Okay, seriously, do you have to take a partisan dump on every thread? It would be a little less annoying if your posts weren’t quite so moronic.
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This is GQ, bullrun. Save that kind of remark for the political debates or the Pit.
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As to “the City,” it does vary. When I lived near San Jose, California, saying “I’m going into town” meant you were going to San Jose, but saying “I’m going to the City” meant you were going to San Francisco – even though San Jose is bigger.
Why did I say “San Jose, California” in the previous sentence? Because there’s another San Jose with an airport, and when you fly both to California and Mexico semi-regularly, it pays to be precise.
Where I live now, there are certain cities we always qualify. I live pretty close to the Montana/Wyoming border. Both states have Sheridans, so you always say which one you’re talking about. There’s a Joliet down the road from us, but it’s pronounced differently than the big Joliet with the prison (Illinois’ is Joe-lee-et, and Montana’s is Jaw-lee-et). That means we don’t have to qualify it.
Update!
I just heard an Australian on TV saying he comes from Western Australia, Australia.
Umm… I think know where Western Australia is, isn’t it a state in the west of Australia?
Yes, with Perth its capital and largest city.
I’m also American, and I don’t agree with any of the above. At all. I also don’t know any Americans who exhibit behavior described above, and have never known any.
But did the guy really need to point out that western Australia is in Australia?
I would have thought that anyone who is intelligent enough to breathe would know that.
None of the Americans you know ever use the “city, state,” format? Really? In my experience every American does it sometimes.
Only when it’s required for clarification. Such as, “Vancouver, WA,” or is a not necessarily well-known city where not everyone knows where it is, such as “Mandeville, LA.”
Even the people I know from Texas don’t do that when referring to big cities in their state.