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Places 📍 Nicknames for metropolitan areas

As has been mentioned for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: DFW, and Cowtown for Fort Worth.

But for Fort Worth, there is also "Where the West Begins" (making Dallas, by corollary, "Where the East Peters Out" :D ).

Buffalo, New York is (or at least used to be) referred to as "The Queen City (of the Great Lakes).

Also, the area around Memphis I've heard referred to as "The Mid-South". This includes areas of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, I believe.
 
Doohickie, its hard to imagine the west starts in the shadow of "Big D"! I prefer the DFW area, but a lot of outsiders just refer to it as Dallas... But there is Ft. Worth, Arlington, etc.. etc... etc... Pretty good size Metro area.

*** OFF TOPIC *** How do you like working in Ft. Worth, you guys have a very interesting project on the Trinity over there. I sat in on a meeting about a year ago now on it. A pipe dream or a reality??? How far is it from happening???
 
Salt Lake City is often referred to as Suck Lake City by those who live in the suburbs. I don't know if this is used outside of the general area though.
 
Vlaude said:
Doohickie, its hard to imagine the west starts in the shadow of "Big D"! I prefer the DFW area, but a lot of outsiders just refer to it as Dallas... But there is Ft. Worth, Arlington, etc.. etc... etc... Pretty good size Metro area.
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Fort Worth, all by itself, is now the 19th-most populous city in the U.S.; it recently passed Seattle, Boston and Washington, D.C., so it is a pretty big metro area all by itself. As far as the West beginning here, it really does. Fort Worth is kind of a regional center for all kinds of equestrian, ranching and cattle stuff (quarter horses, paint horses, cutting horses, appaloosas, Arabians, and of course longhorn cattle). It is not at all uncommon to see guys wearing cowboy boots and hats, and even spurs in some of the most expensive restaurants; ranching is big business here. It also has a lot of support services for the oil industry. So in a very real way, the West does begin here.

*** OFF TOPIC *** How do you like working in Ft. Worth, you guys have a very interesting project on the Trinity over there. I sat in on a meeting about a year ago now on it. A pipe dream or a reality??? How far is it from happening???
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Well, I'm not a planner, so I don't have any inside information on the project... well, maybe just a little bit- I know the ex-mayor of Ft. Worth who is a consultant on the project. It *will* happen, though. Fort Worth, more than any other city I've ever seen, always finds a way to do these kinds of things. Fort Worth is reasonably well-connected politically and has several wealthy patrons. (When a 35-story office tower was hit by a tornado 5 years ago, sat derelict for a couple, was going to be imploded, but they couldn't cuz of the asbestos, the local patrons bought it and converted it to 35 stories of the most desireable condos in the city.)

Anyway, we see the plans in the news and they look interesting. I think the end goal is something akin to San Antonio's Riverwalk but that will probably take 20 years or more. Radio Shack and Pier 1 have already built new waterfront corporate HQs and Tarrant Community College is getting ready to build a downtown campus that will span the river.

We're seriously thinking about selling out of the suburban sprawl and moving toward the city center once our youngest graduates from high school. Downtown is already pretty cool and if this river project goes anywhere it'll only get better.
 
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Within New York's Southern Tier, there's the Triple Cities (or Tri-Cities): Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott.

hitchhiker said:
Philadelphia's is also called the 'tri-state area'-- that is, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
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And Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia are sometimes known collectively as "Delmarva" (the "Delmarva Peninsula" is a portmanteau of the states' first syllables). More commonly outside the region, it's the Chesapeake or the Mid-Atlantic.
 
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jbr said:
And Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia are sometimes known collectively as "Delmarva" (the "Delmarva Peninsula" is a portmanteau of the states' first syllables).
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The Del-Mar-Va Penisula is only used to refer to the piece of land east of the Chesapeake Bay, not the three states as a whole.
 
Yeah Doohickie, I was just messing with you it is the beginning of the West just like OKC (a nick for Oklahoma City) is. Both have a LOT of similarities. I think Ft Worth area is actually worse in regards to sprawl than parts of Dallas. Had friends over there around Keller/Watauga/Ft. Worth border and traffic around the neighborhoods is horrible. I am very familar with the condos you are talking about. I think they turned out well. Ft. Worth has a few things happening I think the corporate HQ locations will help the area in terms of mixed-use and residential growth. I still like Dallas though, there is just a bit more in regards to the Downtown IMO, regarding things I prefer to do. Both downtowns are seeing a lot of residential growth.
 
drucee said:
Knoxville--East Tennessee

Any important ones I missed?
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East Tennessee is just too general. It's what the newscasters on TV call the region.

