[Ads-l] RES: "The Big Easy"

[David Daniel]

Yeah, yeah. I lived in SF. If you live in SF and kill your grandmother with
an ax you will get sympathy, you poor conflicted thing. If you live in SF
and call it Frisco, you will be reviled, you ignorant dirtbag. The latter
also applies if you smoke or vote Republican, which I don't, but I'm just
sayin. 
DAD

Subject:      Re: "The Big Easy"
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=0AIn the 1970s, My father, Californian by birth and resident of San Franci=
sco in the late-40s/early 50s, told me not to call to call it "Frisco," tha=
t residents there thought it denigrating. So it clearly was a "thing" long =
before Caen penned that 1995 column. =0A =0A(I'm not sure of the exact cont=
ext of the conversation with my Dad, but I think we were watching "The Stre=
ets of San Francisco" with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas and New Jersey-b=
orn-and-raised me said something about "Frisco," at which point he chided m=
e.)=0A =0AI haven't lived in the Bay Area since 2010, so I can't vouch for =
current usage. When I lived there from 1998=E2=80=932010, it seemed to be m=
ore a marker of a non-resident than something objectionable. I don't recall=
 any resident using the term, but I also don't recall anyone raising object=
ions to it.=0A =0A =0A-----Original Message-----=0AFrom: "Geoffrey Nunberg"=
 <nunbergg at GMAIL.COM>=0ASent: Tuesday, March 5, 2019 7:00pm=0ATo: ADS-L at LIS=
TSERV.UGA.EDU=0ASubject: Re: [ADS-L] "The Big Easy"=0A=0A=0A=0AActually, ge=
nuine* San Franciscans don=E2=80=99t get into a tizzy over =E2=80=9CFrisco,=
=E2=80=9D though nobody uses it =E2=80=94 it=E2=80=99s old-fashioned, but h=
ey, Jack London used it and you have to have a warm spot for Alan Ladd and =
Joanne Dru (!) in the 1955 Hell on Frisco Bay. It only became a Thing when =
Herb Caen put the kibosh on it in a 1995 SF Chronicle column (https://goo.g=
l/ANQVc4 <https://goo.gl/ANQVc4>). What drives people here crazy is =E2=80=
=9CSan Fran,=E2=80=9D which is still in obnoxious use. Bold Italic did a go=
od a piece on SF nicknames at https://goo.gl/Dfhn4k <https://goo.gl/Dfhn4k>=
, calling =E2=80=9CSan Fran=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9Cthe uncool one."=0A=0AFrom a =
report of a 2018 survey of 200 Bay Area residents in Curbed (https://goo.gl=
/3eBnaq <https://goo.gl/3eBnaq>):=0A=0AWhen asked the =E2=80=9Cterm you use=
 most often,=E2=80=9D 41.5 percent said =E2=80=9CSan Francisco.=E2=80=9D 27=
.5 percent most often call it =E2=80=9CThe City,=E2=80=9D and 12 percent pr=
efer =E2=80=9CSF.=E2=80=9D Inexplicably, 9 percent say =E2=80=9CSan Fran,=
=E2=80=9D while =E2=80=9CFrisco=E2=80=9D hangs around at 4.5 percent.=0AAs =
it happens, though, only 15 pct of respondents actually live in SF, so take=
 that for what (little) it=E2=80=99s worth. Actually, after 35 or so years =
here I just call it the City now, though I have to be careful when returnin=
g to Manhattan, where the City is just, you know, the City. (My students at=
 Brooklyn College used to call Manhattan the City.)=0A=0A*I make it about 4=
 left on my block.=0A=0AGeoff Nunberg=0A=0A=0AGeoffrey Nunberg=0AAdjunct Fu=
ll Professor=0ASchool of Information=0AUniversity of California at Berkeley=
=0ABerkeley CA 94720=0Aph. 510-643-3894=0Ahttp://people.ischool.berkeley.ed=
u/~nunberg/ <http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/>=0Anunberg at ischoo=
l.berkeley.edu <mailto:nunberg at ischool.berkeley.edu>=0A=0A=0A> Date: Mon, 4=
 Mar 2019 09:47:21 -0500=0A> From: Ben Yagoda <byagoda at UDEL.EDU <mailto:bya=
goda at udel.edu>>=0A> Subject: "The Big Easy"=0A> =0A> Forgive me if Barry or=
 someone else has already mentioned this, but my impression is that current=
-day New Orleaneans chafe at =E2=80=9Cthe Big Easy,=E2=80=9D the way San Fr=
anciscans don=E2=80=99t like =E2=80=9CFrisco.=E2=80=9D Again, my impression=
 is that they prefer =E2=80=9Cthe Crescent City=E2=80=9D as a nickname, whi=
ch =E2=80=9Cproblematizes=E2=80=9D this finding of Barry=E2=80=99s: =E2=80=
=9CIn an interview with Larry McKinley in The Times-Picayune on January 25,=
 1976, talking about his days at the radio station WYLD:=0A> =E2=80=9CWe we=
re told =E2=80=98Don=E2=80=99t say Crescent City.'=E2=80=9D=0A> =0A> Ben=0A=
=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A------------------------------------------------------=
------=0AThe American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org