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Sorry for the off-topic-ness, but it really irks me when the US auto industry is referred to as "Detroit." I grew up in Flint, MI and currently live just outsid
by untothebreach 11y ago
Sorry for the off-topic-ness, but it really irks me when the US auto industry is referred to as "Detroit." I grew up in Flint, MI and currently live just outside of Detroit, and the implication that the US auto industry is here is, frankly, rather offensive. Sure, there are a couple plants here and there, and corporate HQs, of course, but after what the US auto industry did to the blue collar workers in Flint and Detroit (among others here in MI), it feels disingenuous to say that the US auto industry is "here."
- kazinator 11y agoIt's a synecdoche (and a deeply entrenched one: Detroit is a long-standing symbol denoting the auto industry.) Do you object to a farm helper being called a "hand", because he's an entire man? People understand that "hand" denotes the person, just like they understand that Detroit, in context, isn't literally the city of Detroit. If the President is visiting Los Angeles, and is informed of something, then "Washington is informed". Likewise, financial business is not only on Wall Street. Broadway musicals aren't played only on Broadway --- even if we restrict the context to New York.
- untothebreach 11y agoOf course I understand that the auto industry is not literally in Detroit, but the fact that the auto industry is constantly referred to by the name of the city they ruined is...upsetting to me.