# What is the unofficial name of your metro area? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752 "2005-02-24T19:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/21 "2005-02-24T21:53:43Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Foof. There is only one **The Bay Area** , and it’s the San Francisco Bay Area. Tampa Bay Area my aunt Fanny! > > The part I live in is also called **Silicon Valley**. Don’t make me call you Frisco! I know, but it is called that here. We’re far enough away from each other that it doesn’t cause confusion. Besides, I was born in your Bay Area, so I know the difference. **Trublmakr** : piedmont = foot of the mountain, so it’s apt for your area. **Cliffy** : I hereby dub the DC area “The Big Sleazy” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/22 "2005-02-24T21:56:56Z")
**Burlington, Vermont** is called “The Queen City”. I have no idea why. No, it has nothing to do with _that_. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/23 "2005-02-24T22:06:23Z")
Madison is generally referred to as Mad Town, or The Mad City. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/24 "2005-02-24T22:07:59Z")
BTW, Charlotte is also known as The Queen City. I grew up in “The Thumb” of Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/25 "2005-02-24T22:24:26Z")
London is The Big Smoke or just The Smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Poonther](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Poonther](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poonther)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/26 "2005-02-24T22:24:32Z")
Here are a few nicknames for Florida. Tallahassee: The Big Bend because it’s the part of the state where the Peninsula curves around to meet the Panhandle. Ft. Walton Beach/Destin/Panama City: refer to themselves as the Emerald Coast not the Redneck Rivera anymore. West Palm/Ft. Lauderdale/Miami: are known as South Florida or the Gold Coast Vero Beach/Ft. Pierce/Stuart: The Treasure Coast Titusville/Melbourne/Cape Canaveral: The Space Coast Jacksonville/St. Augustine: The First Coast, although I think for the Superbowl Jax came up with some new nickname. Locally in Florida, Tampa/St. Pete are referred to as the Bay area or Tampa Bay but yes, THE Bay area only refers to SF and environs. I usually call the Tampa area the Suncoast. At one time Tampa was know as America’s Next Great City and Miami was known as The Magic City. I think both of these have been dropped. Oh yeah and Orlando is known as the City Beautiful. (ha ha ha) ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/27 "2005-02-24T22:35:13Z")
Nashville is nicknamed “Music City”, for obvious reasons. Nashville is in Davidson COunty. Davidson County and the surrounding counties are known collectively as “Middle Tennessee”. StG ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/28 "2005-02-24T22:56:06Z")
The area surrounding Tulsa (in northeastern Oklahoma) is often referred to as “Green Country,” which I think was a coinage of some Chamber of Commerce dudes. While we aren’t exactly the dust bowl, we’re no lush, verdant paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/29 "2005-02-24T23:00:06Z")
Roanoke is the “Star City”. The reason why we are the “Star City” is because we saw fit to build a bigass (88 1/2 ft tall) [neon](http://www.richmondcitywatch.com/Pictures/015/015_roanoke_star1.jpg)[star](http://members.tripod.com/jessica_faye/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/image9virginia.jpg) on the top of Mill Mountain. Why exactly we did this continues to be unknown even to us, though a local historic society consisting of me suspects that it was so we could also build the Extremely Groovy Ski-Lift Type Dealybob that used to carry tourists up the mountain to look at it. The EGSLTD has since been decommissioned, but the star remains. ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/30 "2005-02-24T23:02:02Z")
NYC and the surrounding areas of New Jersey and Conneticut are the Tri-State Area. Manhattan is just The City. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/31 "2005-02-24T23:06:13Z")
The Savannah area is usually referred to as “The Coastal Empire”. You know, Empire, the kind that has been known to strike back. ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/32 "2005-02-24T23:13:45Z")
Charm City Mobtown B-More Monumental City City of Firsts (I thinks this is more of a marketing thing and less of a true nickname) City That Reads (Again, more of a marketing motto, though likely a failed one) Greatest City in America (Ditto; this one’s on several of our city benches) Baltimore, Maryland ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/33 "2005-02-24T23:26:00Z")
My area is generally referred to as “down by us, there.” ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/34 "2005-02-24T23:26:13Z")
Detroit= MoTown or Motor City. We’re really trying to get past that ‘murder capital’ thing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/35 "2005-02-24T23:34:52Z")
> [@ColonelDax](#): > > London is The Big Smoke or just The Smoke. I’d query this…the equivalent of ‘metro area’ is surely Greater London (whatever that may be)? All my London-suburb relatives and friends would only consider ‘the smoke’ to mean central London. And that would be if any of them ever used the phrase anyway. (I prefer Mark & Lard’s “London Village”, anyway…) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/36 "2005-02-24T23:39:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I spent several years in the Charlotte/Fort Mill/Rock Hill area, and that was known as The Piedmont. All those cities on the Eastern Seaboard sandwiched between the coastal plain and the mountains can be properly referred to as The Piedmont, because they reside within the geographical region known as “the Piedmont.” The Piedmont stretches up the south and east sides of the Appalachians from Montgomery, Alabama, through central Georgia (including Atlanta, which is also frequently referred to a the Piedmont,) through the central Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, etc. and finally terminates at (and just to the west of) the glacial moraine feature known as Long Island. Parts of NYC are Piedmont. The Piedmont is usually thought of as the eastern foothills to the Appalachians (with the entirely different and fascinating in itself Cumberland Plateau to the west.) The Piedmont was itself an extremely lofty mountain range at one point. It is defined along its eastern flank (forming the coastal plain) by a feature called a “peneplain.” Essentially, this is an erosional landform only formed by many hundreds of millions of years of steady weathering. They are closely associated with very old mountain ranges. The present Appalachians have undergone many periods of uplift and erosion, and at the time when they were highest (just after the collision with the North African plate which also incidentally raised the High Atlas mountains, the Pennines of the UK, and the famously mountainous spine of Norway, since they were all putatively part of the North American plate and were ripped loose when the two continents retreated from each other,) they were monstrous…higher perhaps than the Himalayas. As a result, the Piedmont was very high as well, being likely higher than the present-day Alps or Caucasus ranges. The biological diversity of the Piedmont stems from this very fact, since it is an exceptionally ancient landscape with thousands of individual niche habitats. But I seem to have wandered. Suffice to say that those cities are nicknamed “Piedmont” because they lie within the Piedmont physiographic province. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/37 "2005-02-24T23:43:02Z")
Was the American Piedmont named after the Italian region of the same name? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/38 "2005-02-24T23:45:01Z")
Absolutely, because it shares many of the same features, including an ancient peneplain. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/39 "2005-02-25T00:02:31Z")
Seattle is either The Emerald City or Jet City. Spokane is, The Queen of the Inland Empire (snic) ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/40 "2005-02-25T00:16:41Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is called The Triangle. If you expand it to include Greensboro and Winston-Salem, it’s called the Triad. Sometimes this area is also referred to as the Piedmont. Huh? The Triad is Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point. It has nothing to do with the Triangle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752.md?page=3)