As a former East Tennessean and Knoxvillian I'd suggest...

Knoxville = Knox Vegas

Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol = Tri-Cities
 
Reductionist said:
East Tennessee is just too general. It's what the newscasters on TV call the region.

As a former East Tennessean and Knoxvillian I'd suggest...

Knoxville = Knox Vegas
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As a former Knoxvillian myself, I agree, and will add K-town. :)

I will also make the motion that "Nashville--Middle Tennessee" is too general and add the nickname "Cashville".

jmello said:
ATL, man. After the airport, not the movie. Also, the "Black Mecca."
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duuuude... it is 'Hot-lanta', man. :p
 
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Powered by Sweat said:
There are 2 nicknames for Fort Collins - the Choice City and Fort Fun. The latter is probably used most often.
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I have heard Fort Fun. I thought that was a take off from the outdoor amusement place on Mulberry.
I sometimes just call it Collins.

How many Queen Cities are out there? Denver was sometimes known as Queen City of the plains, and then there's Helena, MT and Cincinnati.

Perhaps I did not read it, but I saw Denver Metro referred to as the Front Range. For someone who lives outside of Denver about 100 miles, but still on the front Range-- I cannot accept this. Sorry. Mile High City for me.

doohickie said:
Also, the area around Memphis I've heard referred to as "The Mid-South". This includes areas of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, I believe.
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Alabama is a stretch, but everything else is spot on. I have also heard Memphis referred to as Bluff City.
 
Everyone knows where the boundaries of what can be called the "Mid-South" are: they're the counties shown on the map when WMC-TV 5, the king of Memphis TV stations, displays a weather warning (something that happens almost daily here in the land where Midwestern thunderstorms meet Southern humidity).

The counties displayed are:
AR: Clay, Green, Craighead, Poinsett, Mississippi, Cross, Crittenden, St. Francis, Lee
MO: Dunklin, Pemiscot, New Madrid
MS: DeSoto, Tunica, Tate, Marshall, Lafayette, Panola, Quitman, Coahoma, Bolivar, Pontotoc, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Leflore, Yalobusha, Grenada
TN: Shelby, Tipton, Lauderdale, Dyer, Obion, Lake, Fayette, Haywood, Crockett, Gibson, Weakley, Hardeman, McNairy, Chester, Madison, Henderson, Carroll, Henry, Hardin, Decatur, Benton

That's forty-eight counties. You're likely to see license plates from any of these places within the city limits of Memphis. Memphis has an enormous rural sphere of influence, and apparently its local "TV Guide" edition is distributed in eight states (TN, MS, AR, MO, KY, AL, and IL). The "Bluff City" nickname is not often used by residents of this Memphis hinterland, and is often a city-limits phenomenon. It's common in the names of businesses, like Bluff City Motors (a familiar landmark along I-240 traveling from the airport to East Memphis) and Bluff City Real Estate. Memphis also does not take part in the phenomenon found in places like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC whereby suburbanites indicate that they are going to the central city by saying "We're going to the City/we're going into [city name]." I think this is because most of the suburbanites of Memphis are already located within the City of Memphis, but even those who live in separate suburban cities (Germantown, Bartlett) don't say they're going into Memphis.

Keep in mind this other distinction: Tourists (and all folk from places that aren't the immediate subregion) go to a place. Suburbanites go intoa place.Someone from the North Shore of Chicago visiting the main shopping hub of his subregion would say that he was going into Highland Park, whereas someone from Naperville would say that he was going to Highland Park. Similarly for someone from Minneapolis saying he was going to Chicago, but into Edina.
 
zmanPLAN said:
How many Queen Cities are out there?
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I have only heard of Cincinatti and Charlotte, which is named after a queen and has a crown in the city logo.
 
