ISTM that it does, and that it’s more commonly used in phrases like “you’ll never get a job in this town again”, “that’s the way things work in this town”, “this town’s not big enough for the two of us”, and so on (… oh baby, this town rips the bones from your back …).
Does anyone else have this perception or am I imagining it? And if it’s real, how would it have come about?
No, I find it semantically neutral despite your noticing the use of phrase in confrontational situations.
This town has the best sports team! I love this town!
The first thing that came to my mind was the Go-Go’s, “This Town”:
This town is our town
It is so glamorous
Bet you’d live here if you could
And be one of us
Reminds me of this dialogue from Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers:
“You’ll never work in this town again, Tirebiter!”
“What town?”
No
The first thing I thought of was the Lee Hazlewood song…
This town is a lonely town
Not the only town like-a this town
This town is a make you town
Or a break you town and bring you down town
I thought of Winston’s line near the end of Ghostbusters.
[quote=“RTFirefly, post:3, topic:726050”]
The first thing that came to my mind was the Go-Go’s, “This Town”:
This town is our town
It is so glamorous
Bet you’d live here if you could
And be one of us
Huh. Never knew this was a cover. I guess I should have known - it’s not exactly in Kittie’s typical screamo style.