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I've been to Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Dallas is probably my favorite, but honestly I'm not sure why. I feel like nationwide Dallas is probably more famous as quintessential Texas.
I don't think most Americans even realize Houston is the fourth largest city. If I weren't a statistics nut, I'd assume Philly, DC, Boston, SF, even Atlanta were larger.
Houston is not as quintessential Texan as Dallas, but that's because being on the Gulf Coast adds a distinctive, subtropical, coastal vibe to the city (much like Corpus Christi and Brownsville).
Please, anyone with at least half a brain would know that Houston is the 4th largest city. The whole world knows of Houston's power. You are dismissed.
Please, anyone with at least half a brain would know that Houston is the 4th largest city. The whole world knows of Houston's power. You are dismissed.
Yeah, if Houston cut your electricity off or cut off your oil supply you would feel it. In anything happened to all those refineries (God forbid) the nation would be crippled.
Dallas doesn't have that power. All they have is TXU & Exxon Mobil headquarters.
Houston is not as quintessential Texan as Dallas, but that's because being on the Gulf Coast adds a distinctive, subtropical, coastal vibe to the city (much like Corpus Christi and Brownsville).
Please, anyone with at least half a brain would know that Houston is the 4th largest city. The whole world knows of Houston's power. You are dismissed.
Actually no they don't. Everybody knows the three largest cities. After that, it gets cloudy. People think Philly is larger. Or San Francisco, or even Washington or Boston would be 4th. Heck, people think Dallas is bigger than Houston. I've met many up here in Washington that thought Dallas the biggest city in Texas.
Actually no they don't. Everybody knows the three largest cities. After that, it gets cloudy. People think Philly is larger. Or San Francisco, or even Washington or Boston would be 4th. Heck, people think Dallas is bigger than Houston. I've met many up here in Washington that thought Dallas the biggest city in Texas.
Location: Baghdad by the Bay (San Francisco, California)
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Originally Posted by Spade
Actually no they don't. Everybody knows the three largest cities. After that, it gets cloudy. People think Philly is larger. Or San Francisco, or even Washington or Boston would be 4th. Heck, people think Dallas is bigger than Houston. I've met many up here in Washington that thought Dallas the biggest city in Texas.
The reason people think all those places are bigger is because they are. It all has to do with when you stop counting people who live, work, own property, dine out, send their kids to school, read the local news, vote in elections that have local impact, etc. in a particular area.
Houston cares a great deal about the distinction of counting those people who reside within a certain arbitrary and invisible line. When properly drawn, this line affords them "bragging rights" to fourth place. There's another line that affords them fifth place, but it isn't as popular, because it puts Houston behind Dallas. We won't even bring up the line that bumps Houston to eighth or ninth.
For some reason, it's not as worthy of bragging to be among the ten largest urban areas in the country to Houstonians. From living there nearly my entire adult life, I think Houston feels every bit the eighth largest urban area in the country. That's pretty impressive, given the suburban nature of its makeup. I also briefly lived in Dallas and found that it felt a bit more urban, with more activity in the city than Houston. To me, this made it feel slightly larger, which its urbanized area is by about 600-700K people (though it wasn't a significantly different urban experience from Houston).
That's why people start counting things like 5-level freeway interchanges and skylines between the two to try to differentiate them. They are very, very similar in look and feel, though, and Houston's latest boom in development has brought it even closer to Dallas in this regard than it has been in decades.
So, they resort to the invisible lines to draw the differences, because the visible differences are so slight.
Actually no they don't. Everybody knows the three largest cities. After that, it gets cloudy. People think Philly is larger. Or San Francisco, or even Washington or Boston would be 4th. Heck, people think Dallas is bigger than Houston. I've met many up here in Washington that thought Dallas the biggest city in Texas.
Exactly! This has been my experience and its likely the reason why Houstonians feel the need to remind everyone that it is the "4th largest city". That has always been a ridiculous "nickname" for the city and I wish Houston boosters would stop saying it as if there is a prize for being 4th. If you're not #1, no one really cares. I'm sure you won't ever hear Phoenix marketing itself as the "5th" largest or Chicago as the "3rd"
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