A regional rant.

[bigtig]

The name “San Francisco” is a 4 syllable name. It is a name that is easily shorted in conversation to “‘Frisco” or “San Fran.” Both are what I would think as friendly slang and only use in that context.

There are some people in San Francisco who take offense at this. They have pride in their city and would like you to say it’s name properly. And I

Comments

[drleo]

I've generally used the phrase "the city" (but in lowercase) to refer to the preeminent city in a metropolitan region. Seattle here, Washington DC back home, and so on.

But I'm with you on this attitude. It's the people who live in San Francisco itself because they're buying into living there as a status symbol, and status symbols are just obnoxious.

[bigtig]

Yeah. I was completely surprised at how rabid one or two people could be over it.

Thanks for mentioning Santa Clara!!!

[mammallamadevil]

I'm all for history, but times have changed. (yes, I do remember when San Jose was less than 1/2 the size of San Francisco)

MLD

[rebelsheart]

Given that San Francisco is not one of the United States' three independent cities that exist outside of Virginia (Excuse me, the Commonwealth of Virginia - there, doesn't that sound pretentious?), I don't think it gets to be "The City" :)

[bigtig]

Yeah...what is it with Virginia and declaring "independent cities" and putting that on sign posts :)

[toob]

The attitude is weak, agreed. I'm not sure that a few inexplicably snide people is worth getting worked up enough to slag on San Francisco like that, though, which is seriously way more awesome than you indicate above. If the only interesting parts you've seen involve the waterfront and the bridge, you seriously need to get someone to show you around properly.

[bigtig]

I wanted to be careful in the post that I not leave the impression I don't like the city. I do. There are several things very very awesome about it. For example, the same urge that left the populace feeling all self-conscious about their city being a "real" city had them funding the heck out of their arts and they have a world-class symphony, opera, etc.

That all being said, by trying to take the moniker of "THE" city, you imply ownership of the title by being the best, and that isn't really fair. And that's my point: it doesn't really compare well. San Francisco is "A" city. It is not "THE" city. So yes, if you have the attitude, I will take a moment to point out the straw man in the argument.

[tehrasha]

As an outsider, if someone I knew to be Californian simply said he was from 'The City'... I would say "Los Angles?"

[jadedfox]

As the big basketball fan here, I'll say: That T-Shirt? It's a Golden State Warriors T-Shirt. The logo is an old Warriors Logo back from when they were the San Francisco Warriors in the 60s. (See: http://www.michael-weinstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/B000L95MQW.01-AT26F6GZJEB06._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg... )