Its San Francisco, thank you very much...

[AsahinaKimi]

Locals know best: only tourists call it 'Frisco'
Sam Cohen
Staff writer Golden Gater Online
It was two years ago at UC Berkeley when police officers approached two men sleeping under a tree and asked them for identification.

"We're from Frisco," the men said.

A moment later, they we're in handcuffs.

No, it's not illegal to say "Frisco," though some would like it to be. But the two men were wanted fugitives from Utah and they gave themselves away because the officers knew the odds of a San Franciscan saying "I'm from Frisco" are about as slim as surviving a jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Which begs the question, what is it about the 'F-word' that can turn otherwise tolerant San Franciscans into word-usage vigilantes?



CONTINUES...
http://www.journalism.sfsu.edu/www/pubs/gater/fall97/sept11/Frisco.html

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I have always cringed when tourists have used that phrase... I think most people
in this city who have lived here all their lives do too.. I heard Bill O'Reilly use it
on one of his broadcasts. Had I a shoe...well, you know! (I JUST LOVE MY CITY!)

[comtec]

1. S.F. is how I call it :)

Or San Francisco!
Yeah i cringe in horror when someone calls it Frisco.
"I lived in Frisco"... um.. no, you didn't or at least not for long. :p
I miss the city by the bay. The beautiful mornings when the fog covered teh area like a cold, but loving blanket, watching the fog roll in, in the evening.
SF is a beautiful city and I miss it greatly.
Amsterdam (I'm guilty of calling it A'dam, NOT adam btw) has it's own charm... but it's missing that 'it' that makes SF so beautiful.

But, when I was visiting a friend who lives in A'dam by the main canal, hearing the boats 'swoosh' by, the rippling of the water, that has it's own charm if you can be near it:)

[mackerel]

2. I adore S.F. ! I lived there for 10 years and now I'm in the East

Bay. Every chance I get though I had back to my auld town.

[proud patriot]

3. we call it the city

like totally

[comtec]

4. LOL Yeah. For me there is no other "The City" :)

Even living here, when someone says the city, my first thought is SF... then I ask for clarification :)
I love SF, but i'd never live there, too big.
I grew up in Concord, and love to visit and work in SF, but not life there lol.
I remember a campaign for the concord paper that said "When we say 'The City' we mean Walnut Creek" LOL silly :)

[proud patriot]

15. Mt Diablo Graduate myself

:hi: It's a small world after all

[Auggie]

5. It's been The City since as long as I can remember

[NuttyFluffers]

6. and Oakland is "the town" ;)

goodness, i miss the city and the town so much. Seoul just isn't as pretty. in fact, its smog is rather unappealing... i get to return by summer, though. so i'll enjoy my new (and temporary!) environs to the fullest.

[mackerel]

7. I thought The City was referring to Foster City :P

[earcandle]

8. I love San Francisco. Been living here since 1980.

City Hall politics suck, but the arts scene is vibrant.  The
native San Franciscans are really cool.  (IMNSHO) 

[Xithras]

9. I hear it referred to as "SanFran" a lot.

Where I live, it's either "SanFran", "The City", or "San F***hole" depending on who I'm talking to. I don't think I've ever heard anyone from anywhere in Northern California call it "Frisco". I also don't hear a whole lot of people using the full name "San Francisco".

[ronnykmarshall]

10. I always try not to roll my eyes when someone says the F-word.

When I lived in SF one of my Uncles used to say "So how's things in Frisco?"

[CountAllVotes]

11. my late father had a love/hate relationship with "Frisco"

When he liked it he referred to it as "The City". When he didn't like it he'd snarl up and call it "Frisco".

He was a 4th generation San Franciscan so I suspect he had a right to call what he liked.

I found an old photograph of my grandfather (looks like Playland at the Beach c. 1900 or so and/or the Cliff House perhaps) and it says on the prop he is standing behind (as a young boy) "Seeing Frisco", so it was not an unusual name to call San Francisco at the turn of the century, that is for sure.

Personally, I call it "The City" myself and I lived there for close to 20 years. When I heard it referred to as "Frisco" it was usually an unknowing tourist or in some cases, like my late father, a pissed off local for some reason or the other getting a dig in.

When my car got stolen, my Dad referred to it as "that god damned place!". }(

:dem:

[The Second Stone]

21. My Dad is fourth generation born in SF too

and he calls it Frisco too. But he grew up poor and went to Polytechnic. I'm fifth generation, and I rarely call it Frisco, if ever. The City, and everyone anywhere near the Bay, including Sacramento, knows which city.

[BrotherBuzz]

12. Emperor Norton got it right

Emperor Norton issued a proclamation to ensure that proper respect was paid to his beloved capital city. "Whoever after due and proper warning," he proclaimed, "shall be heard to utter the abominable word 'Frisco,' which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor." Penalty for noncompliance was $25. The proclamation obviously proved difficult to enforce, but many native San Franciscans to this day abide by it.

[The Second Stone]

22. You are aware that His Imperial Majesty was crazy and homeless?

And that Bummer and Lazarus were not his dogs? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton

[BrotherBuzz]

24. Crazy but not homeless

He resided in a humble basement dwelling on the 300 block of Commercial Street. Masons looked after his welfare when public support fell short.

[Throd]

13. I say "Frisco" just to wrankle them.

But hey, I'm from Scrotumento.

[proud patriot]

14. LOL

;)

[mackerel]

16. Now I'm craving and El Toro burrito!

[pinto]

17. LOL. Thanks for the Herb Caen mention. I was a fan when I lived in Boston,

long before I moved to CA. He was, and may still be, a feature of journalism study in the UMass system.

[Iggo]

18. We know you hate it.

That's why we in Los Angeles will always call it Frisco.

With love, of course.

:hi:

EDIT: Almost forgot. GO DODGERS!

B-)

[cboy4]

19. Ughhh

[ronnykmarshall]

20. Not this Angelino

[ronnykmarshall]

23. Listen to Judy ..... DAMN IT!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fj6X0l2QgY

[Sequoia]

25. That reminds me of an episode of "Streets of San Francisco"

where a New York Cop (the first guy to play the cop in Law and Order...Paul ?) was looking for someone and he called it Frisco and Mike Stone kept telling him "It's SAN FRANCISCO!"

[clixtox]

26. "Frisco" is a town in Texas!

Those who grew up in SF Bay Area before the 1950's were not embarrassed to call the town "Frisco" and almost nobody cared. Not an issue.

The reason that older folks from SF call it "Frisco" is that Herb Caen (from Sacramento) singlehandedly made "Frisco" a pejorative while he was Northern California's most significant, influential arbiter of style and wit. Such was his power locally back then.

One of the reasons that the Bay Area was so against the Vietnam War crimes so early (IMHO) was that Herb Caen was against the war and was able to clearly articulate the reasons why everyone should have been opposed.

The death of Herb Caen was the beginning of the end of the SF Chronicle. It has steadily become a thinner and quicker read ever since. The list of very good writers who are no longer there is very long. Last week they inexplicably dropped Robert Scheer's occasional op-ed column from the printed paper.

David Lazarus and Adair Lara are two other Chron writers I enjoyed who are long gone.

[AsahinaKimi]

27. I love that the city

Created Herb Caen Way..

Now...if we could only Re-name Bush Street!