The City of London is a really tiny and specific part of Greater London.
That’s true, but it’s also not the only sense of city that people operate on, with respect to London
As a Brit I would use both of those as you do.
That often seems to be the case with anything where terminology is being compared - for example people might say “Oh, Brits call them prawns, not shrimp” - no, actually, we use both terms.
For the posh Home Counties set the phrase is “going up to town” at which point they will be “up in town”. “Town” is always London, they would be going “to” e.g. Edinburgh for the Festival.
For a young working class mixed-race kid from Peckham (outer London) I believe it would be “going into London” but there comes a time in a white middle-aged Scot’s life when he has to admit he is not an authority on the vernacular of young working class mixed-race kids from Peckham.
Being “in London” generally means a fairly tightly defined bit of central London which includes the City of London and also e.g. Soho, Mayfair, Westminster but doesn’t include areas that are within the central Tube zone 1 e.g. Vauxhall, Pimlico.
There is also “up West”, meaning the West End (anywhere between, say, Hyde Park and Covent Garden) for shopping and/or nightlife. Though there are plenty of other options elsewhere.
As opposed to Down East.
In the States, at least the lower/ contiguous 48, it’s nearly universal that you travel and refer to “out west” and “back east.”
In speaking of England more widely, we do occasionally say “up north” and “down south”. Somehow, east and west don’t feature in the same way.
Maybe because we have the “north/south divide” and not an “east/west” divide. Plus the country is much longer north/south than east/west when you take the whole of the UK into account.
I always thought that “much obliged” was a fancy way of saying thank you. Not that I know anyone who says “much obliged”.
As an immigrant in the UK I always find it amusing that there are roadsigns saying The NORTH, or The SOUTH, in all-caps, if you are foolish enough to drive away from London along certain routes. They’re a final plaintive warning before you leave the safety of the M25.
There be dragons.
No, they are WEST.
I always find it amusing that there are roadsigns saying The NORTH, or The SOUTH, in all-caps, if you are foolish enough to drive away from London along certain routes. They’re a final plaintive warning
I have seen that 1000 times and it’s still funny.
That could easily be an Almost Live sketch about Seattle.
No, I lived in London for many years and this isn’t how we’d describe going into Central London - we’d say ‘I need to go into town’ or ‘I need to go to the West End/City’. The descriptor ‘London’ describes everything inside the M25.