An imaginary airport, an imaginary radio station, an imaginary police force, an imaginary journalistic term. Boy, these imaginary examples sure seem to be stacking up.
No silly, they all exist so don't have nightmares. Unfortunately, if your justification for their name follows through, we don't have an ambulance service though.
Would you be less offended if I said you were from Hullside? Clearly the boundaries of Humberside, the estuary region, are not the same as those of Humberside, the former ceremonial county. It's arbitrary like any -side area - some Durham people are proud Wearsiders (generally the Sunderland AFC half of the city), others would say Wearside is just the bit nearer the coast. How about we say each five miles each side of the Humber Estuary counts as Humberside, and Hull is part of both Humberside and Hullside, as well as being in East Yorkshire, and we can all have a shameless man-orgy together.
But that's the thing, they're not. When people refer to the Humber region and Humberside, they have differing, usually vague boundaries. The other 'sides' I've already covered briefly as to why (in general) they differ, but over and above all of that, why bother using a vague if not meaningless term that many people find offensive and makes you look foolish and ignorant when proper and more acceptable ones exist? It's strikes me as one hell of a lot of effort to look foolish when you normally seem able to manage it with so much ease?
So you feel a non-existant place with no defined boundaries is a good clear way to describe a specific area. How silly people are using points on OS maps or road signs.
(It's existent not 'existant') There are dozens of examples of similar usages all over Britain ( the West Country, Tyneside, the Fens, the Black Country, the Lake District etc)- everyone knows what areas they refer to. Only a bizarre pedant would demand an OS reference or to see a boundary signpost.
Personally, I find calling Hull 'Humberside' as offensive as calling Bradford 'Pakiland'. I realise that others don't see it this way, but I find it's usually used a way to insult us and for that reason alone, I'll call **** out of anyone who uses the term. This is our region and we'll decide what it's called.
lol, you correct spelling, ramble on about your need for others to adopt your imaginary place instead of recognised, accepted and defined terms, and still try to make out it's me being a pedant. If you want to use humberside over accurate terms you're perfectly free to do so, just as others are free to think you're an ignorant fool when you do...but I think you know that, and that's the root of your problem.
I don't have a preference description-wise. It's just when people deny established fact re the usage of Humberside to describe a region that I feel obliged to correct those in denial.It would be wrong not to.
