“Spokaneland”

A reader who grew up in suburban Chicago recently sent me a note in which he referred to his “Chicagoland” childhood.

If you have any experience with the Midwest, you undoubtedly are familiar with that expression. It usually refers to the metro suburbs but can also be meant to include parts of Indiana and Wisconsin.

I’ve read that it was coined by the Chicago Tribune long ago. It might actually predate that though.

In any event, I found myself wondering if anyone had ever said “Spokaneland.”

Then, of course, I remembered. We are the Inland Empire. Well, at least until we became the Inland Northwest.

The relative merits of those choices have been debated here before. But perhaps it is fair to say that either is preferable to “Spokaneland.”

Nobody mispronounces “Inland Empire” or “Inland Northwest.”

Besides, I can’t imagine certain Idaho residents embracing “Spokaneland.”