[Ads-l] The City

[Peter Reitan]

In Winneshiek County, Iowa, when people say they are going "into town," 
they generally mean Decorah, even if they are closer to Calmar, Hesper, 
Ridgeway or Higlandville - probably not influenced by London as "the 
City," but by human nature and the relative size of towns or cities in 
the area and the economic influence it has on surrounding towns or 
townships.

------ Original Message ------
From: "Margaret Winters" <mewinters at wayne.edu>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 3/7/2019 2:30:07 PM
Subject: Re: The City

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Margaret Winters <mewinters at WAYNE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: The City
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Boro Park is served by the El, but everyone called it the subway, hence my =
>lack of precision here.  The signs read "To City" and "To Coney Island".
>
>----------------------------
>MARGARET E WINTERS
>Former Provost
>Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
>Wayne State University
>Detroit, MI  48202
>
>mewinters at wayne.edu
>
>
>________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of James =
>A. Landau <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
>Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2019 2:15 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: The City
>
>On Wed, 6 Mar 2019 13:30:44 Zone + 0000 Margaret Winters <mewinters at WAYNE.E=
>DU> wrote:
>
>>Subway stations in Brooklyn (at least some of them) still have signs
>>over the stairway up or down to the Manhatten-bound train as "To City".
>>I always assumed these stations (like the one in Boro Park that was my
>>local stop) pre-dated Brooklyn's becoming part of the larger New York
>>City in1898.  Brooklyn still calls itself  "America's 4th Largest City".
>>It's not surprising that even in our adult life-time Manhattan is
>>considered The City by Brooklynites.
>>
>>I wonder about Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island inhabitants - do they
>>also consider Manhattan The City?
>
>Brooklyn became merged with Manhattan into New York City in 1898.  The New =
>York subway system first opened in 1904, although the "El" dates back to 18=
>68.
>
>A friend who was a college student in New York told me about a subway stati=
>on somewhere in the Bronx that IIRC directed patrons to their choice of "th=
>e City" and "gun Hill Road".
>
>- Jim Landau
>
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>Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.
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