| It is a geographical region if you are a citizen of the Mountain, Pacific, or Alaskan time zones. It is a state of mind if you are a cowboy, a surfer, a climber, a logger, a computer maker, a movie fan, a Pacific fisherman, an avid skier, a citizen of the Pacific Rim. The English words that came into the language in western North America are like those that enter the language in any geographical region: the borrowings and neologisms are determined by the land, the occupations, and pastimes of the inhabitants. The needs of the people living with unique encounters of vegetation, landscape, and fauna require words like sego lily, wash, and roadrunner. The occupations of westerners require new words like Silicon Valley, skid row, outrider. The pastimes of westerners have required the adoption of new meanings like malibu board, ace in the hole, Iditarod. Encounters with other cultures give us new English words like fry bread, arroyo, avocado. |
| The West can represent wideopen spaces, freedom of mind, freedom of expression, freedom of action, even the Marlboro Man imageall reflected in the language of the West. Westerners seem to relish the notion that they are less restricted than people from other parts of the country. They generally are enamored of states' rights, freedom from gun control, and the ability to move anywhere at anytime. The Sagebrush Rebellion gets enough press from time to time to let others know that westerners will allow themselves a certain amount of aggravation, but the limit can be reached by centralized bureaucracies, whether emanating from Washington, D.C., or Ottawa. |
| Talking "western" means using the words that have come into the English language in western North America. The area includes the region of the Mountain time zone: Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. |
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Western lore and languague : a dictionary for