Proud to be who I am

Why is it that Mak'em is continually misspelt? And it's often claimed that the term was first coined around the 1980s .

I was called a Mak’em by a German who prided himself on knowing where a person came from purely by his accent.

This was back in the early 1960s and my father used the term long before that stating that it was because of the way we spoke and how we shortened the words in make them and take them replacing the ‘e’ of the first and the ‘th’ of the second with ‘ indicating letters are missing making mak’em and tak’em.

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There is no letter C and never has there been any reference to the Scottish Mack.

I am proud to be a Mak’em and will never be a Mackem.

I, personally, can’t understand why the Sunderland Echo or any true Mak’em would want to be referred to as a Mackem.

It’s probably too late to change it now but I feel that anyone calling themselves a Mackem should hang their heads in shame for their lack of pride in their home town/city.

I was born in Sunderland when it was a town in County Durham and as Tyne and Wear hasn’t existed for many years will always use Wearside in a Sunderland address.

Mak’em first, English second, British third, European never.

Name withheld