Comments on: San Francisco Shorthand (or why it’s not called “San Fran”)

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 02:57:47 +0000

Otis Redding calls it Frisco, I’ma call it Frisco.

By: j james

j james — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:54:36 +0000

while geographically the peninsula is the “west bay”… i’ve never heard anyone call it that.

we like to call ourselves the peninsula so we can get over our jealousy of living in the city by looking down on the south bay. ha ha ha

By: sw

sw — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:01:16 +0000

west bay is another name for the peninsula. calling SF west bay is just wrong

By: lakristopher

lakristopher — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:47:41 +0000

it’s simple folks…

anyone who is from the bay area knows that san francisco is called “the city,” nothing else…

the only people who ever say, “san fran” “frisco” or “sf” are not from the bay area… simple.

and sfo is an airport at noted in the above posts.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:25:18 +0000

I still can’t figure out if my new job is in Mission Bay or China Basin or South Beach or SoMA or just “by Caltrain”

By: anna

anna — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:22:09 +0000

My East Bay brother in law calls SF “west bay”. I like that. I worked at the SF branch of a Boston company, and everyone there had gotten some memo, I’m sure, saying to call SF “San Fran”. It really grated. I think it’s because it’s such a hard “A” in Fran. If you have a twang, you really hear it. “Ess Eff” just sounds dapper. I actually like Frisco, but if anyone BUT a local used it, I’d cringe. If you hear locals say “San Francisco”, it ends up sounding like “Sanfan Cisco”. I try to avoid saying “the city” because it’s a joke- I mean, Oakland and San Jose are larger! And city is such an understatement, we’re the cultural/urban hub of the SF Bay, in my opinion, so it’s not really a city, it’s a MECCA. OK I’m in love with SF, there it is.

NY friend who moved here, and obviously moved away quickly soon after, called it “San FranCheesy”.

I like the South BurlingBrae. You could add: San Burlingbrae-alto

By: rabbit

rabbit — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:23:32 +0000

So in the month since I relocated “home”, I’ve learned definitely don’t call it Frisco, steer away from San Fran, and use SF, The City, or San Francisco if you’re not into the whole brevity thing. Oakland/Berkeley/etc I call “across the bay” or the east bay. I still don’t know whether I live in Hayes Valley or Western Addition being at Divisadero and McAllister.

While I do recognize I’m a transplant, like Kathryn I fell in love with SF the first day I spent here.

By: cd

cd — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:07:45 +0000

ah, the great naming debate – we’ve gone, what, like 89 rounds on this sort of thing here. i’m not complaining about the post, though, the subject is always a conversation starter – as you can see here.

this post has made me think about whether or not i ever called soma soma. i would know it looking at it. i would right it. but come to think of it, i think i’ve always said the whole name – “south of market” – when speaking out-loud. odd.

By: plug1

plug1 — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 16:33:10 +0000

frisco, the sco, sucka free, fo one feva, san fran, The City, call it what you want.

As far as the neighborhood name SOMA — I lived there for 7 years and called it SO-NO-MA (South of North of Market) as a referecne to Herb Caen calling it “Wine Country” due to all the drunks on 6th/Mission.

By: Bradley Allen

Bradley Allen — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 19:37:43 +0000

I say “San Francisco” or “SF”. Never anything else. I cringe at any other names. And I will flat-out bitch slap anyone who says “SFO” in my presence unless they’re referring to the airport itself. Luckily, for everyone, no one has ever done that. Yet.

As far as neighborhoods go, I argue that people who say “SOMA” are not actually from here… or either much younger than I am. I live South of Market. Not some wannabe place in NYC. Ugh!