# Please don't call it... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883 "2013-08-22T16:13:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/1 "2013-08-22T16:13:20Z")
In another thread, **Strainger** asked that Orange County not be called ‘The OC’. I agree. It’s just ‘OC’. I’ve heard that San Francisco natives don’t like people calling their city ‘Frisco’. In that vein… Please don’t call California ‘Cali’. San Pedro is pronounced ‘San **Pee** -dro’. It’s Westminster; not ‘Westminister’. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/2 "2013-08-22T16:18:26Z")
Russiaville, Indiana, is pronounced “Rushville” by it’s locals. Louisville, Kentucky, is “LOO-uh-ville” by Louisvillians. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/3 "2013-08-22T16:20:47Z")
Apparently, you’re not supposed to call it meth anymore. It’s uh… what, speed? Who can keep up with those crazy kids these days. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/4 "2013-08-22T16:21:41Z")
Call Chicago “Chi-town” and I will physically slap you. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/5 "2013-08-22T16:22:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Please don’t call California ‘Cali’. I would have students here tell me they were going to “Cali” for the weekend. I always told them I used to live in “Fornia”, a suburb of “Cali”, but much nicer and more fun. BTW, nobody here in Las Vegas minds if you call it “Vegas”…even many of the locals do so. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/6 "2013-08-22T16:25:37Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > Call Chicago “Chi-town” and I will physically slap you. [Chi-Town Hustler](http://speedcityresin.com/Chi-TownHustler68Launch.jpg)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/7 "2013-08-22T16:25:49Z")
If only Californians would stop saying “The 405” for I-405. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/8 "2013-08-22T16:26:46Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > If only Californians would stop saying “The 405” for I-405. No, the freeway is ‘the’. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/9 "2013-08-22T16:30:43Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > Call Chicago “Chi-town” and I will physically slap you. Damn right. It’s [Chi-tonw](http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/03/chitonw.html), as any fule kno. Also, please don’t call it “jolly” (or “merrie”) “olde” England, unless you want to be beaten to death with morris-dancing sticks. ---
**Author:** ![romadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@romadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romadea)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/10 "2013-08-22T16:32:27Z")
I assumed it was an Arrested Development reference. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/11 "2013-08-22T16:33:43Z")
Please don’t refer to Olympia as “Oly”. Or Tacoma as “T-Town”. Or Puyallup as… well, it’s probably better you don’t try to refer to it at all until you learn the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/12 "2013-08-22T16:37:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Or Puyallup as… well, it’s probably better you don’t try to refer to it at all until you learn the pronunciation. I’ll be over in Sequim. Or maybe I’ll go down to Port Hueneme. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/13 "2013-08-22T16:40:30Z")
You don’t pronounce the S in Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/14 "2013-08-22T16:42:35Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > If only Californians would stop saying “The 405” for I-405. This is a bizarre elitist NorCal thing. Some NorCal dudes think that because SoCal will say “THEE 101” and here in NorCal dudes say “the 101”\*, somehow “The 101” is wrong, evil, low-class, low-brow and badwrongfun. If a news announcer sez it the SoCal way on TV, hundreds of angry emails are generated. I don’t get it. - Yes, I know NorCalers \*claim \*they don’t say “the” but I hear many of them say a very soft “the”. True, it’s no-where near as pronounced as SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/15 "2013-08-22T16:45:14Z")
Nobody lives in New Joisey, and we don’t talk like that. Shut the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/16 "2013-08-22T16:47:34Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > Call Chicago “Chi-town” and I will physically slap you. I can give “Chi-town” a pass. It’s “the Chi/Shy” that bugs the shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/17 "2013-08-22T16:49:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Please don’t call California ‘Cali’. > > San Pedro is pronounced ‘San **Pee** -dro’. > > It’s Westminster; not ‘Westminister’. How do you feel about Cahuenga and Sepulveda? La Canada? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/18 "2013-08-22T16:49:17Z")
You’re welcome to call Cleveland the CLE or the 216, whatever you like, as long as you’re speaking about Cleveland at all. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/19 "2013-08-22T16:51:13Z")
Having grown up in areas with oddly pronounced place-names, I don’t really mind when outsiders say things wrong. It makes it easy to distinguish locals from outsiders. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883/20 "2013-08-22T16:51:50Z")
The thing about “Frisco” is that the working stiffs (and I don’t mean financial district types) will call it that to piss off the rich folks. My Dad, a fifth generation native almost never says the whole name. (And yes, I was born there too, making me sixth generation.) I call it SF, San Francisco, the City and rarely Frisco. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-dont-call-it/666883.md?page=2)