as far as i can tell, the only people who actually use the term "CHI-TOWN" to refer to our fair city would be people who don't actually live in chicago and certain local rap stars. i would be shocked if anybody i know used this word in a sentence with a straight face.

stop it! i do not live in chi-town, i live in chicago.

Same with use of "San Fran", only used by tourists and TV talking heads.

I've used it, once or twice but in an ironic way. I always cringe when some out of towners pronounce chicago or worse, pronounce the S in illinois. Granted, it's mainly people from out of the country, but not always.
Actually, does anyone still have a Chicago accent?
I honestly can't tell if I do, I know I have some sort of accent but I think it's your general neutral midwest accent.

In general, no, but certain words have it, most notably bratwurst. I never thought of it as an accent when I was a kid, that's just how I heard everyone say it. It's like elle-inois vs. ill-inois, I never really noticed the difference until I got older. (I still use the former.)

What I heard from Kansans was that my Chicago accent was noticable when I pronounced my a's:
"Back pack" or "Taxi cab"
The a's are emphesized with a slight "beack peack" or "Teaxi Ceab" if that makes sence.

I'll stop talking about Kansas after this: people would respond with "chi-town" when asked where they were from so much that one of my friends from St. Louis thought (for a good month or two) that chi-town was a suburb of Chicago, the kid's an idiot though.

I have been out of Illinois for a few years and when I come back, I notice it on some people, but not everyone. Most notably, I went to a local hot dog shop and they kid behind the counter asked my g/f and I if we wanted a "baag" (with a real thick Chicago A). We both thought it was pretty funny because it was so noticeable.

WTF are you people talking about, people from Chicago say this all the time.

I mean, turn on one radio.

Can you say Chi-city?

According to people in other states, I have a terrible Chicago accent. Fuck them.

just because it's on the radio does not make me hate the term any less. where the hell did it originate? i guarantee it was thought up by someone who is not from chicago.

It bothered me when i first heard it, but it doesn't bother me so much any more. Most fad words and phrases annoy me, and I make an effort to NOT use them. Misinterpeting some of these phrases has gotten people mad at me a few times.

Yes, but not everyone in the Chicago area talks that way, just as many New Yorkers don't speak with that awfull New York accent. Don't you think Mayor Daley has a Chicago accent?

I think there are a variety of Chicago accents, and it seems to be more noticeable among south siders. There also seems to me to be a southwest-side/southwest suburban accent. Anyone else notice this? I saw a commercial on TV for Infiniti of Orland Park where the dealer(?) is an example of this. He seemed to sound very southwest suburban to me.

Any linguists do a study on any of this?

Go ILL

Worse yet--"Frisco"

i swear if i ever hear the phrase "big ups to d-rock in chi-town" directed at me, i think ill shoot everyone i love and care about so they dont have to live in a world with such idiocy. im just saying.....

Who can forget

i'm with ya 100% on the chi-town thing. man is that annoying...the only thing worse now is the youngsters saying that they are from "The Chi"!

abso-FUCKING-lutely.


trust me, i know.

The one I fucking hate is "Chicagoland". Drives me nuts.

I've heard the term "Chi-town" on TV and radio, usually used by jackasses who grew up somewhere else. As for the "The Chi", fuck you. Seriously, FUCK YOU*.







*not you, skinny- anyone who uses that fuckjob term...

Yeah, but at least that one serves some sort of a purpose by describing the city and suburbs.

Know what I hate? The term "back east."

(Hard to admit)
I used to watch Seventh Heaven now and again, and there was an episode where one of the daughter's boyfriends was going to school on the east coast.
He'd never been there before, but they constantly referred to him as going "back east."

I hear it every now and then in actual conversation or on television. It bugs me. You don't go back unless you've never been there, so if you've never been there, what does it really refer to?

My guess is that it's more a historical reference - people headed west into the country and the unknown to make their claim in life, and if it didn't go well, headed "back east" to the big cities.

I like Chicagoland. I think that is fairly unique to Chicago. It doesn't work for any other city...

Columbusland?
New Yorkland?
Bostonland?

They all sound like amusement parks. It actually works for Chicago.

I don't have a problem with Chicagoland, since we have a fairly unique way of considering far-flung suburbs part of "Chicago". Hence, Chicago"land".

And who says "ChiTown" on the radio? Like, DJs? Aren't most DJs, and TV anchors/reporters for that matter, from out of town?

