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  #1  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 5:34 PM
Dariusb Dariusb is offline
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What's your city's nickname/nicknames?

What's your city's nickname/nicknames? My town Belton Tx is called Beltown.
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  #2  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 5:35 PM
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Quote:
This article lists nicknames for the city of Chicago, Illinois.

"Mud City" – possibly the oldest nickname for the city, referring to the fact that the terrain of the city used to be a mud flat[1]

"Windy City" – origins of this name are disputed; see Windy City (nickname)

"Chi-Town" (pronounced Shy-Town) – also used for the hockey teams Chi-Town Shooters and Chi-Town Shamrocks

"Second City" – by one possible etymology, this refers to the fact that Chicago had the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States from 1889 to 1984 (Los Angeles is now larger); it can also refer to the rebuilding of the city between the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893[2]

"City of (the) Big Shoulders" – taken from the fifth line of Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago". Also sometimes said as "City of Broad Shoulders".[3]

"City by the Lake" – used as early as the 1890s[4]

"City in a Garden" – English translation of the Latin motto on the city seal: Urbs in Horto

"The City that Works" – slogan from Richard J. Daley's tenure as Mayor, describing Chicago as a blue-collar, hard-working city, which ran relatively smoothly[5]

"Great Commercial Tree" – from the State Anthem of Illinois

"Heart of America" – Chicago is one of the largest transportation centers in America, and its location was once near the center of the United States

"The Great American City" – taken from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Norman Mailer's book Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968): "Chicago is the great American city ... perhaps [the last] of the great American cities"[6]; "the notion that Chicago is arguably the most quintessential American city"[7] was central to Robert J. Sampson's landmark research on communities, criminology, and urban sociology, Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect (2012)

"My Kind of Town" – from the song "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen, words by Sammy Cahn, 1964) which was popularized by Frank Sinatra in the film Robin and the Seven Hoods, about a fictional popular Chicago gangster

"The City Beautiful" – reference to the reform movement sparked by the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893,[8] used by Hawk Harrelson when the Chicago White Sox open a game at U.S. Cellular Field

"Chi-beria" – a play on Siberia, a nickname largely used during the 2014 North American Cold Wave[9]

"Chiraq" or "Chi-Raq" – controversial combination of Chicago and Iraq to compare Chicago's high crime rates to the situation of war-torn Iraq; Spike Lee's 2015 film Chi-Raq uses it as the title; considered offensive, sensationalist, and degrading by many residents of the Chicago area

"The 312" – reference to the area code used exclusively in The Loop, seen on AT&T ads in the city
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es_for_Chicago



of those, "windy city", "second city", and "chi-town" are the most well-known and heard these days.

but "city of big shoulders" is undoubtedly the best and most apt.
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  #3  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 5:59 PM
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The city of Québec has had a few nicknames
  • Quebec City (for the anglophones of the world, not the actual name)
  • Le Gibraltar d'Amérique [Gibraltar of America - nickname given by Charles Dickens]
  • La vieille capitale [the old capital]
  • Le/un gros village [a big village - often as a mockery from Montreal]
  • La Capitale nationale [the national capital]
  • Le berceau de la Nouvelle-France [cradle of New France]
  • Le berceau de l'Amérique française [cradle of French America]
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  #4  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 6:06 PM
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Fort Lauderdale:
Fort Liquordale
For Laudy
Lauderdale
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  #5  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 6:07 PM
badrunner badrunner is offline
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Some of my favorite city nicknames:

The Big D
Mistake on the Lake
Sin City
Clutch City (that hasn't been clutch for 25 years)
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  #6  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 7:36 PM
Buckeye Native 001 Buckeye Native 001 is offline
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Cincinnati, Charlotte and Seattle have all used the Queen City nickname. I don't think it's as popular in Seattle as it used to be (replaced by "The Emerald City"?)? Local newscasters usually call the Greater Cincinnati area "The Tri-State" and some jackholes keep trying to make "The Nati" a thing.

Phoenix: The Valley of the Sun, or simply "The Valley" although that can get confusing with all the Southern Californians who've moved here.

