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I think Seattle is another one to mention. It seems like everywhere around the Puget Sound area is referred to as "Seattle", but it could also be that they don't say Washington as much to avoid confusion with DC, even though DC is rarely referred to as Washington.
Came here to post this lol. Can't believe it's not in the list. Also, I'd say the majority of people are not familiar with other cities here except for maybe Tacoma. And if you say Vancouver, most people will assume BC.
Durhamites probably say Durham or the Triangle or NC. I think the Triangle moniker is less used by the Raleigh/Wake County side as a descriptor as the city’s name recognition has kind of taken off over the last decade.
"The Triangle" is how I reference where I grew up/live when talking to people in other parts of NC. It's uniquely the most accurate for me having lived in Raleigh, Cary, and Apex growing up; having attended UNC and going back and forth between CH and Durham for the 10 years after; and now living in Raleigh (far NW though; same distance to DT Durham as DT Raleigh)....and that makes sense to people throughout NC for the most part.
That being said; nobody outside of the state really gets that context. So it's definitely easiest to say "Raleigh".
Durham and Chapel Hill have fairly high name recognition for their relative size due to the respective universities/NCAA teams so people who live there will say the names of those cities...they aren't going to say "Raleigh". But anyone in Wake County and probably Johnston/Granville/Franklin counties would most likely say "near Raleigh".
"Cary" probably has name recognition in the NYC suburbs, South Florida, and maybe Northern CA (was surprised when at a RE conference several years ago that an agent from Livermore, CA asked if Durham was "in the Cary area" as they had several clients who moved there)
"The Triangle" is how I reference where I grew up/live when talking to people in other parts of NC. It's uniquely the most accurate for me having lived in Raleigh, Cary, and Apex growing up; having attended UNC and going back and forth between CH and Durham for the 10 years after; and now living in Raleigh (far NW though; same distance to DT Durham as DT Raleigh).
That being said; nobody outside of the state really gets that context. So it's definitely easiest to say "Raleigh". Durham and Chapel Hill have fairly high name recognition for their relative size due to the respective universities/NCAA teams so people who live there aren't going to say "Raleigh". But anyone in Wake County and probably Johnston/Granville/Franklin counties is going to say "near Raleigh". "Cary" probably has name recognition in the NYC suburbs and increasingly the Bay Area.... but that's about it.
NYC area here and sure I know Cary. Big tech hub. My former company, large telco, had big operations down there. First started working with them around 2000.
Theres like dozens and dozens of tweets like this from various socioeconomic backgrounds explaining how Cambridge is a world away. How people from white-washed suburbs claim Boston, its very very common sentiment. Just not reflected by posters on this site.
People even get into how its not that hard to say you're form a suburb. People get into how it irritates true Bostonians. Its attacked from every angle.
This conversation has been had many times on reddit and the most popular answer always is if you're not from Boston- simply dont say you are.
Interesting information!
Quite a range of interpretations on how cities are defined in this country.
Came here to post this lol. Can't believe it's not in the list. Also, I'd say the majority of people are not familiar with other cities here except for maybe Tacoma. And if you say Vancouver, most people will assume BC.
I honestly wouldn't have guessed this, hence exclusion as a poll option.
Since Seattle has pretty big name ID suburbs-Tacoma, Redmond, Everett, Bellevue, I figured the Puget Sound was a place where you waved the flag of your suburb loud and proud.
I think this all depends on the context. If you're talking to someone out of state it's a lot easier to say "I'm from Chicago/the Chicago area" vs "I'm from Winnetka/Barrington/Lincolnshire, IL" etc.
The vast majority of people not from that region are gonna have no idea what these random suburbs are, but they do know the major city.
I think Seattle is another one to mention. It seems like everywhere around the Puget Sound area is referred to as "Seattle", but it could also be that they don't say Washington as much to avoid confusion with DC, even though DC is rarely referred to as Washington.
Yeah it definitely happens in Seattle.
I do think it’s funny when Seattle-ites get up in arms about people in the suburbs claiming Seattle, and then will post a picture on social media of a mountain 55 miles away captioned “Seattle is so beautiful! <3”
I do think it’s funny when Seattle-ites get up in arms about people in the suburbs claiming Seattle, and then will post a picture on social media of a mountain 55 miles away captioned “Seattle is so beautiful! <3”
I laughed out loud at this because it made me think of someone standing on El Cajon mountain and saying San Diego is beautiful.
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