[OT]From here out Southwestern Pennsylvania shall forever be known as Greater Metropolitan Biscuitburgh. That is all. ;-) [/OT]
 
Dragging this across the Atlantic for a second, there are a few distinctive ones in Britain:

Birmingham - the West Midlands (or when we're being mildly inaccurate, simply "the Midlands") - most of the places contained in which (but not Birmingham proper) are in the Black Country
Glasgow/Edinburgh - the Central Belt of Scotland (what a mouthful!)
Liverpool - Merseyside
Newcastle - Tyneside, Geordieland
Stoke - the Potteries

Annoyingly, the "Detroit syndrome" happens a lot over here. If you even suggested that such a thing as "Greater Birmingham" existed, you'd get loud insistences from residents of neighbouring towns that they did not live in such an entity, and that the term was purely historical (referring to the expansion of the City boundaries in 1911). It's quite apt that most of the British motor industry (when we still had one!) was based in Birmingham.
 
[ot]
drucee said:
Similarly for someone from Minneapolis saying he was going to Chicago, but into Edina.
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Whyever would one in Minneapolis do that, though?[/ot]
 
My Area!

While we're at it, I'd like to throw a few more into the ring from PA:

SCRANTON: "The Electric City"-Dubbed as such due to the fact that Scranton was the first U.S. city to utilize electric trolleys to connect the city to its inner suburbs.

WILKES-BARRE: "The Diamond City"-Dubbed as such due to the fact that the city's central business district is centered around a diamond-shaped park called "Public Square", which is a focal point to anyone in the downtown.

HAZLETON: "The Mountain City"-Dubbed as such due to the fact that the city's elevation is at around 1,600 feet above sea level, which is much higher than the surrounding communities.

TOBYHANNA: "Tobyhorror"-Dubbed as such due to the fact that Tobyhanna sits at just the threshold elevation to magnify extreme winter weather; It may be raining in Stroudsburg and sleeting in Scranton, but it will be snowing like crazy here!

OLYPHANT: "The Queen City"-Unsure of this origin

PITTSTON: "Tomato Town"-This is actually a new nickname that I've bestowed upon the city via my new "Pittston 2020" campaign aimed at unifying our city's residents towards downtown revitilization. Pittston is known as the "Quality Tomato Capital of the World", and as such the city is home to an annual week-long festival full of tomato fights, a parade, a fun-run, amusements, etc., and I feel as if this theme should be celebrated as an integral part of the city's history.

"Wyoming Valley"-This refers to the Susquehanna River basin region of Luzerne County, extending from Duryea in the north to Nanticoke in the south, although many more from other nearby areas also consider themselves to be from "The Valley."

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "BosWash" in this thread as well. This term refers to the entire urbanized region extending from the Boston region southward to Washington, DC and includes the following cities (perhaps more):

NEW ENGLAND:
Boston, MA
Bridgeport, CT
Brockton, MA
Danbury, CT
Fall River/New Bedford, MA
Hartford, CT
Lawrence/Methuen/Haverhill, MA
Lowell, MA
Manchester, NH
Nashua, NH
Newport, RI
New Haven, CT
New London/Norwich, CT
Portland, ME
Portsmouth, NH
Providence, RI
Springfield, MA
Stamford/Greenwich, CT
Taunton, MA
Warwick, RI
Waterbury, CT
Woonsocket, RI
Worcester, MA

NYC/PHILLY REGION:
Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, PA
Atlantic City, NJ
Bergen/Passaic, NJ
Dover, DE
Harrisburg, PA
Lancaster, PA
Monmouth/Ocean, NJ
Nassau/Suffolk, NY
Newark, NJ
Newburgh, NY
New York City, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Reading, PA
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA
Trenton, NJ
Vineland/Millville, NJ
Wilmington, DE
York, PA

BALTIMORE/DC REGION:
Annapolis, MD
Arlington/Alexandria, VA
Baltimore, MD
Frederick, MD
Fredericksburg, VA
Hagerstown, MD
Leesburg, VA
Martinsburg/Charles Town, WV
Washington, DC
 
Louisville, KY

The truck drivers call it Derby City, I have also heard L-Ville, The Ville and up and coming "City of Parks". I just call it Louieville.:)
 
Believe it or not, I have heard Spokane, Washington referred to as Spocompton. That sounds almost as goofy as Fort Fun, but not quite.
 
I've always referred to the booming metropolis of Cambridge, OH, as "The Cambridge Triangle", mostly because no signals from decent radio stations can penetrate the area. Same can also be said for cell phone reception these days, drive through eastern Ohio on I-70 sometime and you'll know what I'm talking about.
 