Flagstaff: The City of Seven Wonders is the official nickname, but I've also heard "Poverty with a View" and "Dark Sky City" although the skies aren't as dark here as they used to be. There's several observatories within the area including the one (Lowell) where Pluto was first discovered. Pluto no longer being a planet is still a sore point 'round these parts.

Aside from the Grand Canyon (which is 90 minutes northwest), I couldn't tell you what are the other six wonders. Sky-high cost of living? Four seasons (although that's becoming less common)? That white stuff that falls from the skies that people from the Upper Midwest moved to Arizona to escape?
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  #7  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 8:29 PM
IluvATX IluvATX is offline
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I think most cities go by either their airport code or area code.
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  #8  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 8:46 PM
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Fort Worth is known to many as Cowtown and to some as Funky Town.
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  #9  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:06 PM
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Montreal

la métropole (the metropolis)

la ville aux cent/mille clochers (city of a hundred/a thousand steeples)

Paris of North America/the Americas (the latter is contested with Buenos Aires and perhaps New Orleans)

Mourial (low-brow joke based on slang)

MTL (pronounced "em-tay-ell" or "em-tee-ell" depending who you're talking to)

Ville-Marie (reference to the original French name of the settlement)

Hochelaga (reference to the original Mohawk settlement in the area)

la ville ouverte (the open city, kind of a sin city reference)

le 514 (reference to the city's area code)

YUL (sounds like "you'll", reference to the city's airport code)
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  #10  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:09 PM
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Toronto

Hogtown

The Big Smoke

The Centre of the Universe

YYZ (rhymes with zed, not zee)

Queen City (very antiquated, actually makes some denizens uncomfortable!)

Toronto the Good

Toronto La Pure (from French speaking Canadians)

New York run by the Swiss

The 6ix (fairly recent, popularized by Drake)

Downtown Canada

T-Dot
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  #11  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:10 PM
Stay Stoked Brah Stay Stoked Brah is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IluvATX View Post
I think most cities go by either their airport code or area code.
thanks to ludacris and others from ATL
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  #12  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:22 PM
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For Windsor it’s the Rose City, Canada’s Motor City and Tijuana North, lol.
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  #13  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:23 PM
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Originally Posted by north 42 View Post
For Windsor it’s the Rose City, Canada’s Motor City and Tijuana North, lol.
How about South Detroit, as in the song by Journey?
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  #14  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:25 PM
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Ottawa


Bytown (original name from the early 1800s)

O-Town

The Town/City that Fun Forgot

Ennui-on-the-Rideau

Fat Cat City

YOW (airport code)
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  #15  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Toronto

Hogtown

The Big Smoke

The Centre of the Universe

YYZ (rhymes with zed, not zee)

Queen City (very antiquated, actually makes some denizens uncomfortable!)

Toronto the Good

Toronto La Pure (from French speaking Canadians)

New York run by the Swiss

The 6ix (fairly recent, popularized by Drake)

Downtown Canada

T-Dot
Good list.

Also

T.O. (the precursor to T-Dot)

The City That Works (I wonder if Toronto or Chicago had that one first?)
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  #16  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Queen City (very antiquated, actually makes some denizens uncomfortable!)





Really though, the only one that's had any staying power is Hogtown. The 6 is popular currently, though I doubt it's continued use will last more than a few more years. All the others are either antiquated or were never really used much to begin with (or were only ever used derisively). Canadians do still like referring to cities by their airport codes for some reason though.

Also "New York run by the Swiss" was more a (mocking?) descriptor than a nickname.
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  #17  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 9:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by softee View Post
Good list.

Also

T.O. (the precursor to T-Dot)

The City That Works (I wonder if Toronto or Chicago had that one first?)
Oh yes! How could I forget those?
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  #18  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 10:19 PM
IluvATX IluvATX is offline
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I don’t think any Canadian cities work here. Otherwise it would be a can vs USA thread. I don’t care about Toronto.
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  #19  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 10:23 PM
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Houston:

Space City (NASA)
Bayou City (several bayous that cross through town)
Clutch City (Rockets back to back championships in '94 & '95)
H-Town
Screwston (DJ Screw)
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  #20  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2020, 10:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
How about South Detroit, as in the song by Journey?
Ha ha, yes, that name never caught on, fortunately.
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