City Nickname(s) That Natives / Locals Despise Or Find Corny

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

The one that sounds like nails on a chalkboard is "Chi-Town". . . noone ever calls it that. . . in fact we had a former forumer who's name was Chi-Town and he's thankfully no longer here. . .

I've also NEVER heard anyone call it "The Chi" either. . . if that's part of some recent hip-hop cultural reference I can assure you it will not be around very long. . .

Despite Steely Dan insisting on it being called "The Miami of Canada" I think noone has ever heard of that either. . . I mean if we're the Miami of Canada, what does that make Winnipeg?!?

Most people refer to it as "Chicagoland" and that's fine. . . Winnipeg can continue to call itself the Chicago of Canada and we'll give them a pass because it's the coolest city up there. . .

. . .

I've heard people from Chicago call it that. Kanye West and Da Brat come to mind, say what you will about them but they are from Chicago.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Xing

I lived in Washington DC for 2 years, and I noticed everyone called it “DC.” I still call it “DC.” “Washington” was too confusing with “Washington State”. “Washington DC” was too long.

I grew up east of St Louis, and it had a variety of nicknames. The one that sticks is “STL.”

Since I also grew up near East St Louis, many of my friends there called it, “East Saint.” I like that, and I still use it.

For Chicago, new nicknames came and went. I liked calling it “The Chi,” or just by its formal name, “Chicago.” (Saw Tom’s comment on this one, but yeah I use it, as do my Chicago friends).

“Chi town” seemed more common by out of towners. Out of towners often misunderstood the meaning behind “Windy City.” So I often avoided using that one too.

“STL” or i hear “the STL” but “the” in front of anything makes me cringe. i’m down (i guess?) with any nickname that is also the airport, like “PDX.”

[Centropolis]

“the miami of canada” is a simpsons reference...hence the longevity...

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by JManc

I hate any term for Houston other than "Houston"

H-Town
Screwstown
Clutch City (you can only milk the Rockets back to back so long)
Bayou City
Space City (ok this one is cool)

What's wrong with H-Town? That may annoy you but it's pretty common and has been for decades and actually it's common for most places to have an B-Town or G-City moniker.

What's funny for most people is that they don't realize that Space City can refer to both NASA and the enormous amount of space between places in the city in the area.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Area codes as nicknames for cities is stupid and weak.

I don't see what the issue is other than that no one will know where you're talking about outside the area in most cases.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

I don't see what the issue is other than that no one will know where you're talking about outside the area in most cases.

Well, in big cities there are several area codes.

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

What's wrong with H-Town? That may annoy you but it's pretty common and has been for decades and actually it's common for most places to have an B-Town or G-City moniker.

What's funny for most people is that they don't realize that Space City can refer to both NASA and the enormous amount of space between places in the city in the area.

H-town is the worst. Don't know why but it's sounds like something like newscasters would say when they're trying to be hip while wearing an Astros' hat with the tags still on it they found last minute under the seat of the news van while on location.

[PhilliesPhan]

As long as you don't refer to Philadelphia as "Philthy", "Philthadelphia", or "Killadelphia", you're good with the locals! Only we can say something bad about our city. We love our city and don't take too kindly to outsiders talking down on it!

Other than that, everyone pretty much calls refers to Philadelphia as "Philly".

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

I lived in Los Angeles for years. The most commonly used reference among natives / locals is either L.A. or Los Angeles.

If you refer to the city or the area as "Hollywood", "Tinseltown" or "La La Land" (as a previous poster noted), you are DEFINITELY an out of towner.

Yep and on that note, I almost never hear anyone call Las Vegas anything but Vegas. Not even non-locals. I technically never lived there but as a SoCal frequent, resident and quasi-resident would always take a trip to Vegas but never Las Vegas.

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by ozone

I thought we were talking about commonly used nicknames? I don't think what Warriors have on their jerseys means a lot to most people. The term "The Bay" is common. The term "The Town" to refer to Oakland is probably something only people living in Oakland or thereabouts, or a small minority of other people of would say. But it's not that common elsewhere. Most Northern Californians would rather not think of Oakland at all if they can help it.

You're just old lol.

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Met any black people--well for most of my working life, in the East Bay, I worked with dozens of them. "The Bay" for people of every race in my aquaintance is, well, the Bay (the body of water) or sometimes short for "the Bay Area", but never meaning just the city of San Francisco. I can see "the Town" possibly referring to Oakland among Oaklanders when in Oakland, which is often called "Oaktown" around "the Bay", but if you referred to "the Town" talking to somebody in San Francisco they'd almost certainly ask you, "Which town?"



I've seen those jerseys--for a couple of bucks at Walgreen's. Wasn't sure if they were authorized by the team. But, of course, they currently play in Oakland and, again, "the Town" may be something used in Oakland by Oaklanders but it isn't used in San Francisco and certainly not FOR San Francisco. When the team moves, we'll see what happens to those jerseys. Interestingly, while "The City" is frequently used in San Francisco, I lately get the sense there's an increasing resentment at the term in the rest of the Bay Area among those who think it suggests anything outside the city is hicksville.

I agree about NorCal. I use it all the time. So does everyone I know.

But here's another one: 4 decades ago when I was driving cross country and CB radio was a "thing", San Francisco was often called "the gay Bay" on CB. I'm not sure if the locals, of which I was not yet one, would have approved.

Maybe the over 70 crowd.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

Louisville is similar.

