Only highly intelligent people know the nicknames of these major cities

11.12.2017

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Geography Story: Only highly intelligent people know the nicknames of these major cities

People give nicknames to different objects in order to specify some qualities or characteristics. Nicknames are mostly funny, because of witty exagerations and comparisons. However, some of the nicknames come to us by chance. Let's investigate the origins of the following nicknames!

1) New York "The Big Apple"

Is New Your famous for its apple pies? Does Apple Inc. have the main office in New York? Actually not. In the 1920s a reporter John Fitz Gerald heard from some people the nickname "the Big Apple" and tried to find out where it came from but failed. Despite of this, he liked the nickname much and wrote it every time he had to mention New York in his works. The nickname gained the true popularity in the 70s, when it was used by a tourism company.

2) Seattle "The Emerald City"

The nickname was created in the 70s with the intention to attract more tourists into Seattle. The nickname reflects the presence of a great amount of green in this town due to the climate peculiarities.

3) Miami "The Magic City"

Miami is one of those cities that really look magical but this is not the way the nickname appeared. Between 1900 and the 1920s, there was a spike of population in this town. It jumped from 1600 native people to 30,000. Obviously, the quantity of entertainment establishments also rose greatly - they were popping up all over the place. Miami grew like magic.

4) Paris "The city of lights"

Paris has one of the main roles during the "Age of Enlightment". There were many artists, creatives and people flooding the streets in the late 1600’s and early 1800’s. Besides, Paris was the first city in Europe that used gas lamps to light up the famous Champs-Elysees.

5) Boston "Bean Town"

This is not about coffee beans as you may think. It's about molasses. During the early 1900’s there were much molasses in Boston and it was often used in Boston's cuisine. The most popular dish with molasses was Boston baked beans. This is how the nickname appeared.

6) New Orleans "The Big Easy"

An unknown writer once used the nickname for New Orleans in comparison with New York in the early 1970’s. The nickname gradually gained popularity with time. Later, the nickname was used as a title of a crime novel, that was turned into a film. Since those times "The Big Easy" has been used to denote New Orleans.

7) Chicago "The Windy City"

There are many theories of the origin of this nickname. The most common one is that Chicago is just really windy.

8) London "The Big Smoke"

London is also known as "The Old Smoke". The reason is that during the late 19th and early 20th centuries people used coal to warm their houses. Thus there were clouds of smoke, that is sometimes called "London Fog".

9) Philadelphia "The city of Brotherly love"

Though people of Philadelphia are really friendly and welcoming, the nickname was given to the city for another reason. It originates from the literal meaning of the name "Philadelphia". The city was named so by William Penn - he combined two Greek words Phileo and Adelphos, together they mean "brotherly love."

Do you know any more nicknames of other cities? Share your knowledge - tell about it in the commentaries below!