Oh, I generally agree with the points you make, Jim, though after racking my memory cells for another couple of hours, I still can't recall anyone using the term "war between the states" in a conversational mode. (One of my neighbors refers to the "war of northern aggression" from time to time, but only sardonically. He is a New Yorker.) Both of my grandfathers were grandsons of Confederate soldiers and I am as certain as a middle-aged fellow with fading memory can be that they always said "Civil War."

My point, if I have one, is that today the term "war between the states" seems to be used mostly in print and mostly in a defiant manner (kind of like the "Forget, hell!" bumper stickers). Surely the overwhelming majority of Southerners do not go around nowadays saying "I had an ancestor in the war between the states." Do they?

In closing, I can't resist repeating what generations of English teachers have pointed out, obviously to no avail: "war between the states" is incorrect grammar; "war among the states" is correct. Doesn't have the same ring though, does it?

In keeping with family tradition I guess I'll continue to use CW instead of W[A]TS.