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.
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.
Crested Butte, CO = Crusty Butt
New Hampshire = Cow Hampshire
Killington Vt (ski resort and town) = K-Mart
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.
I’ve heard Manchester, NH referred to as Manch-vegas many times, not sure why.
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
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.
Pensacola, FL is called Pensacoma. Albuquerque is called Albaturkey, Santa Fe- Santa flush. Ft. Lauderdale is sometime called Ft. La De Da
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”.
Speaking of “Crackron”…
I’ve seen a few nicknames for Tokyo
Non-disparaging: The Big Mikan
Disparaging: The Concrete Buttplug
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”.
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”.
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.
Tow pretty close towns in West Yorkshire, England are given these names
Castleford - Irony name is CasVegas
Pontefract - Irony name is Ponte Carlo
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
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.
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).
One more: “Cantina Row,” for the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Appropriate, as the home of the “Mayan Riviera” (Cancun, Tulum…).
Sin City (Sydney). And, from the late 19th century, our home city: Marvelous Smelbourne.
“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.