A story is told that once some Japanese airline pilots really struggled with part of their US map reading exam as they couldn’t find New England! Well we sort of know where it is if we have lived in the US for a while, but I would probably have to ask a local to get the exact boundaries. Similarly on the other coast, where does the Pacific Northwest start, and how far east does it stretch? Beyond Oregon and Washington State? Depends who you ask.
Other areas are also simply geographic: The South, The SouthWest, The SouthEast, The MidAtlantic, The Midwest (which is barely west at all). Then we have Research Triangle Park. Thank goodness they didn’t try to call it Silicon Triangle or some other such variation. It is located near Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.
Many cities have nicknames too. Names they have inherited from stories, songs, reality and folklore. These can really help with tourism and city promotion, especially when you want to take a breather from serious business.
A few of the better known ones are:
Denver is the Mile High City
Chicago is the Windy City
San Francisco is the City by the Bay
Boston is Beantown
New York is the Big Apple
Detroit is MotorTown
Portland is the City of Roses (and not Pasadena)
New Orleans is The Big Easy
Paris is the City of Lights
Seattle is The Emerald City
Hollywood is Tinsel Town
Auckland is The City of Sails
Johannesburg is Joburg or even Joeys
Atlanta is HotLanta – The Big Peach
Los Angeles is the City of Angels
St Louis is the Gateway City
Cleveland is the Mistake on the Lake
Las Vegas is Sin City
Akron is the Rubber City
Spokane is the Lilac City
Pretoria is the Jacaranda City
San Francisco Peninsula is Silicon Valley
If you know some more, please drop us a line so we can add them too.
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