If the 5 boroughs comprise political divisions of New York City, why is Manhattan referred to as The City? It appears that *New York City refers to Manhattan only. Please clear this up for me…a west coaster. 
New York City consists of the five boroughs together.
However, since Manhattan is where most of the business, culture, and cool stuff is concentrated, some outsiders think erroneously that Manhattan is pretty much all NYC has to offer, and is therefore, “the city.”
You could always check the official site of New York City at http://www.governmentguide.com/govsite.adp?bread=Main&url=http%3A//www.ci.nyc.ny.us/
Click on the link for “elected officials” and you’ll see the following listed:
[ul][]Borough President - Bronx[]Borough President - Brooklyn[]Borough President - Manhattan[]Borough President - Queens[]Borough President - Staten Island[]District Attorney - Bronx[/ul]
Whoops. Ignore the DA in the list above. I C&Ped a tad too much from that list. I was trying to list just the Borough Presidents.
You’re right about the tourists.From my perspective as a Queens bred/young adult resident of neighborhoods as diverse as Park Slope Bklyn,Tompkins square,Murray Hill,and the Upper west side (last 3 in Manhattan)-and having been transplanted to sunnier climes,I’d say to look at Manhattan as you would your hometown’s downtown/entertainment/shopping area.That’s what I always did.
The place to go for a night on the town when you’re not hanging out in your neighborhood sites (that is of course if your neighborhood has any recreational/shopping areas,as all the boroughs do.) Even the Bronx-no kidding. 
The other 4 were bedroom comunities for manhattan at one time (Brooklyn was an exception as it was a city itself). As the area ‘citified’ the city now encompases the 5 + nassau, westchester, jersey city area (I don’t know the counties ofer there)with bedroom comunities going as far as suffolk, putnam, duches, rockland and all the way across NJ to PA
It’s not just tourists. I’ve lived in Queens my whole life, and it’s not uncommon for someone to say " the city" when meaning Manhattan (or actually certain parts of Manhattan. I’ve never heard somewhere use “the city” when they meant “Harlem”) . Even the signs at train stations used to say “To City” rather than “To Manhattan”. Doesn’t mean they think that the other boroughs aren’t part of the city. It’s more the equivalent of saying “downtown”. A lot of the time you can’t really just say “downtown”, because it won’t be clear - if you’re in Brooklyn and you’re going “downtown” are you going to downtown Brooklyn or Manhattan?
Manhattan was NYC at one time. When Chicago looked like it would pass NYC in population NYC annexed Brooklyn and the other buroughs. Boom instant population growth.
It is like people outside Chicago will call downtown, the loop. But it isn’t. Downtown includes not only the Loop but other areas as well.
Back to NYC, I know people who live in Harlem that refer to the city. So it appears not only Manhattan but the lower part of Manhattan.
The only people I’ve heard call Manhattan “The City” were people from Long Island (that would be Nassau and Suffolk counties-- not Brooklyn and Queens). Many of them call Manhattan “The City” as sort of a bookend of “The Island” (Long Island). They call Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island “the boroughs”.
Long Islander checking back in. People here do refer to manhattan as ‘the city’ but we do NOT call the other areas ‘the boroughs’. We call them by their proper name - Brooklyn, Queens, S.I., THE Bronx (sometimes you even hear Kings).
I am deeply offended by your sterotypical assumption.
Fort Greene born an bred. Everytime I was going downtown, I was going to fulton street, or Brooklyn Heights. Everytime I’m going to the city, its Manhattan.
I live in NJ, and whenever anyone says they are going into the city, they are talking about Manhattan. If they are going to Brooklyn or the Bronx, they just say Brooklyn or the Bronx.
As an aside to the OP, the West Coaster should know that San Francisco is called “The City” by people in the neighboring communities. It drives the Oakland politicians apeshit.
Another interesting thing about New York is the way that mail to it is addressed. An envelope that says New York, NY is almost always going to Manhattan, whereas mail to Brooklyn and the Bronx uses the borough name in place of the first “New York” (I assume that’s the case with Staten Island as well).
In Queens, by contrast, mail is usually addressed to the neighbourhood (e.g. Forest Hills, NY).
The annexed portions of the Bronx (which used to be part of Westchester County) also use their former town names for postal purposes. The reason you still use town names in Queens is because at the time of the 1898 consolidation of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the other boroughs, Queens County was just a bunch of small villages, whereas Brooklyn had already filled up most of Kings County by that time.
also I believe that Nassau County was still part if Queens (and wasn’t a county).
Oh and mail addressed to New York, NY means Manhattan because Manhattan is New York county (except for Marble Hill)
I dunno, k2dave. Where else in the States is mail addressed by the name of the county?
To 2nd (or 3rd) other posters,this Rigewood/Middle village Queens bred used “the city”,just like the subway signs.
Also refered to Nassau,etc.as the “island”.
For a historical account you might try here http://www.nytimes.com/specials/nyc100/contents.html.
The consolidation had nothing to do w/any rivalry as to who’s biggest,from my past readings.More the praticality to oversee a more or less homogenized entity that was duplicating services or infrastucture-or a Tammany power grab.
ruadh: Arlington County, Virginia gets its mail address to Arlington, VA. There are no cities in Arlington County although there are neighbourhoods which have the word “city” appended to them.