A resident of Provo?

[Mark A Mandel]

On Thu, 3 Jan 2002, Greg Pulliam wrote:

#Would that it were Provolone.

        [David B]
#>>I figure that *somebody* on this list may know this one.
#>>
#>>I am in need of the one-word term for a resident of Provo (the town in Utah
#>>where Brigham Young University is located). Since i work in Provo, i figured
#>>i could just informally ask some natives of Provo what they call themselves,
#>>but i've gotten conflicting answers from them. So far i've gotten
#>>(approximately in order of descending frequency): Provoan, Provoite,
#>>Provonian, Provan, Provoer. About half the respondents have given Provoan,
#>>but some of the others have explicitly and spontaneously told me that
#>>whatever it is, it's *not* Provoan.

What do you expect, from a state whose dwellers call
themselves "Utahns"?!

-- Mark A. Mandel
   Linguist at Large