Orange County in Southern Cal = the Orange Curtain

It begins to make sense when you see people from the OC socializing with metro LA people.
 
Wichita is called the “Air Capital of the World” for it’s aviation industry. It has a few other names, like ICT (airport designation) . Some slang type names are “Wub K”, “Ta-Town” and my classic favorite “Wichatitty”.:-D

Bill
 
I may have missed it, but I didn't see anyone mention Pittsburgh's longstanding name: "The Steel City". That's the origin of the Pittsburgh Steeler's name. (Not that anyone here remembers how to make steel any more...)

As far as the weatherman, they'll most commonly refer to the "tri state area", but I never considered that a nickname as much as it is simply a description of thier forecast area.

As far as the car dealers, and other sellers of goods and services, here's a suggestion: take a look in your local yellow pages to see what businesses are naming themselves. Around here you'll find lots of "Steel City", "Tri State", "Golden Triangle" and of course "Three Rivers" variations. (The latter two referring to the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongehela rivers, to form the Ohio.)

And lastly, among the yinzers....Ah, bit of explanation needed here..."Yinz", or "Younz" is the Pittsburghese equivalent of the southern term "Y'all". (Google "Pittsburghese" to learn more than you'd ever want to know. I think yinz derives from "you ones", similar to the much more evident "you all", but I could be mistaken.) A yinzer is simply a native Pittsburgher who was able to resist the corrupting influences of their grade school English teacher--Who needs good grammar to make theirself understood? Anyway, among the yinzers, Pittsburgh is most often simply referred to as, "Da Burgh".
 
Albuquerque = "The Duke City" (it was named after the Duke of Albuquerque in Spain in 1706) or "Burque" (my wife hates this one). Albuquerque literally means "The Plum" in Arabic (actually spelled AlbuRquerque, but changed here sometime ago). It was evidently named after a Black Moor that founded the area (in Spain) during the Moorish occupation.

Santa Fe = "The City Different." These days its more like "The City Completely out of Reach of Non-Movie Stars"
 
passdoubt said:
The Jersey Shore isn't just Monmouth and Ocean Counties, is it? Wildwood is still a part of "the Shore."
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i grew up in Monmouth Co. and "the Shore" was always Monmouth and Ocean and Atlantic County was "Atlantic City" and Cape May Co. was "Cape May"

In Philadelphia people always have a tough time with it
"so where are you from, originally?"
"the Shore"
"what Shore?" (what a ridiculous way to phrase that question yet people say it every time)
"the Jersey shore."
"yeah, i know, but where?"
"you mean what town?"
"yeah"
"a place you've never heard of but it's right next to Asbury Park"
"ohh, that's not the Shore, that's North Jersey"
"well i was born at Jersey Shore Medical, went to Shore Regional High School, and ran track in the Shore Conference and all of those things are well north of LBI"
"so what do you call Wildwood and Ocean City?"
"South Jersey"

From the Monmouth Co. perspective "Central Jersey" is Monmouth, Mercer, and parts of southern Middlesex Co. and northern Burlington.
North Jersey is generally anything north of the Raritan river.
South Jersey is anything south of Toms River.

The place that calls itself "South Jersey" is Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington.
Anything north or east of Burlington Co. is "North Jersey."
People from Camden and Gloucester claim all of Burlington but generally people from north of Burlington City don't use "South Jersey" very often. It also has a lot to do with whether or not they are Eagles or Giants fans.

Morris County claims "Central Jersey" i'm not sure how that makes sense but it's true.

People in Essex County call "North Jersey" anything north of Essex Co. and South Jersey starts when you cross the Raritan.

People in Salem and Cumberland Co. call anything north of Camden or Atlantic City "North Jersey"
 
jresta said:
From the Monmouth Co. perspective "Central Jersey" is Monmouth, Mercer, and parts of southern Middlesex Co. and northern Burlington.
North Jersey is generally anything north of the Raritan river.
South Jersey is anything south of Toms River.
The place that calls itself "South Jersey" is Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington.
Anything north or east of Burlington Co. is "North Jersey."
People from Camden and Gloucester claim all of Burlington but generally people from north of Burlington City don't use "South Jersey" very often. It also has a lot to do with whether or not they are Eagles or Giants fans...
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That's funny, cuz everyone I have EVER met from New Jersey usually says "New York" or "Philly," until further pressed. :p
 
LA/San Diego

I didn't see these listed, so I thought I'd mention that in San Diego and LA, you'll often here the term SoCal for this region. A friend from Oakland says NorCal is also common in the Bay Area.
 
