Why call it the city

idlewild · June 2007

I got the "Isn't Brooklyn dangerous..?" q as well. I'd always respond by saying yes then I'd show them the scar on my cheek that I got from falling down on a tree fence and tell them that I acquired it from gang related activities. The Mid-West chicks loved it.

theoryofpractice · June 2007

Lots of names in London have been recycled for New York: Chelsea, Kensington, Soho -- I assumed at one point some New Yorkers adopted London's "The City" moniker for Manhattan.

Fits better with Manhattan than London's financial district anyway.

noisejoke · June 2007

If somebody says they're from New York City they might be from an outer boro. But if they refer to The City it means Manhattan. Again, I believe it's an emotional and cultural thing, and it does in fact compliment both places. I'm from Long Island, I live in Brooklyn, and I work in the city.

dakotas way · July 2007

Anywhere in New Jersey people would know you were talking about Manhattan if you said you were heading to the city. Manhattan just doesn't roll off of your tongue easily and can sound rather pretentious for some reason. Like someone is being elite....I know that may sound weird. If you were to further question where in the city, it'd be uptown or the Village or whatever.
But Brooklyn has always been Brooklyn. Like the Bronx and Queens. They're their own place and destination.

MOD · July 2007

dakotas way wrote: Anywhere in New Jersey people would know you were talking about Manhattan if you said you were heading to the city. Manhattan just doesn't roll off of your tongue easily and can sound rather pretentious for some reason. Like someone is being elite....I know that may sound weird. If you were to further question where in the city, it'd be uptown or the Village or whatever.
But Brooklyn has always been Brooklyn. Like the Bronx and Queens. They're their own place and destination.

You don't even live in "the City' !!! or brooklyn for that matter

dakotas way · July 2007

So what? I didn't say I did. The question was why do people call it the city. And not everyone who lives in Brooklyn or "the city" was raised there and moved in from other places.

neene · July 2007

i grew up and lived in manhattan until a year ago when i moved to ch

if i was describing where i lived to anyone outside of this area i would still say new york city;
i learned a long time ago that "the city" can mean boston, hartford, chicago, etc to anyone outside of a certain radius.

closer to home i would always say "the city" and now i say "brooklyn"

when i am going into manhattan i say i am going "into town",
but that's because for me a big part of moving to brooklyn was "garden" and a sense of less congestion.
being a true "city" girl, this is probably the closest i'm going to get to "the country"

anonymous · October 2007

Subject: "the city"

Brooklyn which was a city did not become part of New York City until 1898. I assume that since it was no longer classified as a city the residents of Brooklyn started referring to Manhattan as the city.

lilbangladesh · October 2007

I don't think I ever referred to Manhattan as "the city" as I found it irritating even when I lived in Queens.

I just tell people I'm from Crown Heights.

jamesburger · October 2007

I live in Brooklyn. When people ask me, "do you live in The City?" I say yes. Depending on where they are from and where the conversation takes place, if I then specify Brooklyn, they might say, “That’s not the City.”

When I am outside of the city I use “The City” to refer to all 5 boros. But when I am in Brooklyn and need to go that island west of here, I say, "I'm going to The City."

I grew up in Westchester, which I often refer to vaguely as, “just north of The City.” I consider upstate to be points north of Westchester, but when I tell people native to “The City” (all 5 boros) that I am from Westchester, they tell me I am from “upstate.”

I once met someone out West who told me he was from the city. When I inquired where, he told me “Jersey City!” "That is not the city," I chided him. He hadn't realized I was from New York, but took it in good measure.

(And when people ask me, “where is the subway?” I inform them it’s underground... actually, I am very sympathetic to people lost in "The City," be it Coney Island, Staten Island, or that little island in Herald Square.)

And that is my allowance on nonsense for today.

Why call it the city

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