4 ms·

Having only lived in the SF Bay Area for a few years now, everyone I know that lives in the SF Bay Area refers to San Francisco simply as "the city". They say

Having only lived in the SF Bay Area for a few years now, everyone I know that lives in the SF Bay Area refers to San Francisco simply as "the city". They say things like "I went to the city this weekend", etc. So while I agree with the silly capitalisation, I also think it's a losing battle. It's also not a behaviour unique to the SF Bay Area; when I lived in a fairly rural area (pop. < 10K spread over quite a few miles), the largest city nearby was often referred to as "the city" by everyone that lived outside the largest nearby city (which was Kansas City where I lived).

raldi 12y ago
I have no objection to "I went into the city today." It's "I went into The City" that I will not abide.
- bcantrill 12y ago
  Oh, brother. I -- like everyone else in the Bay Area -- also say "the East Bay", "the Peninsula", "the North Bay", "the South Bay" and "the Central Valley" -- even though all of these things are just nouns with minimal adjectives that aren't unique to the Bay Area. (Hell, even "Bay Area" isn't unique to the Bay Area.) So yes, I (again, like everyone around here) say "the City" -- and I know that New Yorkers and Londoners and many others say the same when they're talking about their burg. But this story wasn't a story about New York or London or whatever -- it was about San Francisco, which to me is the City. And if you can find it within yourself to abide my my use of the City in this context, I'll return the favor when we're talking about where you live by letting you refer to it as you do!
  - raldi 12y ago
    I grew up in New York, spent about a decade in Manhattan itself, and have never once seen anyone capitalize either as "The City". In fact, I've never seen anyone refer to any city that way except a minority of people in and around SF. This is why South Park characterized residents of the city as "in love with the smell of their own farts."
- nostrademons 12y ago
  I was all set to argue, but apparently the Internet's grammar nazis agree with you: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/17423-Rule-for-capitalization-of-geographical-areas http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/17423-Rule-for-cap... Geographic regions should be capitalized when they refer unambiguously to only one place. A capitalized "the City" implies that "the City" only refers to San Francisco, which is pretty pompous to many other people around the Globe. If this were a Bay Area-only forum, however, it would be justified, as "the City" is pretty unambiguously SF within the Bay Area.
saraid216 12y ago
It's weird; I grew up in a San Jose suburb and never once heard of San Francisco referred to as "the city" or "The City". I heard "Frisco", of all things, and "SF", but never "the city". I have no idea what changed.
- taurath 12y ago
  When did you grow up there? I've heard those terms used extremely commonly from 2002 onwards
  - saraid216 12y ago
    I was born in 1984 and left in 2005. So I guess I missed the start of it. I wonder what happened in 2002.
- greghinch 12y ago
  I was born in 81 in the north bay, then and now we always said "the city". Possibly geographic?
  - saraid216 12y ago
    Ah. I was South Bay. That might actually explain it.

raldi 12y ago

I have no objection to "I went into the city today." It's "I went into The City" that I will not abide.

bcantrill 12y ago
Oh, brother. I -- like everyone else in the Bay Area -- also say "the East Bay", "the Peninsula", "the North Bay", "the South Bay" and "the Central Valley" -- even though all of these things are just nouns with minimal adjectives that aren't unique to the Bay Area. (Hell, even "Bay Area" isn't unique to the Bay Area.) So yes, I (again, like everyone around here) say "the City" -- and I know that New Yorkers and Londoners and many others say the same when they're talking about their burg. But this story wasn't a story about New York or London or whatever -- it was about San Francisco, which to me is the City. And if you can find it within yourself to abide my my use of the City in this context, I'll return the favor when we're talking about where you live by letting you refer to it as you do!
- raldi 12y ago
  I grew up in New York, spent about a decade in Manhattan itself, and have never once seen anyone capitalize either as "The City". In fact, I've never seen anyone refer to any city that way except a minority of people in and around SF. This is why South Park characterized residents of the city as "in love with the smell of their own farts."
nostrademons 12y ago
I was all set to argue, but apparently the Internet's grammar nazis agree with you: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/17423-Rule-for-capitalization-of-geographical-areas http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/17423-Rule-for-cap... Geographic regions should be capitalized when they refer unambiguously to only one place. A capitalized "the City" implies that "the City" only refers to San Francisco, which is pretty pompous to many other people around the Globe. If this were a Bay Area-only forum, however, it would be justified, as "the City" is pretty unambiguously SF within the Bay Area.

saraid216 12y ago

It's weird; I grew up in a San Jose suburb and never once heard of San Francisco referred to as "the city" or "The City". I heard "Frisco", of all things, and "SF", but never "the city". I have no idea what changed.

taurath 12y ago
When did you grow up there? I've heard those terms used extremely commonly from 2002 onwards
- saraid216 12y ago
  I was born in 1984 and left in 2005. So I guess I missed the start of it. I wonder what happened in 2002.
greghinch 12y ago
I was born in 81 in the north bay, then and now we always said "the city". Possibly geographic?
- saraid216 12y ago
  Ah. I was South Bay. That might actually explain it.