Reopening an old thread...

Here's some names from places I'm familiar with:

"Central Texas" - Austin, San Marcos, Temple-Killeen, sometimes Waco and sometimes San Antonio

"Heart of Texas" - Waco area, sometimes Temple-Killeen

"The Metro" - Oklahoma City metro area. The City is also called "the City" regularly by locals

"Texoma" - usually refers to Ardmore/Gainesville/Durant/Sherman/Denison area, which is split/separated by Lake Texoma on the OK/TX border. Sometimes this term is used in Wichita Falls and Lawton, as they're only 40 miles apart and are larger towns and share their own separate media market (the other area is predominantly Dallas market, being 80 or so miles away - Wichita Falls is about 110 miles out)

"Green Country" - greater Tulsa/Bartlesville/Claremore
 
Show of hands - is there universal agreement/understanding as to where 'the Island' refers to? Or better yet 'the City'. I heard both terms used by a resident of New Bern, NC in reference to Manhattan and New York City.
 
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Maister said:
Show of hands - is there universal agreement/understanding as to where 'the Island' refers to? Or better yet 'the City'. I heard both terms used by a resident of New Bern, NC in reference to Manhattan and New York City.
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"The City" is also used (or at least was used) by Bay Area residents in reference to San Francisco. Everybody remember the old Golden State Warriors jerseys?

I've also heard Galveston called "the Island", with references to residents based on years on the island, etc.

In other words, no. There's no universal agreement or understanding for either terms. It depends largely on where it's being used (in the case of the New Bern resident, NYC/Long Island might be the closest areas where those terms are used) and by whom (NC is probably known as being 2nd in line after FL for high concentrations of NY/Tri-state transplants).
 
TexanOkie said:
"The City" is also used (or at least was used) by Bay Area residents in reference to San Francisco. Everybody remember the old Golden State Warriors jerseys?
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Yeah, this is still used, and not just in the Bay Area. You'll hear it pretty much everywhere in northern California (including Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton, etc). You'll especially hear it on local news and see it in the local papers - always printed "The City" with both words capitalized. Another case of New York-envy, IMO.

One that I haven't seen mentioned is "Cenla" (pronounced sin-luh) to refer to Central Louisiana and specifically the area surrounding Alexandria.
 
Maister said:
Show of hands - is there universal agreement/understanding as to where 'the Island' refers to? Or better yet 'the City'. I heard both terms used by a resident of New Bern, NC in reference to Manhattan and New York City.
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People from the Chicago area refer to the City of Chicago as "The City" all the time to differentiate from "the suburbs".

Some nicknames from central Illinois include "Shampoo Banana" for Champaign-Urbana, or simply "Chambana". People also use C-U for Champaign-Urbana or B-N for Bloomington-Normal. I've seen the abbreviation "K^3" (as in K "cubed") used for Kankakee.
 
Omaha, NE metro: "The Midlands"

Also, "the real midwest" for the Kansas City-Omaha-Lincoln-Des Moines region (because the Chicago-Cleveland midwest is, you know, too far east..)

Blackburg-Christiansburg-Radford-Pulaski, VA: "The New River Valley"

Alexandria-Arlington-Falls Church, Fairfax City and County, Manassas, Prince William and Loudoun Counties "Northern Virginia" (also NOVA, which older residents will not use, because to them that acronym only refers to the Community College District)
 
Ok I'll contribute some nicknames for the Southern California region.

Riverside = Ghettoside
Anaheim = Anacrime
Garden Grove = Garbage Grove
Oceanside = Oceancrime (yeah it doesnt rhyme but the statistics are justifiable)

I apologize if anybody takes offense.
 
Norfolk-Newport News-Hampton-Virginia Beach-Suffolk-Chesapeake, VA: The Tidewater Region or just "Tidewater", or "Hampton Roads"

I'm not sure how it got the nickname "Hampton Roads". Tidewater I can understand. Anybody know?
 
