No connects?
Before Truth or Consequences was a television show, it was a radio show. In 1950, Hot Springs, N.M., took up the show’s offer to hold the show’s 10th anniversary celebration in any town in the U.S. that would rename itself. The town even has a “Ralph Edwards Park” now.
But did anyone use Milwaukee as a synonym for the brewing industry? I don’t think so.
Usually these metonyms get applied when all or almost all the major players in an industry are located in that area, even if they’ve since moved away. That was never the case with the brewing industry – there’s lots of major brewers who were never in Milwaukee. And currently (although this is unrelated to whether it’s a metonym or not) there are no major brewers there at all. There may be some craft brewers there, but that’s it.
It’s the same with the aerospace industry and Seattle. Boeing was the only one ever in that city; the rest were located elsewhere, mostly in California actually.
Well, a lot of the theatres are actually on Shaftesbury Avenue, but I do not think I have ever heard the street name used to mean the London theatre district (or industry) as a whole. The expression used is The West End.
Once upon a time, Carnaby Street meant the British fashion industry (or at least that segment targeted at the young and hip), and Haight-Ashbury meant hippie culture. (Oh dear, I am showing my age now. :()
City of Industry, California.
Um, what “particular industry” does that refer to?
Capital.
Here I was thinking that this would be places named for a particular industry, like Asbestos, Quebec.
And before that, when the main players were on rue Saint-Jacques in Old Montreal, the metonym was St. James Street.
“Quebec City” is frequently used to mean the provincial government. I wonder how many other provinces do that – somehow I can’t picture “Toronto” being used for the Ontario government, because it’s too many other things. (I imagine they just say “Queen’s Park.”)
casdave writes:
Only because of Wallace and Gromit. I’d never heard of the cheese before that. And apparently it was somewhat whimsically chosen – the animators liked the way wallace’s mouth moved when saying “Wensleydalke”
Yes. They (we) do indeed say Queen’s Park when referencing the Ontario government. Of course lately we have a few other names that we’ve been using to reference the Ontario government.
Saville Row still does, doesn’t it?
“Sand Hill” to refer to Silicon Valley VC firms. Note the use of one of these for an industry serving another industry of this type.
And I can’t believe nobody’s brought up “The Beltway” yet. Actually a Washington, DC, highway, it is often used to refer to the center of power within the government.
Since Broadway runs from the top to the bottom of “The City”, we also use Shubert Alley to describe the theatre district.
Tin Pan Alley was similarly used at the turn of the century.
The oddest designation has to be “the Bridge & Tunne Crowd” sometimes shortened to B&> Used to describe people who regularly come into The City, as you hve to use a bridge or tunnel to get there from whereyou are.
Not sure if these fit but I’ll throw them into the mix anyway.
Bochum, Germany has the Starlighthalle, and has become known for its very long running production of Starlight Express, an industry unto itself.
I dunno. Industry! That’s the name of the town, The City of Industry.
They make all kinds of shit there. The Wiki article states that City of Industry has 80,000 jobs but only 777 residents. It’s 92% industrial and the other 8% nudie bars.
So, no it does not stand for a particular industry, just industry in general.
Actually, it is. “Foggy Bottom” extends much further northward than the State Department, Kennedy Center, and the Watergate. It includes the George Washington University area (the Foggy Bottom metro station is in the middle of campus) and includes a range of uses – hotels, residences, embassies, etc. It extends all the way over to Georgetown and up to the Dupont Circle area. What used to be known as the “West End,” on the eastern edge of Georgetown is now all considered Foggy Bottom.
But would “I work in Seattle” likely be understood to mean “I work in the aeronautics industry”? That’s what I’m asking about.
You could ask a New York banker at a party what he does for a living, and you’d have a general idea of what he meant if he said “I work in Wall Street.” You’d assume that he works in the financial industry, in New York, whether or not his office is actually physically located on Wall Street.
Conversely, if I own a hotdog stand that is physically located on Wall Street, saying “I work on Wall Street,” without more information, would be considered very misleading by most people, even though it’s technically true.
Napa for California wine, Humboldt or Emerald Triangle for California weed.
A place being well-known for a certain type of product is not sufficient for metonymy.