Manhattan, Chicago, San Francisco: it's "The City"...true elsewhere? (neighborhoods, suburbia)

[l1995]

Originally Posted by tman7117

Wrong. Everyone on LI/NJ at least calls Manhattan the city, and if you are talking about something in any of the other boroughs you'd just say their name.

ex: "Is that restaurant you were talking about in the city?" "No, it's in Queens."

Exactly. Nobody refers to the outer boroughs as "the city" unless they're Archie Bunker types.

And apparently, people in the outer boroughs referring to Manhattan as "the city" used to be less prevalent. My aunt who is in her late 40s has lived in Brooklyn her whole life and views that as a suburbanite thing.

[dapper23]

People in Washington State refer to Seattle as "the city"

[BrooklynJo]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Here's the Dialect Prevalence Map from 2013. The question was What is "The City" to you?

Here is a heat map for New York. The redder the area, the more prevalent that the respondent replied NYC. The bluer the area means that locals there refer to another place as "The City"

my image

Interesting map. I’m not surprised by the red in southern Florida but a little surprised by the tiny red that exist in the southeast states!

[the resident09]

Originally Posted by STLgasm

Yes, in both St. Louis and Baltimore, "the City" quite literally refers to the independent core cities, and "the County" is pretty much a moniker for the suburbs.

This is true. In Baltimore I've heard the term "county bounty" used for people outside the city limits.

[Borntoolate85]

Originally Posted by the resident09

This is true. In Baltimore I've heard the term "county bounty" used for people outside the city limits.

My family is from Baltimore, and I've never heard that term used until now!

Let's not forget sometime for a secondary city, "the town". Perhaps someone from Delaware County, PA could call Wilmington, DE "the town" as opposed to "the city", which is Philly for them. To someone from Northern NJ, Newark (or perhaps Patterson) could be "the town", Fort Worth "the town" compared to bigger Dallas, Round Rock, TX the "town" compared to Austin, Ft. Lauderdale "the town" to Miami, while Oakland is "the town" in the SF Bay Area. Alexandria, VA though is "old town".

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by l1995

Exactly. Nobody refers to the outer boroughs as "the city" unless they're Archie Bunker types.

Not true .. I lived in NYC for close to 15 years .... take a trip upstate or to CT ... its down in "the city" even if you're talking about BX, BK, or Qns. Not saying everyone does it, but you definitely have those that do, and technically they are correct.... Outer Boroughs are just as much New York CITY, as Manhattan.

[Katarina Witt]

One of the weather forecasters on Denver TV refers to temps in "the city"; most just say "Denver" or "downtown" (as opposed to the airport). That particular forecaster is from California, IIRC, though she's been here a long time.

[KodeBlue]

Originally Posted by the resident09

This is true. In Baltimore I've heard the term "county bounty" used for people outside the city limits.

That's used as an insult to people from the county trying to act tough.

[l1995]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Not true .. I lived in NYC for close to 15 years .... take a trip upstate or to CT ... its down in "the city" even if you're talking about BX, BK, or Qns. Not saying everyone does it, but you definitely have those that do, and technically they are correct.... Outer Boroughs are just as much New York CITY, as Manhattan.

Well upstate is not in the NYC metro area except for part of Dutchess County, so that's a little different. Connecticut is out of state. But I know that "the city" for Long Islanders usually means Manhattan. I'm from Long Island and personally I don't really say "the city" because Manhattan has a nice ring to it.

[Pine to Vine]

When people living outside Kansas City tell their friends they ”need to drive into the city tomorrow,” do you really think they are planning to slip into Manahattan for the day?