Atlanta vs. "Atlanta, Georgia"

[Andrea]

My spouse used to always tell people when he was asked where he was originally from that he was from "Kansas City, Missouri".

I used to tell him that everbody knew where KC was and, therefore, the "Missouri" was unnecessary. What I had not considered, however, was that KC locals often referred to their city in this way to clearly distinguish themselves from Kansas City, Kansas, which lies just across the state line and is a separate municipality altogether.

[Pillsbury]

Yeah, but Kansas City is a special case. If there was a town called Tennessee City sitting right on the state line and most of it was actually in Georgia, I can understand why people might refer to "Tennessee City, Georgia."

[Andrea]

Yes, but Atlanta is a "special case" as well due to the fact that most outsiders consider Atlanta less.....hardcore Southern than most other towns down here.

[Pillsbury]

That's not what I'm saying. The Weather Channel--to us outsiders--often seems like Atlanta's own weather station. All the shots are normally of Atlanta and you can tell the personalities live in Atlanta sometimes when they speak. I think using the formal "Atlanta, Georgia" and using the informal "Columbia" (or wherever) is to try and strenthen the Weather Channel's appeal as a nationwide channel. Thus, they say "Atlanta, Georgia." If you notice, they try to pretend like whatever section of the country their discussing is affecting them personally. They use qualifiers like "we" and "us" to show weather patterns 3,000 miles away from Atlanta.

It's not a knock against Atlanta. Believe me, if anything it's just a subtle attempt at showing the world that "hey, we're impartial!!! Now back to Jim Cantore's house in Gwinnett County, where it's raining really hard!!!!"

[Newnan]

Yes, but Atlanta is a "special case" as well due to the fact that most outsiders consider Atlanta less.....hardcore Southern than most other towns down here. Besides that, I don't think it's a slight against Atlanta when she qualifies it with Georgia. I think she's just trying to make other cow towns all over the USA feel good. When I watched last night she said Columbia (without the SC attachment) but used the North Carolina attachment with Raleigh.

Yes!!! I half expect her to just go crazy one night and start singing "Pappa Don't Preach" or something.

I now watch the Weather Channel to see how Atlanta is pronounced---this is sad. Also, can they get another camera shot of Atlanta!!! Show something cool for a change.

[krazeeboi]

She said it again last night!!! She was like "We'll have storms affecting Atlanta, Georgia, Augusta, Georgia, on to Columbia (no SC) and Florence (no SC)."

Where is she from anyway? Iowa??? She has the midwestern click to her voice going on, where every single letter is hit.

[verge]

Definitely! It's not even Atlanta, It's one of the perimeter skylines!

[shanthemanatl]

I also find that non-Southerners often still view the region as one big, indistinguishable, generic blob. My sister used to live in Kansas and frequently encountered this point of view. I was visiting once, shortly after my sister and her husband had decided to relocate to Georgia. We were visiting Olde Town Wichita when they ran into some neighbors. The neighbor asked my brother-in-law, "Hey, didn't I hear you guys were moving down south, Alabama or Tennessee or somewhere?" When my brother-in-law said "Georgia", he said, "Oh well, same difference." My sister just looked at me and rolled her eyes!

[pksiv]

I also find that non-Southerners often still view the region as one big, indistinguishable, generic blob. My sister used to live in Kansas and frequently encountered this point of view. I was visiting once, shortly after my sister and her husband had decided to relocate to Georgia. We were visiting Olde Town Wichita when they ran into some neighbors. The neighbor asked my brother-in-law, "Hey, didn't I hear you guys were moving down south, Alabama or Tennessee or somewhere?" When my brother-in-law said "Georgia", he said, "Oh well, same difference." My sister just looked at me and rolled her eyes!

[Pillsbury]

^ Hehehehe

Its actually the 'skyline' that's visible from the Weather Channel Studios in Cobb County/ Vinings/ Smyrna...

[verge]

^ Hehehehe

And that's my point. They make no effort to hide where they're broadcasting from.

[shanthemanatl]

I think that says more about the people from Wichita. I certainly wouldn't use them as the pulse of the nation.

[Pillsbury]

You might think that they would pick the Downtown skyline (its readily available)... just because its more interesting-- esp. from Vinings...

There don't seem to be any hard and fast rules about when to use city and state vs. just city...

I've heard it all... Los Angeles, California, Dallas, Texas, Seattle, Washington, etc...

I don't think it means much of anything... Most folks everywhere are now very familiar with Atlanta...

[Spartan]

Just for the record, I'm not insulting California or Hollywood.

[perimeter285]

For those of you that have been to Houston, does it feel bigger than Atlanta?

[NCB]

For those of you that have been to Houston, does it feel bigger than Atlanta?

[Pillsbury]

Um, I watched a little bit of "Live from Baghdad" the HBO movie about CNN's role in the Gulf War. They say Atlanta at about a million times and never mention Georgia. Even Saddam seems to nod in recognition when they mention Atlanta. For what it's worth, the people who matter know where Atlanta is.

[Andrea]

Um, I watched a little bit of "Live from Baghdad" the HBO movie about CNN's role in the Gulf War. They say Atlanta at about a million times and never mention Georgia. Even Saddam seems to nod in recognition when they mention Atlanta. For what it's worth, the people who matter know where Atlanta is.

[convulso]

By contrast, it seemed like almost every other big city got its own name, all by itself, without the state qualifier. You didn't read "Cincinnati, Ohio," "Detroit, Michigan", or "Los Angeles, California." And it's not like there were dozens of Atlanta's that could easily be confused either. Even towns like Milwaukee were just plain old Milwaukee, even though we got their baseball team. And what about Buffalo? What was their claim to fame other than getting O.J. Simpson to play football for them?

So why couldn't we just be plain old Atlanta? I really thought all that would stop once the Olympics came, but I swear I still hear "Atlanta, Georgia" all the time. Do these people in New York and California think folks don't know where in the heck we are? When I call somebody in one of these places I always make a point to say, "This is Andrea from Atlanta" and leave it at that. And I double dog dare one of them to say, "Oh, and what state would that be in?" I'd love to come back with, "Oh, Buffalo where? New York, well, very well, could you spell that please?"

[Pillsbury]

Of course they could have been talking about Atlanta, Michigan or something. You never know.

[Andrea]

Okay, that does it. I was just looking at Trump's website. They list Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, and Los Angeles without any mention of any state after the city name whatsoever.

Atlanta??? You guessed it -- it's "Altanta, Georgia"!!!!

[Hybrid0NE]

It's okay Andrea, Georgia. Trump isn't that bright anyway, the people who matter know Atlanta doesn't need a state attachment.

[Pillsbury]

Andrea, if you go his website and look at future developments, it lists Atlanta without the Georgia, if that makes you feel better.

[Andrea]

Andrea, if you go his website and look at future developments, it lists Atlanta without the Georgia, if that makes you feel better.

[Mr.Marc]

Ok, everyone calm down. At least you're getting a Trump tower. He must see something in Atlanta to put one of his towers there. I'd kill to have that here in SC and I wouldn't care if he attached our state's name to which ever city.