We say Panama City, but I suspect that Panamanians simply say Panama (or rather Panamá). Similarly for Guatemala. What about Mexico? Do they call their capital la Ciudad de Mexico and their country Mexico?
In each of these countries, what informal names do they use for their captials and countries, and how or do they distinguish between them?
Well, they don’t call Kansas City “Kansas,” or Oklahoma City “Oklahoma.” Why would Panama City be called “Panama” or Mexico City “Mexico?”
People say “New York” in much higher frequency than they say “New York City,” in my experience.
:rolleyes:
I didn’t say it might be.
Since I live in Panama City, Panama, I can attest that it is. If you are outside the city, you would typically say “I am going to Panama” to indicate you are going to the city. Actually, Panama is so dominant as an urban center that all you would have to say is “I am going to the city” and everyone would know where you meant. (Rather how New York City is referred to in New York State). You would rarely if ever specify “la cuidad de Panama.” In fact, on local maps, the city is simply indicated as “Panama,” not “Cuidad de Panama.” Everywhere in the country outside the city is referred to as “the Interior,” even if it’s on the coast, as if it were some remote jungle.
That may be because the name of the city is New York and not New York City.
I believe (although I have no evidence to hand to back this up) that Mexicans refer to Mexico City as “D.F.”, short for Distrito Federal, which is the “state” in which the capital is - similar to Washington DC.
When I was in Mexico City every Mexican I met referred to the capital purely as Mexico. It was only called Mexico City by foreigners, like me.
Completely anecdotal I know, but that was my experience.
Likewise, to be precise, the name of Panama’s capital is simply “Panama.” “Panama City” isn’t a translation of the city’s actual name, it is simply a term used in English. Maps, even English-language ones (at least the more accurate ones, such as Rand-McNally), will show the city’s name just as Panama. It is not shown as “Ciudad Panama” or “Ciudad de Panama,” in contrast to some Latin American cities, such as Ciudad Juarez or Ciudad Bolivar, where “ciudad” is actually part of the name. When one refers to “la ciudad de Panama” it is usually in the same way as one might refer to “the city of Chicago.”
I see that Rand-McNally, which strives to be scrupulous about the use of correct local names, indicates the names of the cities in question as “Panama,” “Guatemala,” and “Cuidad de Mexico.” I’m not sure if this indicates that Mexico differs from the other two in including “Cuidad” as part of its name.
When I was in Guatemala, the practice was the same as in Panama. Buses headed for the capital, for example, would shout out “Guatemala! Guatemala! Guatemala!,” to indicate the destination.
Yep. Just as surely as in America, we’d have “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, meaning Washington, D.C., in Mexico they’d have “Sr. Smith Va a México”, meaning México, D.F.
I guess it depends on what part of New York State you’re in. In the part of Western New York where I grew up, “Going to the city” meant going to Rochester, as if it were the only city on the planet. That always bugged me.
Thanks all!
As an Upstate New Yorker for nearly half a century, I’d have to confirm Bibliophage’s comments.
“New York” meant the state we lived in. When one wanted to refer to the city referred to by its residents as Noo Yawk, we said Enn Wye See as a rule.
And we were always amused/offended by people from the Big
Apple or other states who were under the impression that all of New York was NYC and suburbs.
The name of the city if The City of New York.
OK, I will amend my remark on how Noo Yawk is referred to in New York. I should have said Noo Yawkers use “the city” generally as being synonymous with NYC. When I was in school in Ithaca, going “to the city” could only mean going to NYC among my fellow students. It may well have meant going to Syracuse for native Ithacans.
Where I grew up in The Bronx, going “to the city” means going to Manhattan.
Following Panamanian practice, now when I go to visit my brother in Schenectady I say I am going “to the interior.” 
And if not?
Hmm…
During my December 2000 visit to Guatemala, the capital was often referred to as just Guatemala, “the Capital”, or “Guate”, for short. The former capital is officially Antigua Guatemala (“Old Guatemala”) and the road signs say so : but it is is often shortened to just Antigua.
The possibility of confusion by outsiders, or a desire for political appeasement of those from other parts of the jurisdiction, tends to dictate when you use “…City”
And of course, it’s the people from the city in question who decide what is the name of their city.
jrd
Another expat upstate New Yorker here. In the eight-county Western New York region, terminology used included:
The City - City of Buffalo, exclusive of its suburbs.
Buffalo - The urban agglomeration formed by the City of Buffalo and its suburban municipalities, used by residents and expats of the area when outside of Western New York.
The City - City of New York, when used by college students that call downstate New York home.
New York - State of New York.
New York City - City of New York.
Noo Yoooowk (pronounced in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent) - City of New York.
Downstate - State of New York, in the City of New York sphere of influence (media, commuter rail, accents, etc.)
Upstate - State of New York, outside the perceived City of New York sphere of influence area.
When I lived in Boulder, Colorado, I recall overhearing an expat Noo Yawker student trying to chat up a local girl. Apparently he felt he needed to distance himself from the city’s image.
She: “Where are you from?”
He: “Upstate New York.”
She: “Whereabouts?”
He: “Yonkers” [just outside the city line]
Without going into the Alice in Wonderland “the name of the song is called”/“The song is called” etc., that’s incorrect. New York is just plain New York. The government may refer to itself as the city of New York, but that “city” refers to the type of governmental entity, not the city name. Your statement is no more true than saying a certain location in Missouri is named “The City of University City.”
If you live within 100 or so miles of New York, then you call it “The City.” If you actually live in New York city, you usually refer to the borough. Further upstate, the reference is to “New York” or “New York City.”