"slang" and "informal" as dict labels [WAS: shirty?]

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Peter A. McGraw
> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 8:48 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "slang" and "informal" as dict labels [WAS: shirty?]
>
>
> I don't know anything about sf/sci fi, but I don't think
> anyone has quite hit the nail on the head about "Frisco"
> yet.  It's a shibboleth in that it's a nickname used only
> by those who DON'T live there--similar to "Jersey" for
> New Jersey, which is used by New Yorkers but not by people
> who live in New Jersey.  So it's not so much that San
> Franciscans resent "Frisco"--just that it marks the user as
> an outsider.  I do suspect it would engender a mix of annoyance
> and embarassment to hear someone ostentatiously using "Frisco"
> in the mistaken belief that he was thereby marking himself as
> an insider, whereas in fact he would be marking himself
> not only as an outsider, but as an ignorant outsider.

Speaking as a Jersey boy born and bred, "Jersey" is not a shibboleth, or at
least not one that is widely observed. Growing up, we used "Jersey" all the
time to refer to our home and when asked where I come from, to this day my
response is usually a simple "Jersey."

Frisco, on the other hand is a shibboleth. I've lived in the Bay Area for
five years now and I haven't heard "Frisco" once. "SF" is written, but
/ess-eff/ is rarely, if ever, spoken. To refer to the city, one says "the
city" or "San Francisco."