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City Nicknames We'd Rather Not Hear
As a native Californian, few things get on my nerves more than hearing the abbreviation, "Cali." I don't know why it irritates me so much, but I suspect it's the knowing, insider-y tone that usually accompanies it. "Yeah, man, I just got back from a trip to Cali. It was hella cool."Aaargh. Also right up there is "Frisco." Let me just tell you that Californians do not, ever, under any circumstances, refer to their state as "Cali," nor "The City" as "Frisco." San Francisco even famously had a laundromat called, "Don't Call it Frisco." I also dislike "Berzerkley," "San Berdoo (San Bernadino)" and "The States (anyone in Hawaii referring to the Mainland)."
With these grating abbreviations in mind, I asked my Gadling colleagues what city nicknames bug them. The response was fast, furious and lengthy. Below, some highlights:
Anna Brones: Portlandia. Don't even get me started.
Libby Zay: I personally hate "Hotlanta." It's also pretty annoying when people add "tucky" or "neck" as suffixes. As in, Fredneck, Maryland, or Brunstucky, instead of Brunswick, Ohio ... I suppose Pennslytucky would be more of a geographic region."
Author admission: Guilty as charged, Libby.
Kyle Ellison: "Lost Wages," for Las Vegas, and "N'awlins" for New Orleans.
Elizabeth Seward: It depends on the day whether or not these bug me. I wish I didn't know so many. "Beantown"; "Chi-town"; "Sin City"; "Nasty Nati (Cinncinati)", "C-town (Columbus)"; "SoBro (South Bronx, oy)"; "Marighetto (what locals call my hometown of Marietta)"; "City of Angeles"/"LaLaLand"/"Tinseltown"; "The Big Easy."
Elizabeth, I promise to never refer to my hometown of Thousand Oaks as "Thousand Jokes" again.
McLean Robbins: "Naptown" for Annapolis and "The District" from anyone not a local to Washington, DC.
Meg Nesterov: Calling cities the Paris/Venice/X/ of the North/East, et al.
Sean McLachlan, resident history buff: Missouri is often called "Misery," generally by outsiders from northern states and occasionally by frustrated Missourians. The term actually has old roots. The 18th century French settlers in Ste. Genevieve found the place so boggy and full of mosquitoes that they nicknamed it misère.
[Photo credit: Flickr user knitgrrldotcom]
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, North America, Travel Trivia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Laura Marjorie Miller Jan 15th 2013 3:52PM
'Nashvegas' to refer to Nashville.... Flip and slick: yick.
Aaron Jan 17th 2013 2:19AM
It's not just Hawaiians that refer to "The States".
It seems that just about every American that I meet responds with "The States" when asked where they are from. I always feel like saying, "What states?"
Graham Jan 17th 2013 9:50AM
I think there is a difference between what locals may use to refer to a city and what the rest of us, particularly from somewhere abroad, may use. I hear quite a few non Americans refer to "Frisco". What I rarely hear here in the UK is "The Bay Area".
Here, in the UK, the nearest town is Yeovil. It's not the most awe inspiring place but referring to it as "Yeovile" (as a neighbour does) is a little unfair.
One of the things I find most irritating is when people shorten something and lose the meaning or context. I hear people saying they are going to "Disney" when they mean "Disneyworld" (Florida) or "Disneyland Paris". Another thing that grates with me is the way in which Americans seem to have forgotten the words "airline" and "airways" and simply substitute "air". It's not "British Air" it's "British Airways". Also when they talk about London and ask how to get to Oxford. Do they mean Oxford Street or Oxford Circus (in London) or the city of Oxford (about 40 miles away)? Unlike in the US we don't drop the "road" or "street" so it's "Regent Street" not "Regent".