I think he was making a San-Francisco-Is-Full-of-Homosexuals joke.
St. Louis is in fact called “The Lou” by at least some locals. Never heard it called “St. Louie” except in song.
4 small towns in California:
San Luis Obispo is called SLO, pronounced “slow” or SLO town.
Palos Verdes is called PV.
Isla Vista is called IV.
Santa Barbara is sometimes called SB.
I understand that Kuala Lumpur is called KL, but I don’t remember any one referring to it that way the in the short time I was there.
Albuquerque’s official nickname is “The Duke City” and that gets used a fair amount. I think I heard a radio DJ say “It’s a windy one in The Duke City today!” just yesterday. There are probably 100s of businesses named “Duke City <type of product or service offered>”.
The unofficial one one that some people like to use, and others eschew is “Burque”, pronounced BURR-kay. I am one of the eschewers: Sounds like the speaker is trying too hard to be edgy every time I have heard it used…pretty much like “Frisco”.
Grew up just outside of Boston. Usually heard Beantown from out of towners. Hub or Hub of Universe was usually a newspaper/radio/tv thing “Hub Crime Rate Rises Again”, “Hub Tax Revenues Down”, etc. Don’t remember real live (local) people using either.
Same area. Arroyo Grande is called AG.
The suburb of Montreal I live in is named “Town of Mt. Royal”, but inhabitants (and nearly every other person on the island when speaking English) usually call it “TMR”, sometimes “The Town” (not a description but a shortening of the name).
I grew in in Philly (West Philly to be exact) and hardly anyone called it anything else.
I lived for four years in the twin towns of Champaign and Urbana, IL (actually two years in each) and we sometimes jocularly called them Chambana.
Sometimes the residents of San Jose will jokingly refer to it as “San Joe-say” giving it a fake “American” accent. SJ is written but almost never said.
SF is called SF, it takes a ‘certain” kind of person to call it “The City”,:rolleyes: mainly someone who has never been to a real city, like LA or NYC.
Fresno is sometimes Fresburg and Bakersfield is sometimes “Bakkers-feld”, mostly jokingly.
Murfreesboro TN , home to Middle Tennessee State University is widely known in Middle TN as “The 'Boro.”
Sometimes. Also Motor City.
Usually though it’s “thecityofdetroit” all run together like one word.
Dallas = Big D. Sometimes.
Worcester Ma: I’ve always liked Wormtown…the kids these days call it “The Woo”
Philadelphia:
Illadelph
Hostile City (rarely)
The City That Bombs You Back
Nicknames: Cork is jokingly referred to as “the real capital” and “the people’s republic of Cork” by its inhabitants. Limerick became known as “Stab City” but probably not by its inhabitants.
The term “Stroke City” was coined to refer to Derry/Londonderry as a way to avoid using either name by only pronouncing the stroke in the middle. It kind of semi-caught on.
There are more traditional nicknames like “The Maiden City” for Derry and “The City of the Tribes” for Galway but I don’t think they would be used in ordinary conversation.
Bloomington, IN is often referred to as B-Town.
It was also a major meat-packing centre. Other names include Tee Oh, and T-Dot.
The Soo.
If you look at pictures from the early 1950s, it’s amazing how similar Toronto and Buffalo appeared. And Toronto was maybe 20% larger than Buffalo at the time.
Rotterdam is know as: 010 (said: nul-tien), Rotjeknor, Rotown, Maasstad and Roffa. There are more, but those are the most commonly used by inhabitants.
Manchester we usually call Manc. Realistic.
Compare to:
Cariocas really do call Rio “a cidade maravilhosa”, the marvelous city. So humble 
So you’re saying “The City” is a pejorative?
I’ve definitely heard Malaysians calling Kuala Lumpur KL. Singapore (a one city country) is often written S’pore, but I can’t remember if they pronounced it that way. Ho Chi Minh City is often referred to as Saigon, even by locals, although increasingly that name is reserved for the central district only. And to jump continents, I heard South Africans calling Johannesburg Jo’burg.
Syracuse, NY: 'Cuse or “The 'Cuse”
This may be more University/sports-centric, but a lot is in that town so I think it counts…
Riiight, because the entire East Bay is flyover country, and are they are mystified by the big city, and thus call it that. Instead of calling it the City because it is the nearest major city besides Oakland that is worth anything.