What do you call a person who resides in Hazard? A what?Take a person from Lexington, for instance. He's called a Lexingtonian. Or one from Louisville is a Louisvillian. But what about a person from Hazard? What is his or her designation?
We remember hearing Grover Wilson, R.T. Whittinghill, Willis Reeves and others discuss the subject at length on a number of occasions. But, so far as we are able to learn, no definite conclusion was ever reached.
Our tireless research reveals that there is no authority which can be completely relied upon to furnish the answer to this problem. In fact, we are even more confused now than when we started. So, we've decided to ask the Hazard Blog readers to help decide the issue once and for all.
To give you the benefit of our efforts, the following designations have been offered by various and sundry individuals:
Hazardonian (pronounced Haz-ard-don'ian with a long "o") seems to have the greatest following. The proponents of this term claim it has dignity and a pleasing sound as well. We seem to remember a school paper at HHS some years back called the Hazardonian or was it the year book?
Hazardian (pronounced Haz-ard-'ian) is liked in some quarters but it seems a little harsh to us. The emphasis in this particular label is on the "zard" as in "hard."
Hazardite has a smattering of followers and numerous critics.
Anyway, those are the suggestions which have been offered to us. Maybe you know of still others. So, we'll await your verdict. Do you want to be called a Hazardonian, a Hazardian, a Hazardite or something else? Let us know and while you're at it, tell us why you like your particular choice. 1954
I was dubbed a "Hazardite" when I was visiting a drugstore in California and found out the man behind the counter could name all the small communities of Perry County. He said, "So you are a Hazardite?" and that has always been my way of saying that I am from Hazard.
ReplyDeleteThere is a department store down here that is paying big bucks for some ads and I really like it and they ask that you come in and become a "...nista" So saying that I might be a Hazardnista. Hee Hee Hee