# Deprecating names of cities **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699 "2012-03-04T03:39:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/121 "2019-06-01T00:25:40Z")
Surrey, suburb of Vancouver, BC, is often referred to as Slurry. The town of Ladner, also near Vancouver, is Lardner. And the bustling metropolis of Williams Lake, population 11,000, coordinates 52°07′46″N 122°08′18″W, is referred to as Willy’s Puddle by those in the know. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/122 "2019-06-04T14:51:19Z")
I don’t think it’s supposed to be deprecating, but when we lived in the Four Corners I often heard Gallup, NM referred to as Giddyuptown. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/123 "2019-06-04T15:20:50Z")
Crested Butte, CO = Crusty Butt New Hampshire = Cow Hampshire Killington Vt (ski resort and town) = K-Mart ---
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/124 "2019-06-05T03:30:14Z")
Vermont- Springfield= Springding, Rutland= Rut Vegas, and Bellows Falls= Fellows Balls. Springding makes no sense. There is no gambling in Rut Vegas. And Fellows Balls is pure awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/125 "2019-06-05T03:38:06Z")
> [@pabstist](#): > > Rutland= Rut Vegas I’ve heard Manchester, NH referred to as Manch-vegas many times, not sure why. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2019, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/126 "2019-06-05T07:18:21Z")
We have a -vegas in Australia too (Brisvegas). Can’t think of any other city-level nicknames, but the super-hipster suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne is often referred to as “The People’s Republic of Brunswick”. Usually by people who live there ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/127 "2019-06-07T15:01:44Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > An attempt to establish the slogan “The City that Reads” in the early 80s was subverted by some local wags into “The City that Breeds”. > > The much older unflattering moniquer “Mobtown” is used mostly by the local alternative media scene any more. OTOH the reference to natives as “Baltimorons” \*\*\*is \*\*\* still common. Do people really call Baltimore “Bumburg”? I’ve seen it in print a time or two, and one of the characters in \*Desperate Living \*refers to Baltimore by that name. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/128 "2019-06-07T18:05:19Z")
Pensacola, FL is called Pensacoma. Albuquerque is called Albaturkey, Santa Fe- Santa flush. Ft. Lauderdale is sometime called Ft. La De Da ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/129 "2019-06-07T18:35:28Z")
This isn’t a specific city, but that reminded me, I’ve heard the whole Florida Panhandle, possibly also including the coastal parts of Alabama and Mississippi, called the “Redneck Riviera”. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/130 "2019-07-18T01:54:28Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Back in the 1960’s I lived in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Akron. It was known as (1) solidly middle class and (2) for having no black citizens (and took actions to keep it that way). So it was called at various times “Caucasian Falls” or “Cuyahonky Falls” > > BTW, I looked at Wikipedia and the black population has climbed to 3.3% of the total population. So progress has been made–very deliberately. Speaking of “Crackron”… ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/131 "2019-07-18T07:49:34Z")
I’ve seen a few nicknames for Tokyo Non-disparaging: The Big Mikan Disparaging: The Concrete Buttplug ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/132 "2019-07-18T13:09:08Z")
In England, Liverpool has just on the other side of the Mersey estuary, its lesser twin city of Birkenhead (was for a very long time, in a different county from Liverpool). Birkenhead has always suffered from a pronounced inferiority complex vis-a-vis its bigger; and brash, edgy, and go-ahead; counterpart: in comparison with which, people have tended to find it dull, parochial, conservative and fundamentally uninteresting (also in parts, rough and tough). Inhabitants of the general area have long termed Birkenhead “The One-Eyed City”. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/133 "2019-07-18T17:07:04Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’ve heard Manchester, NH referred to as Manch-vegas many times, not sure why. Nashville gets called “Nashvegas”. I always assumed for all wannabe-ness of the neon signs downtown. Not sure any locals take it as an insult though. But I have heard Las Vegas called “LA’s ashtray”. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/134 "2019-07-18T17:21:26Z")
My first college roommate, who was the most fucked up kid I’d ever met up to that point, was from Glen Burnie, MD, a suburb of Baltimore, that he referred to as “Glen Burnout.” One weekend two of his friends from home came out to visit, and _they_ were the two most fucked up kids I’ve ever met, up to then and ever since. So given those three data points (out of a population of about 68,000), I guess it’s at least partially accurate. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/135 "2019-07-18T21:22:23Z")
Tow pretty close towns in West Yorkshire, England are given these names Castleford - Irony name is CasVegas > **[Castleford or Cas-vegas, as it's known locally and ironically](https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/castleford-chav-central.html)** > > Chief past times among Castleford's younger yobs seem to be spray-paint huffing, drunken violence & hanging around smoking... Pontefract - Irony name is Ponte Carlo [https://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Pontefract](https://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Pontefract) These two owns could not be any further away in glamour from the places after which they are called by locals ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/136 "2019-07-18T21:34:39Z")
La Crosse, Wisconsin is often shortened to “LAX” for various purposes (like, the university emails). When I moved here, I asked a colleague of people here call themselves “laxatives.” He smiled but suggested I might want to keep that to myself. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/137 "2019-07-18T21:42:19Z")
My parents lived in Philly in the late 60s. A decade later, I recall my father mentioning “Pass-the-junk Avenue” (Passyunk), and the “Sure-kill Crawlway” (Schuylkill Expressway). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/138 "2019-07-18T21:45:43Z")
One more: “Cantina Row,” for the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Appropriate, as the home of the “Mayan Riviera” (Cancun, Tulum…). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/139 "2019-07-19T06:50:07Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > We have a -vegas in Australia too (Brisvegas). Can’t think of any other city-level nicknames, but the super-hipster suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne is often referred to as “The People’s Republic of Brunswick”. Usually by people who live there Sin City (Sydney). And, from the late 19th century, our home city: Marvelous Smelbourne. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699/140 "2019-07-19T14:15:53Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > My first college roommate, who was the most fucked up kid I’d ever met up to that point, was from Glen Burnie, MD, a suburb of Baltimore, that he referred to as “Glen Burnout.” One weekend two of his friends from home came out to visit, and _they_ were the two most fucked up kids I’ve ever met, up to then and ever since. So given those three data points (out of a population of about 68,000), I guess it’s at least partially accurate. “Glen Burnout” was also the pseudonym of a popular rock radio personality a couple of decades ago. I wish I could I remember more because I remember he was a fairly funny character. And all Baltimoron. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deprecating-names-of-cities/614699.md?page=8)