Of people and places

A look at how people are named after places and after other people.

THIS article was prompted by a query from reader Dr Thirunavukkarasu Jr (MOE, May 27) about a schoolmate who used to introduce herself as a Perlisian. Fadzilah Amin, in her usual deft response, said that “there are no special rules about how to refer to natives of different states in Malaysia in English, but there are some terms in common usage”; and she went on to give examples thereof. I propose to continue from there. There are appellations aplenty in English for people associated with places, and for people associated with other people. Let us explore them.