best city resident naming convention EVER

we here often and generally refer to ourselves as "lowellians", and some variation on the anglo "-ians" or "-ites" or "-ers" conventions seem to work for us almost everywhere. for some cities, all three are reasonable if not all used, (we could be "lowellites" or "lowellers" just as easy as "lowellians" while we prefer the latter), though for others one or the other seems to be the requirement as well as the standard. (e.g. "bostonians", "new hampshireites" and "new yorkers"). many other appellations are derived from the various suffices of their mother tongues, and we have "philippinos" and "mexicans" and "brazilians" among the many others possible, even while the natives have their own way of putting it. (mexicanos and brasilieros say hey).

most interesting to me, however, are those who get creative with their prefix, as those in halifax do with "haligonians". here we have names out of the apparent blue which have very little literal basis other than some ancient language and the present insistence of their inhabitants. for this category i would today nominate the hale and hearty residents of the fair city of trois rivieres who enjoy to refer to themselves as "trifluvians" for the title. my daughter the latin whiz (when she's not majoring in profanity) has no trouble recognizing the roots, but its no less entertaining to hear it said. "trifluvians".

we difluvians here from lowell are just a little bit jealous. (concord and merrimack, yo).

we're also, when in trois rivieres, right at home. it's a working city with a hard scrabble downtown intermingled with both history and cultchah, as well as a flourish of hospitality establishments of remarkable quality and variety. i will speak very fondly of the one i chose for lunch on thursday, "le trifle", at 363 rue des forges, if you have a moment to listen. it's the kind of place even lowell would be grateful to have, with a plethora of fresh local beers on draught, in addition to irish favorites like murphy's and the like. it was spotlessly and scrupulously clean, as are many places in canada, with a menu that extended to *moment of reverent genuflection* genuine alsatian fare, from a generous charcuterie plate to an honest to goodness real life in the flesh flammkuchen. (i got the classic d'alsace with just bacon and onions, but they had 'em a good half dozen ways else, too). seriously--bacon and onion and creme fraiche on a stone oven prepared flat crust with a half liter of amazing local IPA--you cannot beat it.

i also got to tour a few of the historical joints, whereby i learned a lot about the procreative habits of the french vs the english, along with a lot of other fascinating historical trivia. (they used to pay their folks to get married young and pop out a lot of little catholic children, yes they did, even while they didn't bother much about schooling 'em afterwards). i'm guessing more than a few of the local girls wound up down here in lowell working the looms here rather than the forges up there, and felt right at home with the common workaday-ness of the place. yeah, quebec and montreal are amazing, but it's places like trois rivieres where the real work often gets done, and it's nice to see it plugging along as do we here along the merrimack without either pretense or over-concern for the appearance. it is as it is, as we are as we are.

i'm glad i made the effort to stop and have my look around. i won't hesitate to go back, even if only for another meal. seriously, mcauslan's st ambroise IPA is the real deal, as are the alsatian specialties of the house at le trifle, the best irish pub i've yet found north of the st lawrence.