While most people think it's pronounced "Louie-ville" (as in King Louie Village), locals pronouce it as "Loo-vuhl" and will have a fit if you say it any other way.

They'd have more than a fit if they heard how Brits pronounce it: Lewisville.

[Shawn]

I mean, if we're going down the road of mispronounced towns and cities, you can add about half of the municipalities in Mass to the list. Lots of Massasoit, Wampanoag, and Narragansett names, and plenty of towns named after their English counterparts, but with different pronunciations.

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Ashvegas. Originally coined as a bitter commentary on our deserted and boarded-up downtown back in the 80's, the name has stuck around long enough to see downtown come roaring back to life. Nowadays the name is even somewhat apt, what with 26 breweries in Asheville itself and 60 in the surrounding area, churning out beer and every other kind of booze you can think of, and roughly ten million tourists a year coming to drink it, get roaring drunk, and then run around screaming, puking, fighting, and pissing and fucking in public. Whereas we used to be a sedate place full of old people coming to dodder around the Biltmore House, now we're overrun with roving packs of dudebros and Bitch-elor and bitch-elorette parties.

I have another "-Vegas" for you: Manchvegas (Manchester, NH). Urban Dictionary's definition is spot on:

"Alternative name for the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. The word was coined by combining the first part of "Manchester" with the second word in "Las Vegas," juxtaposing Las Vegas's glitz and glamour with Manchester's lack of either. Used derisively."

"Lack of either"

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

you're just old lol.

lmao

[jbermingham123]

I guess technically this has nothing to do with nicknames, but non-Chinese people mispronounce 'Beijing' and 'Shanghai', which are not hard to pronounce (even for a white American like me), literally 100% of the time.

Ok class, say it with me:

Beijing = "Bay JING", with a hard 'J' (Everyone says Bay 'zhing'.. I'm not sure where that 'zh' pronunciation even came from, because that sound is fairly rare in both English and Chinese)

Shanghai = "SHONG Hai"; both of the 'a's in Shanghai are long 'a's, and should be pronounced like the 'a' in 'car' or 'far' or 'Hahvahd yahd'

There are certainly some hard-to-pronounce city names out there, but Beijing and Shanghai certainly aren't in that category, and considering they are two of the world's most important cities, we might as well pronounce them right


Also: I'm sure someone has already pointed this one out here, but people in Montreal are (in my experience) annoyed when they hear 'MON'treal.. The 'Mon' in Montreal is like the 'Mon' in Monday, and pronouncing it MON is a complete dead giveaway that you're an out-of-towner.

[ThePhun1]

How about New Yorkers pronouncing that street in NYC like a house instead of like Hugh and the Texas city? So annoying...

[HurricaneHugo]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Only one thing matters--if you put a "the" in front of freeway numbers, everybody in CA knows you are from the LA area or at least SoCal--I'm not sure to what extent they also do that around San Diego but they DON'T do it in northern CA. Or at least they didn't used to. Some of that Southland (there's another term) speak is gaining traction up north it seems.

San Diegan here, we say "THE FIVE"

[10023]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

How about New Yorkers pronouncing that street in NYC like a house instead of like Hugh and the Texas city? So annoying...

You guys just say it wrong down in Texas.

That’s actually a dead giveaway that someone is a tourist in NYC (but usually not the first one).

[JManc]

Yes, the infamous "ManchVegas". There's even a bar downtown named that. Someone there has a sense of humor.

Originally Posted by Shawn

I mean, if we're going down the road of mispronounced towns and cities, you can add about half of the municipalities in Mass to the list. Lots of Massasoit, Wampanoag, and Narragansett names, and plenty of towns named after their English counterparts, but with different pronunciations.



I have another "-Vegas" for you: Manchvegas (Manchester, NH). Urban Dictionary's definition is spot on:

"Alternative name for the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. The word was coined by combining the first part of "Manchester" with the second word in "Las Vegas," juxtaposing Las Vegas's glitz and glamour with Manchester's lack of either. Used derisively."

"Lack of either"

[LMich]

There isn't really any from Detroit I've found universally despise residents. However, among more bougie folks of all races there is a pronunciation of the city's name that can be like a record scratch to some: over-emphasizing the first syllable like 'DEE' in normal conversation (Instead of 'DIH' or 'DUH') can be sort of a giveaway of either outsiders or people seen as lower-class. It's kind of seen as hickish or country reminding them of their grandparents and great-grandparents (e)migrations. The funny thing is that every Detroiter that uses the city's name in a literary way in a song or in other kind of wordplay uses the hard D.

But, even that isn't something all that widely spread, anymore.

[cannedairspray]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

I've also NEVER heard anyone call it "The Chi" either. . . if that's part of some recent hip-hop cultural reference I can assure you it will not be around very long. . .

Family Business Kanye West, The College Dropout February 10, 2004:

All my niggas from the Chi, that's my family dog
And my niggas ain't my guys, they my family dog
I feel like one day you'll understand me dog
You can still love your man and be manly dog

https://genius.com/Kanye-west-family-business-lyrics

Meanwhile...

The Chi is an American drama series created by Lena Waithe about life in a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.[1] The pilot was directed by Rick Famuyiwa.[1] It premiered on Showtime on January 7, 2018. On January 30, 2018, Showtime renewed the series for a second season.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chi

Looks like you might need to be a bit more stringent with your assurances.