City "titles"

[iridaceae]

My old hometown (Madison, WI) has been called Mad Town or Mad City.  A former governor of Wisconsin once called it "78 square miles surrounded by reality".  Which is not that inaccurate.

As a current resident, I can assure you it is still true.

Heh. I so believe that.

I read a New Yorker article recently where the writer went to Madison and the state to talk about the Walker recall election. I get the distinct impression that the anti-Walker banner in the Capital Building reading "It's Not Nice" baffled the writer no end, as it was described as being pure Wisconsin or something like that.  I just nodded, laughed, and said "that is so Wisconsin". (Only in Wisconsin and possibly Minnesota would that be seen as a stinging criticism.)

Oh, I don't know. It would be pretty harsh in Iowa, too. 

True; I forgot about Iowa.

By the way the actual quote is "a purely Wisconsin rebuke".  Heh. It is.

[Bethczar]

Tucson is called The Old Pueblo, though I'm not exactly sure why.

My old hometown (Madison, WI) has been called Mad Town or Mad City.  A former governor of Wisconsin once called it "78 square miles surrounded by reality".  Which is not that inaccurate.

I visited Madison in 1993 or so; i liked it there. The friends i was visiting said their apartment was considered to be in the bad part of town, but their apartment was so nice and their friends i met were interesting in a good way, and friendly.

I'm moving away from Madison tomorrow, after living there for over 15 years.    It's really a lovely city.

[Thipu1]

Here's something else that sets Madison apart.

In most hotels there is a list of single digit speed dial numbers on the in-room phones.  1 is the front desk. 2 is security, etc.  We've stayed in several hotels in Madison.  In each one there was a speed dial digit for pizza.  We have never seen this in any other city.

[Julia Mercer]

I'm in Windsor Ontario, the City Of Roses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor,_Ontario

[cabbageweevil]

Not a place where I've ever lived, or spent much time; but my parents grew up not far away, and knew it well.  Birkenhead, north-west England; just the other side of the River Mersey estuary, from its better-known, more stylish, glamorous, and dashing "twin", Liverpool.  Ever since the cities came into being, Birkenhead has suffered from a massive inferiority complex vis-a-vis Liverpool (for a very long time, the two were even in different counties).  Liverpool folk often took every opportunity to sneer at their smaller, duller, less cultured neighbour just across the water; they gave it the name of "The One-Eyed City".

Thanks to this situation, Birkenhead has long been notorious for harbouring a lot of bitter, touchy inhabitants -- it's not a place with obviously benign "vibes".  In decades gone by, the Empire Music Hall, Birkenhead, was regarded with dread by novice comedians: the audiences were notoriously hard to please, and inclined to make very clear, their displeasure with a comic whom they did not find funny; often, by throwing things.  Birkenhead has its moments; but it's not a big feature of the British tourist circuit.

[elephantschild]

Resurrecting this thread because I wanted to add my city.

Buffalo is The Queen City, either because it's the second biggest city in New York state or because it was one of the most prosperous cities along the Great Lakes, once upon a time.

It's also The City of Good Neighbors and Nickel City. (Buffalo nickel? )

[cabbageweevil]

Seems I can't stop posting, just now.  May I ask -- am I right in thinking that the name of Buffalo, NY, is nothing to do with bison;  it's a corruption of the French "Beau Fleur"?

[Teenyweeny]

I live just outside Newcastle- The Toon.

It may have been a city for more than a century, but it is still, and always will be The Toon.

Areet pet, howzit gannin? Ah havint been yem for a while like, but ah can still tark propa Geordie. 

[bopper]

I live in the "Biggest Small Town in New Jersey."

[Diane AKA Traska]

I live in the "Biggest Small Town in New Jersey."

And since I may be moving to that fine state (the property taxes are no match for the combined bridge tolls and extra gas that M uses to get to the new job), I had to go and look that up.   

[ladiedeathe]

I'm in Cincinnati- Cincy, the 'Nati, the Queen City, or the Tristate.

[Ms_Cellany]

Dallas: "Big D."

Our motto, apparently is "We can spell."

[hobish]

I live in the "Biggest Small Town in New Jersey."

And since I may be moving to that fine state (the property taxes are no match for the combined bridge tolls and extra gas that M uses to get to the new job), I had to go and look that up.   

I had to, too; i was (incorrectly) guessing Vineland.

[BabylonSister]

Seems I can't stop posting, just now.  May I ask -- am I right in thinking that the name of Buffalo, NY, is nothing to do with bison;  it's a corruption of the French "Beau Fleur"?

"Beau fleur" would not be correct in French. It should be "belle fleur" (fleur is a feminine noun and the adjective should be feminine too.)


I looked it up and it appears the city was indeed named after the animal even though there are no buffaloes in the area.


Edit: Oh, Wikipedia mentions "beau fleuve" (beautiful river) as a possible but not very likely explanation. It's grammatically correct, at least.

[cabbageweevil]

Seems I can't stop posting, just now.  May I ask -- am I right in thinking that the name of Buffalo, NY, is nothing to do with bison;  it's a corruption of the French "Beau Fleur"?

"Beau fleur" would not be correct in French. It should be "belle fleur" (fleur is a feminine noun and the adjective should be feminine too.)


I looked it up and it appears the city was indeed named after the animal even though there are no buffaloes in the area.


Edit: Oh, Wikipedia mentions "beau fleuve" (beautiful river) as a possible but not very likely explanation. It's grammatically correct, at least.

Thanks !  A very long time ago, I met (on the continent of Europe) an inhabitant of Buffalo, who gave me the "beau fleur" attempt at an explanation -- unless I misheard or misunderstood.  If not, it seems he had things wrong.  I just thought "Anglophones, with no genders in their language, botching things vis-a-vis languages with genders." (In the English suburb where I live, there's a would-be up-market sandwich shop which calls itself "Le Maison du Baguette".)