six men
were added to the Langley staff
and Parrott was reponsible. to
find quarters for the service as

well as to organize working
‘schedules and procure needed

equipment and supplies.
“In 1976 Parrott transferred to

the ambulance service in Ab-

botsford and two years later was

promoted to Unit Chief there. -
Parrott transferred to Kelowna
_in 1981 where he worked as Unit

Chief of a nine-member am-
bulance service. While in
Kelowna, Parrott graduated
from the Advanced Life Support
program and later assisted in the
setting up of a Regional
Dispatch _Centre. He then
transferred as the Unit Chief of

the Salt Spring Island am-
‘bulance service, prior to moving

ever before.

We're seeing more accidents
, Caused by excessive speed than

_Younwgcarrouce

POLICE ARE WATCHING FOR SPEEDERS.

enforcement in your area from
August 26th until September 8th.

And those accidents touch the

_ livesof people all over the province.
_ Inaneffort to curb speeders,

; local police will bei increasing :

Gerry Parrott

to Terrace.

Parrott was born and taised i in

. the Vancouver area, and follow-
ing graduation from West Van-

couver Senior Secondary School
he enrolled in Business Adminis-
tration courses at Capilano Col-
lege. |

Moving to Terrace with him

are wife Dawn and their two.

children, 12-year-old Jim and
10-year-old Charlene.

Parrott’s hobbies include
photography and computers,
and he and his wife have also
been involved with the Scouting
and Guiding movements in the
past. ,

il
me ICBC ©

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