I have lived here in Missouri for almost a decade now. I have never , not once, heard it Saint Joseph spoken of in any other manner than “St. Joe” We write it as Saint Joseph. Speak it as Saint Joe. See also “Jeff City” for our capital Jefferson City. even Jefferson City’s website is www.jeffcitymo.org
I grew up south of boston. No one ever referred to it as beantown unless it was a goofy club name like “beantown brawlers” the hub was used (like someone up thread said) by news outlets. people said where they were from in the suburbs or if from the city. It was just “the city” or what part of the city… Southie, Dorchester(AKA THE DOT or Dottie), Jamaica Plain ( aka JP) , Brighton.
No, it’s a symptom of chauvinism by locals who don’t know any better. You can pretty much tell that a resident is poorly traveled and ignorant when they use the term. I just roll my eyes.
I hear NashVegas on a pretty regular basis. Music City is more of a commercial use though. I also hear E-Town from residents of Elizabethtown, KY when I’m in the area.
I can’t ever remember hearing “Motown” in reference to the city of Detroit. Motown is a particular style of music (and record label) that was born in Detroit, but it is not a city.
“Motor City” is fairly common, but not everyday usage – like with other examples it’s mostly used in headlines and the like.
Thecityofdetroit is fairly common, in contrast to thedetroitarea.
Another former Boston-area resident. Nobody calls it Beantown. The Hub is a more common descriptor, but Boston is so section- and suburb-identified, you reference the town or part of town instead.
As a former resident of San LOUIS Obispo, we do indeed call the town SLO, as in “enjoying the SLO life.”
Houstonians (at least when I lived there) called in H-town, or Clutch City (during the Rockets’ NBA championship run).
When I lived in Britain in the Midlands, Birmingham residents called the town “Brum” and referred to themselves as “Brummies.”
As for the city I’ve lived in the longest, Austin, we don’t really have a big nickname thing going on. In the 80s “Third Coast” sort of caught on. The City of the Violet Crown seems so old-fashioned, though I do believe it was once a nick. Austinites are so regionally fixated (South Austinites, East Austinites, etc.) that I guess it’s taken a while to see the entire city as one place. Now it’s ATX, I guess. But you think such a weird place would have a tag, but we don’t really.
I’m not sure why you put “LOUIS” in all caps because I can assure you that the name of the city does not have an O there. It’s San Luis Obispo, Spanish for Saint Louis, the Bishop, presumably to distinguish this particular San Luis (but I don’t know for sure) from the other San Luis, that is, Saint Louis IX of France.
Anyway, here in Santa Barbara, you’ll hear very rarely that it is the American Riviera. Except in advertising, where it’s somewhat common.
And, I’ve always wanted Chicago to be called “the X,” that is, the Greek letter chi (pronounced like a k ending with eye). It would also make charts easier since you could arrange them like: NY, LA, X, SF, and so on. Needless to say, this has not caught on, and it won’t. But one can dream. . . .
Jacksonville is pretty widely called “Jax” by locals (it’s also the airport code). Also “J-ville.” “River City” is used by some businesses, but not in conversation. The official nickname “Bold New City of the South” appears on sheriff cars and nowhere else.
The sarcastic local nickname I’ve heard is “Actionville.”
Nobody has ever once in human history called it “The City.”
Stumptown, the Rose City/City of Roses, and PDX are often used in news and business names, but I can not think of any Portlanders saying them in normal conversations. The suburb of Vancouver, WA is often referred to as The Couve or Vantucky in conversation, especially the former.
The other St Petersburg is commonly (as in: almost as often as the official name) referred to as ‘Piter’. Writing this, I am wondering if that usage was around when it was Leningrad, too. I should find that out at some point
Yep, for sure. I went to college in SLO-town, and there’s no O in Luis. Although there is an O in Ah Louis, a famous Chinese merchant from (I think) the early part of the 20th century. I believe his store is still in downtown SLO.
Mostly for advertising purposes (and not that often anymore to boot).
N.Y.C. also is used from time to time, but again very rare in normal speech.
For NY, I’m afraid it’s indeed just “the City”, with the following rules:
The City (“I work in the City”, “I’m going to a concert in the City”, “Let’s visit the City”) = Manhattan - and Manhattan south of, well 96th St., at that.
Anywhere else you’re going to in the Boros, the rules are:
If it’s a fairly well known/defined neighborhood, use that name (e.g. Harlem (Manhattan of course); Flushing, Woodside, Astoria, Whitestone, Ozone Park etc. (Queens); Bensonhurst, Williamsburg, Bay Ridge, Coney Island etc. (Brooklyn); Riverdale, Throgs Neck, Pelham Bay (Bronx); St. George, Tottenville (Staten Island)
(also, as you may guess, this applies to specific areas of Manhattan like SoHo, Upper West Side, Midtown, etc).
Else, use a rough geographical description & the Boro Name - “I’m going to…” South East Queens (e.g. Laurelton); the North Bronx (e.g Wakefield), Northern Manhattan (e.g. Inwood), NW Staten Island (e.g. Arlington aka Port Ivory), South East Brooklyn (e.g. Spring Creek - although most people would use Starrett City instead).
I’ll note that real-estate developers like to come up with “cool” sounding names for areas during real estate boom cycles, and the media likes to come up with dramatic sounding names for “interesting” area (anyone else remember “Alphabet City” - aka the far East Lower East side when it indeed was decidely more “low-rent”?). These names may or may not stick (usually not) over the years.
Also routinely called “San Luis”, pronounced strictly as the American/English “Louis”, NEVER as in Spanish (Loo-EES) nor as in French (LOO-ee).
Nearby, the residents of El Paso de Robles (better known as Paso Robles) like to refer to Atascadero as “Mudtown” (Insider info for the non-locals: Atascadero literally translates as “A Place Where You Get Stuck”, i.e., a bog or marsh. But the local officials prefer to translate that as “A Place of Much Water”)
Sacramento commonly called Sacto, at least in writing. Don’t know if anybody ever actually says that verbally.
Guantanamo (if you can call that a “city”) = Gitmo.
San Antonio, Texas
Locals: S. A. ; “SATex” pronounced “Sattecks” ;
Local boosterism types will use the term The River City (priming the tourists so they’ll herd themselves down to the Riverwalk and spend spend spend!)
“San Antone” is used only in country songs. Similar to how no one who actually lives in San Francisco calls it “Frisco”.