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Manhattan, it is well known, is referred to as "the City" in the outer boroughs and throughout metro NYC. San Francisco has long had a synonym, "The City", a term used for well over a century when Californians referred to San Francisco as "The City" (the Warriors, when they played in SF....where they are btw returning from Oakland) had "The City" on their jerseys.
And in Chicago, my home town, suburbanites refer to Chicago as "the city". I hardly hear anyone say "Chicago" for it. It's virtually always "I'm going into the city", rarely "I'm going into Chicago."
My question is, and I suppose the answer is "yes": is that true in any city? Do people refer to the main city in their metro area as "The City" except perhaps in places where it might not work: Dallas, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, St. Paul and the like.
Manhattan, it is well known, is referred to as "the City" in the outer boroughs and throughout metro NYC. San Francisco has long had a synonym, "The City", a term used for well over a century when Californians referred to San Francisco as "The City" (the Warriors, when they played in SF....where they are btw returning from Oakland) had "The City" on their jerseys.
And in Chicago, my home town, suburbanites refer to Chicago as "the city". I hardly hear anyone say "Chicago" for it. It's virtually always "I'm going into the city", rarely "I'm going into Chicago."
My question is, and I suppose the answer is "yes": is that true in any city? Do people refer to the main city in their metro area as "The City" except perhaps in places where it might not work: Dallas, Fort Worth, Minneapolis, St. Paul and the like.
So how about the residents that actually live in Chicago? If they are going downtown do they call it downtown or do they call it the city?
This is an interesting topic. As a frequent traveler over the years I have observed cities using this term all over the country.
Sure, San Francisco is probably the best and most accurate example. (Check out "Lights" by Journey) NYC can also lay claim on the term for obvious reasons. But I have also heard it used as "The Big City" in Texas, in Houston. Believe it or not, I also have heard it in Seattle on radio as "the big city" in the Northwest.
So how about the residents that actually live in Chicago? If they are going downtown do they call it downtown or do they call it the city?
Please don't even get into the concept of "what is downtown"
There are some suburbanites who refer the virtually the whole city as downtown (they would consider areas of the mid-North Side, like Wrigleyville and Wrigley Field to be "downtown".
but I'm going to plead a degree of ignorance here, Brooklyn, as referring to "the city" is what I hear in suburbia; not absolutely sure if Chicagoans do the same.
Philly is weird especially the northern burbs (say Bucks and Burlington counties in PA and NJ respectively)
People can refer to Philly as the city or more commonly Center City but people do use "city". All while simultaneously using the "city" as Manhattan. Its almost like a different inflection or context and even with the same word most times you understand which one they mean. Those areas of the Philly burbs are pretty close to both Manhattan and Philly so maybe that plays in
On the national context NYC is by far the most commonly recognized. more regionally SF probably next but not on a national context whereas NYC carries that much further across the US
Many locals refer to their core as the city
NYC is the real outlier on this though the popularity of the GS (originally Philadelphia) Warriors has added a bit to the linkage for SF even though the play in the East bay (Oakland has a few originally Philadelphia teams with the Warriors and As (as a quirky tid bit)
In the Chicago area, we refer to Chicago as the city.
In MSP we say "the cities". Being a transplant I've noticed many people call downtown Minneapolis " downtown", but refer to downtown st Paul as "downtown st paul". I currently live in St Paul and I've noticed my Minneapolis relatives call Minneapolis the city.
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