Reply #8: Didn't think of DC as "the city" when I lived there

[salin]

as the whole metro area, at the time, seemed like one contintiguous area - so the city was a distinction without meaning (more likely to refer to Old Town, or George Town, or Capitol Hill, or worse to metro stops.)

Folks didn't refer to Detroit as "the city" - not likely to hear, for example, UofM students talking about going into "the city" tonight (per Detroit)

Hey - living in Indiana - we really don't have a cosmopolitan area to call "the City" - Indy just doesn't count - now in the nw part of the state the city would definitiely be Chicago.

For me the only place I have lived where "the City" had a distinct reference was the Bay Area (as there are numerous distinct cities in the region - but only one SF!)

I was guessing that while the reference is regional - that NYC would be the one that would get national recognition :D