City Names

[Mike Salovesh]

Joseph McCollum wrote:
>
> In the sports pages, it's usually "Cincy," "Indy" (not "Indie,")
> "Philly," and "Frisco."

"Cincy" is for/from outsiders, whether on sports pages or elsewhere.  I
think that the inside version is "Cinti". . .  but what would I know?
On several trips to that fine city, I remembered a famous feature of
Cincinnati cuisine: a dish called "Cincinnati chile".  (It comes in
standard variants, which are ordered by the appropriate number from one
to five.  As I recall, a "five" had a combination of five elements,
including chile, cheese, and macaroni plus two more I foget.  Was one of
them a hot dog?) I was proud of myself for remembering this bit of local
esoterica on each return.

I shouldn't have been that proud.  Each time, I ordered one of the
concoctions (probably a number five).  Each time, the first bite
reminded me how much I hate the dish.  I think its popularity comes from
the fact that it's one dish a six year old can make successfully.
That's not much of a recommendation.

Several unhappy meetings with Cinti Chili finally taught me to accept
anything else rather than order this mess again.

-- mike salovesh       <salovesh at niu.edu>                PEACE !!!

P.S.: To add another town to the variant names department: students at
Beloit College (Beloit, Wisconsin) get a kick out of calling it "Bell
Wah". Their backup alternative is "Turtle Town" (aka "the Big Turtle");
Turtle Creek is a noticeable feature of local geography.