This week, hundreds of Canadian and U.S. citizens residing in the lakeside area are celebrating national holidays: Canada Day on July 1 and U.S. Independence Day on July 4. 

I began thinking about the generic terms used to describe these people after seeing a Facebook post by a Mexican man who wondered why they are commonly called expats while his fellow countrymen living abroad are referred to as immigrants, as if the latter has derogatory connotations.

With my curiosity aroused, I spent a lot of time over the past week taking a deep dive into the dictionary collection I keep as an aid to my work in journalism. I am a word freak to the core.

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