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YourHub.com \\ Westminster \\ Stories \\ Sound Off \\ Letter to the Editor

It's called "Westminster," not "Westy"

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Contributed by: John C. Jurcheck on 1/4/2008

Editors of Your Hub,

I enjoy reading YourHub included with the Denver Post we receive each Thursday. It has some interesting and informative articles about the things closest to home and it has a good "community" feel about it.

There is one element of YourHub that does not set well with me, and that is the use of the moniker "Westy" when referring to the city of Westminster, Colorado. As a native Coloradoan of the northwest Denver area, that term is not appropriate to use when referring to the suburb to the north of the city of Denver. On page 6R of the January 3, 2008 issue there are two headlines: "Westy Swim and Fitness Center remembers fallen," and "Motorcycle run through Westy benefits Adams County safehouse. When referring to the city, "Westy" sounds almost pejorative and a diminutive of the great city that Westminster is today. "Westy" has had long-time use (at least as far back as when I was in high school in the late 1950's and early 60's) to describe Westminster High School, but not the city. Hence, the caption for the picture of the girls jumping into Boulder Creek of the same issue's cover may be correct if this group and the photographer are referring to the fact that the girls are from Westminster High School and not just Westminster residents.

The page 9R headline does not say, "Broomy girl honored by Leukemia Foundation." Nor does the headline on page 11R say "Brighty Senior Center offers wide range of services, groups." And our other neighbors are not Thorny, Northy, Supy, Louey, and Laffy (now that last one would be funny!). The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News do a good job of using the correct name of the city in publication articles where the City of Westminster is intended. Please upgrade your publication to those standards and use "Westy" only when referring to the high school in an informal sense, and Westminster when referring to the city, its residents and activities.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

John C. Jurcheck
Westminster, Colorado

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Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Diana Allen

posted on 1/4/2008 @ 11:26:55 AM

(Not Rated)

I'm disappointed you don't like "Westy," I think it's cool that your town has a nickname! I've heard a lot of people refer to Westminster as "Westy" and not in a bad way at all. It's also really catchy for headlines!

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

John Eisel

Denver , COLORADO

John Eisel has posted 2865 stories and 12 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. John Eisel's average story rating is 4.39.

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