# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/41 "2005-02-25T00:22:38Z")
**Fort Worth** is “Cowtown” and “Where the West Begins”. **Dallas** is usually referred to as “Big D” or “Where the East Peters Out” 😉 . The metro area that includes both cities and the suburbs is called “The Metroplex”. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/42 "2005-02-25T00:27:21Z")
The general area in and around Lexington, Ky is the Bluegrass. Lexington calls itself the Horse Capital of the U.S. (For now anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/43 "2005-02-25T00:36:08Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > 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.” . > /clip/ > Suffice to say that those cities are nicknamed “Piedmont” because they lie within the Piedmont physiographic province. And it means, of course, “foot of the mountain”, (from the French)… Some of the places I’ve spent some time besides “The Coastal Empire” (See Savnnah above): Albany, Ga.,-though hardly a “metro” area- “SOWEGA” (SOuthWEst GA) Wilmington, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC-“Southeast North Carolina-Northeast South Carolina”, the former formerly called “SENCLAND”. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/44 "2005-02-25T00:36:25Z")
The Dayton, Ohio area is called the Miami Valley, though that is often used to describe an area much larger than the immediate metropolitan area. Besides the city nicknames already mentioned for Cincinnati, I think Greater Cincinnati (or maybe Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky) is used for the region. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/45 "2005-02-25T00:38:12Z")
Wait, isn’t DC “the District”? I have never lived there, I just remember it being used once or twice. Greensboro can be called “the 'borro”, but that is mostly a youth-slang thing. Not to be confused with a burro, of course. For that matter, many cities use a contracted name as a nick, like The Burgh. ---
**Author:** ![Imbrium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Imbrium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imbrium)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/46 "2005-02-25T00:41:10Z")
Charleston is The Holy City, and the general surrounding area is the Low Country (because it’s a swamp). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/47 "2005-02-25T00:52:17Z")
> [@Queen Tonya](#): > > Detroit= MoTown or Motor City. > > We’re really trying to get past that ‘murder capital’ thing. 😃 Yeah, but in every day use, it’s just “Metro Detroit”. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/48 "2005-02-25T01:45:00Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Mile High City. > > Which kinda sucks that Denver gets the ominous moniker because most of the suburbs are WELL above the 1 mile mark. They actually had to go partway up the steps of the Capitol to get to 5280 feet. We are also the Queen City of the Plains, or dusty boring cowtown, depending. I don’t think there’s any real term for the area including the suburbs. Denver Metro Area, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/49 "2005-02-25T01:47:17Z")
Houston is often the “Space City” or the “Bayou City.” ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/50 "2005-02-25T01:47:53Z")
Bethlehem, PA is the Christmas city (I don’t know if anyone actually calls it that, but it’s written on the “welcome to Bethlehem” mural) and is part of the Lehigh Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/51 "2005-02-25T02:25:30Z")
‘The River Cities’ area. Marietta and Belpre, OH, Williamstown, Vienna and Parkersburg, WV. All along the Ohio River and all prone to going from a happy ‘River Cities’ to a ‘DAMN RIVER!’ Cities area depending on whether the river comes over the levee. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/52 "2005-02-25T03:19:37Z")
Boise, Idaho is “The City of Trees.” ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/53 "2005-02-25T03:25:27Z")
I live in Toronto: - Hogtown - The Big Smoke (or is that London?) - The T-Dot - The Centre of the Universe ---
**Author:** ![Detritus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@Detritus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Detritus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/54 "2005-02-25T03:53:26Z")
Although I doubt it qualifies as a “metro area” in anyone’s eyes (unless that person is from Blackfoot!), Pocatello ID is officially known as “The Gate City” and unofficially known as “Poca-hell-hole”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/55 "2005-02-25T03:59:52Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > **Burlington, Vermont** is called “The Queen City”. I have no idea why. Queen City is the standard nickname for the largest city in a state if it isn’t the capitol. Same with Manchester, NH and many others. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/56 "2005-02-25T06:24:15Z")
> [@Roland Orzabal](#): > > 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. Tacky, but kind of cool. I live in the Lake Area. I think calling it a metropolitan area would be a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/57 "2005-02-25T13:46:47Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > 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.” Folks around here call this area The Sandhills, which is east of us. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/58 "2005-02-25T13:48:47Z")
> [@c\_carol](#): > > Huh? The Triad is Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point. It has nothing to do with the Triangle. That depends on who you ask here. The weatherman is quite sure it includes us. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/59 "2005-02-25T13:54:53Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Queen City is the standard nickname for the largest city in a state if it isn’t the capitol. Same with Manchester, NH and many others. Very interesting! Thank you for the info! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752/60 "2005-02-25T14:10:09Z")
**moi** nailed some of the nicknames. I think that area-wise, you usually hear “Greater Baltimore Area”. You also hear “Greater DC Area”. Sometimes you hear “Baltimore-DC Corridor”, or “DC-Baltimore Corridor”. If you’re not really referring to parts south, but really just the area around Baltimore, you’ll hear “Baltimore and surrounding counties”, or “Baltimore Metro Area”. That usually excludes places like Silver Spring, which are really DC Burbs. My suggestion is to call the whole area “Ball-Wash”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-unofficial-name-of-your-metro-area/291752.md?page=4)