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Comment by beisner | Hacker News Reader

Not sure how tongue in cheek you're being, but for those for whom English isn't a first language, calling a large city like DC or NYC a 'town' is pretty common, and is a more colloquial way to describe a region rather than to indicate the size of the named region. Often it is used interchangeably with 'place', for instance: "I've lived in New York City all my life, I've got to get out of that town."

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Must be a regional thing because I've never heard of cities like NYC or SF referred to as towns. I would also say "get out of town" is a saying that means "I need to get out of this specific place." Whether the place is a town, city, region is besides the point.

It's a wry/sarcastic idiom, like calling the Atlantic Ocean "the pond". Nobody actually thinks the Atlantic Ocean is a pond.

Calling the Atlantic "the pond" is so cringe worthy. Why that ever caught on.

That probably comes from the 'English Understatement' school of thought.

"New York, New York, a helluva town. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down"

Frank Sinatra would like a word.

London is often called a town, e.g. London Town. If you said "I'm going into town" or "I got it in town" most people would know where you meant.

also uptown, downtown, cross-town, going out of town... town has no connotation of size in English. in fact you have to use modifiers like 'little town', 'big town', etc.

I'll take you to foggy London town 'cause you are my little gentleman.

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