Editing Mackem (section)

==Etymology==
There is much debate about the origin of the word Mackem, although it has been argued that it may stem from the phrase "Mak ‘em and Tak’em" - with Mak’em being the local pronunciation of "make them" and Tak’em from "take them".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/seagullcity/mackem/|title=Mackem|access-date=20 September 2017 |publisher=Seagull City|year=2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/SunderlandMackems.html|title=Sunderland Mackem Origin|access-date=20 September 2017 |publisher=englandsnortheast.co.uk|year=2016}}</ref>

According to the current entry in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], the earliest occurrence of the word Mackem or Mak’em in print was in 1988.<ref name="OED 2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/bbcwordhunt/|pages="OED News" section|title=BBC Wordhunt: Your Language Needs You! |publisher=Oxford University Press|date=10 June 2005|work=OED.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060118084437/http://www.oed.com/bbcwordhunt/ |archive-date=18 January 2006 |access-date=31 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, as evidenced by the attached news articles, the word Mak’em (or Mackem) has been much in evidence for a great many years prior to 1988. Indeed, one of the articles attached dates to 1929.[[File:Mackem1929_(1).jpg|thumb|An article from 1929 in ''Sunderland Echo'' discussing Makem.]][[File:Makem1953.jpg|thumb|An article from 1953 in ''Sunderland Echo'' discussing Makem.]]

It has been argued that the expressions date back to the height of Sunderland's shipbuilding history, as the shipwrights would ''make'' the ships, then the [[maritime pilot]]s and [[tugboat]] captains would ''take'' them down the River Wear to the sea – the shipyards and port authority being the most conspicuous employers in Sunderland. A variant explanation is that the builders at Sunderland would build the ships, which would then go to Tyneside to be outfitted, hence from the standpoint of someone from Sunderland, "we make 'em an' they take 'em" – however, this account is disputed (and, indeed, as an earlier form of the name was Mac n' Tac, it seems unlikely).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/SunderlandMackems.html|title=Sunderland Mackem Origin|access-date=20 September 2017 |publisher=englandsnortheast.co.uk|year=2016}}</ref> Another explanation is that ships were both built and repaired (i.e. "taken in for repairs") on the Wear.<ref name="Mackem"/>

Evidence suggests the term is a recent coinage. According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'',<ref name="Voices">{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2005/06/21/wordhunt_feature.shtml|pages="Wear &gt; Voices 2005" section|title=The Mackem Wordhunt!|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|date=21 June 2005|work=BBC.co.uk|access-date=31 July 2011
}}</ref> the earliest occurrence of it in print was in 1988.<ref name="OED 2006">{{cite web|title=New Entry for ''OED Online'': Mackem, n. (Draft Entry Jan. 2006) |work=OED.com|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages="OED News: BBC Balderdash and Piffle (Series One)" section |date=11 January 2006 |url=http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/mackem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419190125/http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/mackem.html|archive-date=19 April 2009|access-date=31 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The phrase "we still tak'em and mak'em" was found in a sporting context in 1973 in reference to Sunderland Cricket & Rugby Football Club.<ref name="OED 2006" /> While this lends support to the theory that this phrase was the origin of the term "Mak'em", there is nothing to suggest that "mak'em" had come to be applied to people from Sunderland generally at such a date. The name "Mak'em" may refer to the Wearside shipyard workers, who during [[World War II]] were brought into shipbuilding and regarded as taking work away from the [[Geordie]]s on [[Tyneside]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mackems|work=Virtual Sunderland|url=http://www.virtualsunderland.co.uk/misc/mackems.htm|access-date=21 September 2007}}</ref>