Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
I think the statement can easily work, it doesn't have to be rooted in reality to be valid, as long as the locals are stereotyped to believe it, it's okay. Boston is also officially known as "the center of the universe", which is kind of a jab at Bostonians.
In practice, neither comes close to the ones with the best claims (probably London at the peak of the British Empire, Rome at the peak of the Roman Empire) in terms of how they functioned as a center for a vast "universe".
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Boston is the center of the universe in New England, and is probably resented as such by denizens of neighbouring states (NH, VT, ME etc). It's similar to the situation with Halifax, the citizens of which are convinced that their city is the centre of the universe for all of Atlantic Canada (when it is blatantly not). The regional media is based there, but I can assure you that I can go for years without visiting Halifax and not feel deprived. I grew up on PEI and only moved to Halifax for med school at age 22, and had only visited the city three times before that (and only once overnight). My upbringing was not stunted by this wonton cultural deprivation.
I have visited a number of world cities, and London seems to me (despite the loss of empire) to continue to have the gravitas of the capital of the world.