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Most big Cities in America seem irrelevant for most foreigner but here is my list.
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington D.C.
4. Miami
5. Chicago
6. San Francisco
7. Orlando
8. Philadelphia
9. Las Vegas
10. Boston
11. Seattle
12. Atlanta
13. New Orleans
14. Houston
15. Dallas
16. San Diego
17. Phoenix
18. San Antonio
19. Minneapolis
20. St Louis
21. Pittsburgh
22. Charlotte
23. Portland
24. Baltimore
25. Cleveland
I'd say your list has just about every city that should be on there, except Detroit, but slight homerism for Florida cities. Miami above Chicago... come now. Orlando above Atlanta and Houston? I'd go with this list. Sunbelt cities like Charlotte and Phoenix have just come into the picture of big cities, whereas cities like St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore have been important cities for decades if not centuries.
Top Tier (inexcusable in any sense):
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington D.C.
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco
Tier 2:
6. Philadelphia
7. Boston
8. Dallas
9. Atlanta
10. Seattle
11. Miami
Tier 3:
12. New Orleans
13. Houston
14. Detroit
15. Baltimore
16. Minneapolis
17. San Diego
18. St Louis
19. Pittsburgh
20. Cleveland
21. Portland
22. Las Vegas
23. San Antonio
24. Orlando
25. Phoenix
26. Charlotte
I'd say your list has just about every city that should be on there, except Detroit, but slight homerism for Florida cities. Miami above Chicago... come now. Orlando above Atlanta and Houston? I'd go with this list. Sunbelt cities like Charlotte and Phoenix have just come into the picture of big cities, whereas cities like St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore have been important cities for decades if not centuries.
Top Tier (inexcusable in any sense):
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington D.C.
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco
Tier 2:
6. Philadelphia
7. Boston
8. Dallas
9. Atlanta
10. Seattle
11. Miami
Tier 3:
12. New Orleans
13. Houston
14. Detroit
15. Baltimore
16. Minneapolis
17. San Diego
18. St Louis
19. Pittsburgh
20. Cleveland
21. Portland
22. Las Vegas
23. San Antonio
24. Orlando
25. Phoenix
26. Charlotte
you have Vegas, Orlando, and Portland to low, and of course Pittsburgh to high
NYC, LA, SF, DC, Chicago, Vegas, Miami. The latter two being strictly due to popular culture. But I tend to have very low expectations of people as a general rule.
I once met a fairly typical American middle class 20-something girl who honestly thought that Fort Worth "was just the name of Dallas's airport." I nearly had a stroke.
About five years ago, I was at a farm stand in Morristown, TN, and was asked where I'm from. When I replied 'Boston,' one of the clerks asked 'where is Boston?' I think I just answered with something to the effect of 'way north of here' and went on my way. But, I've also known people here in Mass. over the years with a stunning lack of geographical awareness. It's always been a massive pet peeve of mine, going all the way back to childhood. I can forgive not being able to point out the exact location of some remote African or Asian country (or even some of the more obscure and small European nations), but to not be able to point out any U.S. state or Canadian province just by looking at their shape is baffling ignorance.
Any of the Associated Press stand aone dateline cities which are:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadephia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
St. Louis
Salt Lake Cit
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington
I think it's inexcusable when people can't seem to spell the names of the Southwestern cities.
Alburquerque
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawn.Davenport
I've seen all those spellings before (the prior three far more than that latter two).
I appreciate your sentiment, but let me just add this about that particular misspelling of Albuquerque's name...
Albuquerque actually was founded (in 1706) using that spelling of its name. It was named for the Duke of Alburquerque (correct spelling) and over time the extra 'r' was omitted from the official spelling. Most people seem to agree it happened with the arrival of Anglos in New Mexico sometime in the mid to late 1800s.
Since the 1990s there's been something of a movement to try to re-introduce the old spelling into common and official usage once again. For instance, Albuquerque's mayor during that time gave the movement some official momentum by using that spelling on several tourist trollies operated by the city's transit department. He also famously displayed in his office an 'r' that was given to him by the ambassador of Spain (to replace the 'r' that was lost).
The movement has never gained much traction but even today you will see some people who insist on using that old spelling for the city's name. I've seen it spelled that way on this forum a few times and whenever it's someone from Albuquerque or New Mexico I'm sure it's just a case of them trying to popularize the spelling. Whenever it's somebody from elsewhere I think they probably are spelling it erroneously even if they are inadvertently spelling it the correct way it once was.
The way I've seen the city's name spelled incorrectly most often in this forum and on this site that is entirely incorrect is "Albequerque" or some other way where the person inserts far too many 'e's into the city's name. Some people on here also seem to think that there are any 'k's in the city's name.
More on-topic to this thread, I thought I'd list the cities in New Mexico that I find inexcusable for people in the United States not to know or not to have heard of, in order of how well-known and how often-heard I think they are, along with what makes them most well-known and famous:
Santa Fe (it's Santa Fe)
Albuquerque (Bugs Bunny, Breaking Bad and quite a few other things make us known)
Roswell (UFOs, obviously)
Los Alamos (the Manhattan Project)
Taos (Easy Rider, hippies, the Taos artists)
Truth or Consequences (unusual name, hopeful future gateway city for space tourism)
Las Vegas, New Mexico has a name that's obviously well-known even though it isn't the actual Las Vegas that most people talk about.
White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns are two places in New Mexico that I think most people in the United States should have heard of.
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos is a thing in New Mexico that I think most in the United States are familiar with visually even if they don't know the name of it. It's been seen in lots of movies and commercials, like Natural Born Killers.
you have Vegas, Orlando, and Portland to low, and of course Pittsburgh to high
I personally know people that have never heard of Orlando, but they have heard of Disney World . If you haven't checked, Pittsburgh's population is significantly higher than all except Portland, and is still bigger than Portland. It has by far the most Fortune 500 companies as well. It is tied for 9th place for most F 500's with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Charlotte.
I personally know people that have never heard of Orlando, but they have heard of Disney World . If you haven't checked, Pittsburgh's population is significantly higher than all except Portland, and is still bigger than Portland. It has by far the most Fortune 500 companies as well. It is tied for 9th place for most F 500's with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Charlotte.
Just because it isn't booming now or hasn't been for the last 20 years doesn't mean it isn't any less known.
I would think that the Steelers also boosts Pittsburgh's popularity.
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. If you haven't checked, Pittsburgh's population is significantly higher than all except Portland, and is still bigger than Portland. It has by far the most Fortune 500 companies as well. It is tied for 9th place for most F 500's with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Charlotte.
