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Comment by fearless | Hacker News Reader

Well, for one, if you knew as much as you say you do about SF you would know nobody calls it "San Fran".

As someone interested in languages and dialects, these types of things interest me immensely.

In Vancouver, Canada, we call it "San Fran", as well. I don't know anybody there that would even recognise it if it was called "Frisco" much less "The Bay (Area)", unless more context was given.

Only rappers say "Frisco" any more, probably because it's easy to rhyme. The most common abbreviation I hear is simply "SF" for San Francisco itself. "East Bay" for Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley. etc. "The Peninsula" or "The Valley" for anywhere south of SF and "Bay Area" for the whole thing.

I also hear "The City" for San Francisco often enough to find myself using it on occasion (Something I vowed I'd never do after bristling at my friends using the appellation for NYC when I lived in the Northeast).

So, so true.

In my group of east-coast friends and family:

Under 50ish: it's San Fran Over: Frisco

Locally? Bay Area. The City. Etc.

I think everyone who lives near a major city calls that city "The City" in everyday conversation. I live near NYC, and I do it in reference to Manhattan. (Less so the other parts of NYC, such as Queens and the Bronx.)

I've only heard it happens around SF and NYC. Certainly nobody in Redmond was calling Seattle "the city" when I was there.

I grew up outside of DC, and people would say it there as well.

Other commenters have pointed out that almost every major metro area gets called "the city" by its suburbanites, and that matches my observations of at least Seattle, DC, and Nashville. I've lived outside Seattle for 5.5 years and routinely hear it called "the city" by both locals and transplants.

In Santa Cruz we typically called it "SF", or else the full "San Francisco". Didn't hear anybody use "San Fran" or "Frisco", and "The City" was too nonspecific.

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