"Chi-town" bugs me too. I have a cousin in Boston who asked me one time how things were in Chi-town. We made a deal that he would never say Chi-town again and I wouldn't ask him about "Beantown."

i know exactly what you mean. it's always bothered me.

Well, I think you pretty much explained it right here. I believe it is in reference to how the country was "founded" by Europeans, and whatnot. It's back east, and it's out west...never the twain shall get discombobulated. I actually enjoy and employ the back-east, and out-west thing...Chi-town I despise.

you know what term I hate. The Midwest. I mean seriously, what the fuck does it mean. I've seen places as far afield as Pittsburgh and Omaha included in the term... and it's kinda assumed that there's a "midwestern" attitude or stereotype. Like a midwesterner from Toledo, one from Chicago and one from Topeka have squat in common.

Chi-town, I have no qualms about. What's wrong with it?

In my hometown, Louisville, KY, they call the metro area "Kentuckiana". Never bothered me either.

Why do you people care about this at all?

Or "La-La Land" for LA, or people who use "The Big Apple" with a straight face.


What about people who pronounce the "s" in Louisville? I can pronounce it correctly, you have to swallow all the vowels to do it right, kinda like "L'ville."

that's a little better than the "pennsyltucky" that i hear about anywhere that's not philadelphia or pittsburgh in the keystone state.

Well, Kentuckiana sounds fun. Chi-town just sounds gay...probably first used in Melrose Park.

In answer to why people care, a recent study has shown that people who are fond of saying "why do people care about this or that" are running dangerously low on topics which they can monitor in such a detached fashion. It's true. That's why I'm just about to start a thread on Sudoku...no, really. I also have threads planned on propper use of the left lane on the interstate, lawn mowing patterns, that whole night-vision-flipper-thing on rear view mirrors, and why I just don't like Farrelly brothers movies.

Also, there's the lakeside area of Indiana/Michigan being called Michiana or Michillinda.

There are TONS of people who call the state I live in Ill - i - NOISE. Frankly, it doesn't bother me anymore, kinda like an intentional mispronunciation at this point - only I suspect many don't know the right way to say it - same with R Kansas.

I'm one of those who usually calls my hometown Lou E ville. My accent's barely noticeable most of the time though, so maybe that explains it.

and, for the record, a Chicago accent is still pretty common and noticeable. My sister in law moved to Toronto and people there can often immediately tell she's from Chicago, and her accent is fairly tame.

these three inevitable threads have some serious potential, especially the first.

"Chicagoland" just sounds fucking CORNY. Like Steve Dahl once said, it sounds like a damned amusement park!

I have no problem with Chitown. I don't know who came up with it, but I always assumed it was somebody's answer to Motown (as in Detroit, which used to be known as the Motor City before the Motown record company blew up).

all the surrounding towns where i grew up used to call our town...Wondertucky.

Proper left-lane usage was one trainwreck of a discussion on the old board last year. I felt like I was banging my head against a wall.

Jimmy, which Noo Yawk accent you got? You usually can only hear mine when I say things like "Chawklit" or "Cawfee."

same here. but i have a bit of a chicago accent too. like when i say "chicago" or "college" i mix up the accents, so maybe i'm somewhere around Cleveland.

I believe this is the principle behind the whole Saskadelphia issue as well

Yeah, I get a little Chicago accent when I'm visiting there, I start sounding like one of my old bosses from the loading dock.

Nah, Cleveland's got flatter sounding "A"s, more like what's called "Standard American Speech" by people who study pronounciation.

I know of someone who says 'out east'. THAT really annoys me.

And how about 'miz-er-uh'?

What about "Down East" for Maine?

Why, that just might cause an uproar!

For the record, I do say miz-UHR-uh when referencing the Show Me State...no "long e" sound at the end. Don't know why...I shouldn't say it like that, but I do.

Blame it on the Chi-Lites.

but what about the bbq?

I will admit to having used the term Chi-town in the past.

*hangs head*

Exactly, my blood boils everytime I hear "Chi-Town". So cheesy.

And not only do we live in Chicago, we live in Chi-cawh-go. Never heard a "Hey Chi-town" person pronounce it properly like that.

this whole "I hate when people call it Chi-town" has been a popular rant topic for newspaper columists for years. In fact, I think it's a job requirement.