4 ms·

SFO is an airport, not a city.

sneak 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche
- baddox 7y ago
  Those things do exist of course, but in 9 years of living here I don’t think I’ve ever heard the city referred to as “SFO.”
  - np_tedious 7y ago
    Do many places do this? PDX / Portland is the only example I can think of offhand
    - sneak 7y ago
      Many people who sysadmin machines/networks/routers in disparate places name them after their closest major/international three-letter airport code. I have a bunch of boxes named 'ewr{1,2,3}', 'sfo{1,2,3}', et c. You will frequently see this in traceroutes, for router hostnames. Some people use the meta-airport-codes (e.g. NYC instead of JFK/LGA) too.
    - samatman 7y ago
      DFW for Dallas-Fort Worth is common Ed: "The ATL" for Atlanta is also a thing
    - ajdlinux 7y ago
      My rather small and unknown city, Canberra, is not regularly referred to as CBR in verbal conversation, but it's been adopted as part of the city's tourism brand.
    - baddox 7y ago
      In Springfield and St. Louis, MO we often referred to the cities by their airport codes SGF and STL. But those are both more plausible abbreviations in their own right than SFO.
  - detaro 7y ago
    From what I see, it's less something done by people living somewhere but by people from elsewhere, e.g. when discussing travel plans.
Jeaye 7y ago
Parent is right. I've been in and around the SF Bay Area for about a decade and SFO is _only_ ever, unambiguously, the airport.
- Animats 7y ago
  Also, SFO, the airport, is not even in the city of San Francisco. It's about ten miles south, in San Bruno. Not close to GDC, which is in downtown SF.
  - geerlingguy 7y ago
    Most people outside of San Francisco would know that you mean 'San Francisco' when you say SFO, though. Same as I think of Seattle when I see SEA, Dallas when I see DFW, St. Louis for STL, etc. Inside the city that's not always the case, but even when you're abbreviating sports teams and the like, it's common to use the airport code to refer to the city name if they match up so well.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - zadokshi 7y ago
      Are you sure about that? These acronyms don’t have the same meaning when I read them. It’s pretty American to think like that.
    - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
      I have no clue about any of the acronyms yet I recognize all the names.
  - boulos 7y ago
    Geographically, but it actually is under the jurisdiction of the city and the Mayor of San Francisco who appoints the Airport Commission [1]. [1] https://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/airport-commission/city-charter https://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/airport-commission/city-cha...
- 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche

baddox 7y ago
Those things do exist of course, but in 9 years of living here I don’t think I’ve ever heard the city referred to as “SFO.”
- np_tedious 7y ago
  Do many places do this? PDX / Portland is the only example I can think of offhand
  - sneak 7y ago
    Many people who sysadmin machines/networks/routers in disparate places name them after their closest major/international three-letter airport code. I have a bunch of boxes named 'ewr{1,2,3}', 'sfo{1,2,3}', et c. You will frequently see this in traceroutes, for router hostnames. Some people use the meta-airport-codes (e.g. NYC instead of JFK/LGA) too.
  - samatman 7y ago
    DFW for Dallas-Fort Worth is common Ed: "The ATL" for Atlanta is also a thing
  - ajdlinux 7y ago
    My rather small and unknown city, Canberra, is not regularly referred to as CBR in verbal conversation, but it's been adopted as part of the city's tourism brand.
  - baddox 7y ago
    In Springfield and St. Louis, MO we often referred to the cities by their airport codes SGF and STL. But those are both more plausible abbreviations in their own right than SFO.
- detaro 7y ago
  From what I see, it's less something done by people living somewhere but by people from elsewhere, e.g. when discussing travel plans.

Jeaye 7y ago

Parent is right. I've been in and around the SF Bay Area for about a decade and SFO is _only_ ever, unambiguously, the airport.

Animats 7y ago
Also, SFO, the airport, is not even in the city of San Francisco. It's about ten miles south, in San Bruno. Not close to GDC, which is in downtown SF.
- geerlingguy 7y ago
  Most people outside of San Francisco would know that you mean 'San Francisco' when you say SFO, though. Same as I think of Seattle when I see SEA, Dallas when I see DFW, St. Louis for STL, etc. Inside the city that's not always the case, but even when you're abbreviating sports teams and the like, it's common to use the airport code to refer to the city name if they match up so well.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - zadokshi 7y ago
    Are you sure about that? These acronyms don’t have the same meaning when I read them. It’s pretty American to think like that.
  - jfkebwjsbx 7y ago
    I have no clue about any of the acronyms yet I recognize all the names.
- boulos 7y ago
  Geographically, but it actually is under the jurisdiction of the city and the Mayor of San Francisco who appoints the Airport Commission [1]. [1] https://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/airport-commission/city-charter https://www.flysfo.com/about-sfo/airport-commission/city-cha...
7y ago