What do you call Houston and all the areas around it? Houston Area? Greater Houston? (Dallas: manufactured, metro area)

[Crye]

Originally Posted by jenny77

So if I want to refer to Houston and its suburbs and all the areas around it, what is the short way of saying it?

Houston

[TXTwizter]

Houstonland?? Sounds like Houston is copying Chicago's nickname, Chicagoland! How bout just Houston!!

[jfre81]

Home.

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Home.

[AmberAzeneth]

Greater Houston and Houston are the two names that I heard used the most growing up. All of the big telephone books used to say the Greater Houston Area. Houstonland sounds weak and just like TxTwizter said, "like it is copying Chicagoland".

[Malvie]

Or you could call it the Bayou City!

Or Space City USA!



The old "Greater" designation basically doesn't exist any more (it's all MSA's and CSA's now), but as someone above mentioned, when most of us were growing up, that's what was on the front of the phone books, so that's what we call it.

Greater Houston.

It's customary everywhere I've lived/been in the US (EXCEPT DETROIT!) to refer to the nearest major city if you're talking to someone out of town or not familiar with the area.

"Where are you from?"

"Los Angeles" (actually, they're from Glendale).

"Where are you from?"

"Houston" (actually, they're from Conroe)

(I'm originally "from" Malvern, Arkansas, a small town of about 10,000 45 miles south of Little Rock).

"Where are you from?"

"Little Rock"


etc.

Then, when the person says, "Oh, I lived there for years!" you say, "Well, I'm really from Glendale/Conroe/Malvern" etc).



BUT


...ask someone from the Detroit area where they're from and they will NEVER say, "Detroit". It's always "Livonia" or "Novi" or "Grosse Pointe".

[Seoid]

Originally Posted by Malvie

BUT


...ask someone from the Detroit area where they're from and they will NEVER say, "Detroit". It's always "Livonia" or "Novi" or "Grosse Pointe".

So true. My parents grew up in Detroit (actual Detroit- it was the 1940's) and they FREAK OUT when I tell people they are from "Detroit." But yeah, they really ARE. They aren't from a burb. I mean what do they want me to say?? Yes, I know it didn't used to be so run down but it's still the same place!

[jenny77]

So Greater Houston is prefered over Houston Area??

[Malvie]

Originally Posted by jenny77

So Greater Houston is prefered over Houston Area??

No, that's just what many of us call it. There is no "preferred".

If you're preparing a sales brochure or press release or something and want ACCURACY, then call it by its proper name, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

If you're wanting to know what we (who live here) call it (so as to sound more of an "insider" rather than someone from "out of town"), most will simply use "Houston". Those of us who are old enough will say "Greater Houston". Many younger ones will call it "Metro Houston" or "the Houston Metro". "Where are you from?" "Houston". "The population of Greater Houston (or substitute "the Houston Metro Area") is approaching 7 million!"

For a nickname (indicating fondness), either "Bayou City" or "Space City USA", though that one is receding/vanishing. "Maggie, let's load up and head home to the Bayou City!"




It took me a while when I moved to Los Angeles to understand that the radio announcers talking about the "Southland" meant "Southern California". I'm from the actual SOUTH, so when you say "Southland" to me, you mean the southern United States.

Dallas/Ft. Worth (comprised of over 400 cities and towns) has called itself the "Metroplex" ever since Channel 8 Weatherman Troy Dungan called it that in the 70's; it's an amalgam of "metropolitan" and "complex". Dallas and Ft. Worth have feuded for years over whether something was "Dallas" or Ft. Worth"; Ft. Worth was a large, bustling community before Dallas was ever founded, but Dallas came along and did all the right things to grow and became the dominant city; still, both cities maintain their rivalry; if you say "Dallas" when you mean Ft. Worth, the Ft. Worth people get bent out of shape.

Houston has no need for such, because it is one city. If Houston wasn't here, Sugar Land would still be a sugar refinery surrounded by fields and a prison; Katy would be a stop on the railroad for farmers to load produce for the market; Missouri City would be a small farming community (like Conroe), and there'd be no such things as Clear Lake, The Woodlands, or Kingwood, as they are totally manufactured suburbs.

The radio stations used to have little jingles, "Metroplex Week-end WEATHER!" Houston's always just said, "Houston week-end WEATHER!" or sometimes "South Texas Weekend WEATHER!" or "Gulf Coast Weekend WEATHER!" San Antonio also uses "South Texas".

[texas7]

The phrase I absolutely hate is H-town