Rygor said:
Norfolk-Newport News-Hampton-Virginia Beach-Suffolk-Chesapeake, VA: The Tidewater Region or just "Tidewater", or "Hampton Roads"

I'm not sure how it got the nickname "Hampton Roads". Tidewater I can understand. Anybody know?
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Also, from what I've heard the Hampton-Newport News-Williamsburg portion of that metro is referred to as "The Peninsula" Is there a nickname for the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Virginia Beach-Chesapeake section?
 
Rygor said:
Norfolk-Newport News-Hampton-Virginia Beach-Suffolk-Chesapeake, VA: The Tidewater Region or just "Tidewater", or "Hampton Roads"

I'm not sure how it got the nickname "Hampton Roads". Tidewater I can understand. Anybody know?
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The answer is here.

Evidently, "Roads" as a nautical term refers to a place on can anchor that is less sheltered than a harbor. Hampton was named after Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton who was a founder of the Virginia Company of London that settled the area for the Europeans.
 
Dave F said:
Also, from what I've heard the Hampton-Newport News-Williamsburg portion of that metro is referred to as "The Peninsula" Is there a nickname for the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Virginia Beach-Chesapeake section?
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Not sure. Haven't heard of one.

Wahday - Thanks. That answeres my question.
 
In Minneapolis-St. Paul, unlike in other "twin city" metro areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth where suburbs are clearly perceived as "belonging" to one city or another (or decidedly, neither), we do not speak of "Minneapolis suburbs" or "St. Paul suburbs." Instead, we refer to the suburbs by simple geographical destinations, with a few twists:

"West Metro" are the suburbs due west of downtown Minneapolis, including St. Louis Park, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Golden Valley, and Wayzata. West of Orono (about 18 miles from downtown), the area around Lake Minnetonka and north of Highway 7 is also known as "Westonka." Edina is often considered to be West Metro for socioeconomic reasons, despite being located southwest of downtown.

"South Metro" are the Dakota County suburbs south of the Minnesota River, such as Eagan, Apple Valley, Burnsville, and Lakeville. Richfield and Bloomington are due south of Minneapolis, but are often referred to individually, and rarely called "South Metro."

"Southwest Metro" begins at Eden Prairie and fans out southwest of Minneapolis following highways 5, 212, and 169 until it reaches a line roughly from Waconia to Jordan to New Prague. It includes Chaska, Shakopee, Prior Lake, and Chanhassen.

"North Metro" is due north of both Minneapolis and St. Paul, spanning a broad area centered on Anoka and Coon Rapids. An extremely wide range of suburbs can be called "North Metro," encompassing almost anything in the 763 area code from Maple Grove and Osseo all the way to Champlin and Shoreview, as far north as Andover and Ramsey and as close-in as Roseville and Robbinsdale. East of 694, "Northeast Metro" may be more common, while "Northwest Metro" for areas west of 494 and not in Hennepin County (such as Elk River, Rogers and Albertville) is less often heard but still recognized.

"East Metro" is east of St. Paul to the Wisconsin state line, and roughly corresponds to Washington County. It includes Stillwater, Oakdale, Woodbury, and Cottage Grove. Hudson, WI is usually considered separately from any of the "Metro" distinctions, but is nevertheless a part of the Twin Cities metro area. There is no "Southeast Metro," at least not in popular use.

Our regional shopping malls (the best-known of which are Rosedale, Ridgedale, Southdale, and Brookdale) are collectively known as "the Dales." Even the local malls that don't have "-dale" in their name (Northtown, Eden Prairie Center, Burnsville Center, and Arbor Lakes) will often be lumped in with "the Dales" in popular parlance to distinguish them from the Mall of America. Indeed, the idea of shopping malls all having the "-dale" suffix here is so ingrained that during its construction, the Mall of America occasionally acquired the nickname "Hugedale."
 
Baltimore is pretty clearly distinct from Washington (except in the imagination of the Census Bureau--until a few years ago), but there isn't really a nickname for the whole metro.

Nicknames for individual places around here:
Baltimore--Charm City; Harm City; Balmer (from the old Hon accent, not yet and hopefully never to be extinct); Bulletmore Murderland
Westminster--Westmonster
Frederick--Fredneck

Last week after the Saints game, I heard a player being interviewed refer to New Orleans as "yat nation". Anybody know what a yat is?

Slower Delaware--the part of Delaware south of the C&D Canal (lower Delaware)
 
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