places you heard of only on city data (living, population, schools)

[Carl Brimstone]

I have never heard of people actually say “global city” “world class city” or “alpha city” before City Data

Never heard of Bos-Wash before City Data

[Carl Brimstone]

Originally Posted by jennifat

You've never heard of Puget Sound? It's only the most prominent body of water in the state

I’v never heard of the Puget Sound before Cita Data and i live on the West Coast. I don’t think you should expect many people out of state or have never visited to know of it.

For example Inland Empire is somethint every Southern Californian knows about but out of state/non locals won’t be familiar with the term.

[murksiderock]

Originally Posted by Carl Brimstone

I’v never heard of the Puget Sound before Cita Data and i live on the West Coast. I don’t think you should expect many people out of state or have never visited to know of it.

For example Inland Empire is somethint every Southern Californian knows about but out of state/non locals won’t be familiar with the term.

To speak more to your point on the bolded:

Originally Posted by Treasurevalley92

I'd never heard of:

"Hampton Roads" I was aware of Virginia beach though.

"The Research Triangle"

Greater DC being referred to as "DMV"

In reality, Hampton Roads and Research Triangle are more often academic, professional terms than commonplace speech. Locally, I believe the label "Hampton Roads" has caught on more in the last dozen years or so than the time prior, but you hear it referred to as "Tidewater" more often, and you hear "Seven Cities" maybe as much as you hear Hampton Roads. Outside of Virginia, you mostly just hear people call it the "Norfolk area" or "Virginia Beach area"...

"Research Triangle" is purely academic. It is widely recognized as "The Triangle" in common speech. Outside of North Carolina, you hear "Raleigh-Durham" much, much more often than any other term...

[Matt Marcinkiewicz]

Originally Posted by stanley-88888888

for me its:
people post these terms as if they are common knowledge and surprisingly from the responses, they are.

any others... ?

Just to respond to this post for now--I knew Hampton Roads and NoVa pre-CD, and I still don't know The Loop post-CD, heh. I now see what The Loop refers to in the first couple responses...went to Chicago once around age 16, but was apparently oblivious

[Chicagoland60426]

Flyover Country
Rustbelt
Sunbelt

[mhays25]

I spent enough time with urban planning books, picture books, atlases, and almanacs to have heard of most of these places before the internets came around, and before I traveled much.

What doesn't appear very high on a list of metros or highrises, or have big fonts on a map? And what's also not in movies? NoVa and the Hampton Roads area are among them. Germany's Ruhr Valley cities. Columbus, Sacramento, Ottawa.

Most places that locals think are "world famous" are unknown to most people.

[That_One_Guy]

I’m surprised at all the people saying they never heard of DMV or NoVa. I’m not even from the DMV area, but I’ve definitely heard these terms many times before. “DelMarVa peninsula” is not one that I’ve ever heard before, but it’s self explanatory.

I’ve never heard of “Golden Horseshoe” before CD, which is what the Toronto region calls itself.
“Beantown” which is a nickname for Boston apparently
And Corpus Christi, TX

Originally Posted by Carl Brimstone

I have never heard of people actually say “global city” “world class city” or “alpha city” before City Data

Me neither, and guess what... “world class city” means absolutely nothing. There is no set definition and to my knowledge it is not a term used much if at all IRL. It’s such a powerful term on here though and people get into these arguments about it, but it’s really all about semantics and what they interpret the term to mean to them because, you know, it doesn’t actually mean anything.

Also “coastal elite” is another term that I want to throw in there.

[mhays25]

Why would anyone outside the mid-Atlantic area know about the "DMV"? It looks pretty close to NYC so it's not surprising that you'd know it. But I bet most in the US don't know the details of state lines in that area (I certainly needed a refresher) and there aren't many cues in the US media...sports teams, movies, etc. It's not a nationally-known tourist area.

As for "world class," totally agree. It's not the sort of thing that even can be defined.

[That_One_Guy]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Why would anyone outside the mid-Atlantic area know about the "DMV"? It looks pretty close to NYC so it's not surprising that you'd know it. But I bet most in the US don't know the details of state lines in that area (I certainly needed a refresher) and there aren't many cues in the US media...sports teams, movies, etc. It's not a nationally-known tourist area.

As for "world class," totally agree. It's not the sort of thing that even can be defined.

I guess I just assumed that it was common knowledge in The US that DC sits on the Virginia/Maryland border, kind of like how people know that NYC sits on the NJ border (at least I think that’s common knowledge, right?). I don’t even know anymore. I guess what you were saying is correct. A lot of things that locals assume are well-known are actually unknown to most people.

I do want to point out that a lot of famous landmarks and places that people associate with DC and mistakenly believe to be in DC are actually in Maryland or Virginia. Ex:

NSA — Maryland
Pentagon — Virginia
Arlington national cemetery — Virginia
CIA — Virginia
FedEx Field (Redskins Stadium) — Maryland
Reagan airport — Virginia

I’m sure I missed a bunch too. These are things that every American knows, I guess it’s just not common knowledge they’re not actually located in DC proper. People probably visit some of these places as tourists and probably don’t even realize this.
One example I can think of in media is the show American Dad. The main character works for the CIA and it’s commonly mentioned throughout the show that they live in Langley, Virginia — where the CIA is located.

[mhays25]

I bet the majority know that DC is between VA and MD. But we don't know much about Delaware or anything on or about the peninsula.