  Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 458 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm writing an ad piece about Detroit. What are some common or uncommon names or terms for Detroit, old or new, slang or otherwise? Such as The Motor City, Motown, etc.? Are there any other new hip terms like "The D"? ?? Thanks! | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3046 Registered: 04-2006 |
Big Motor | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 1001 Registered: 05-2007 |
My fav from 70s and 80s was "the motor" ( as opposed to "the motor city"), an example follows. Hi, where are you from? I'm from the motor. Also, "chocolate city", though D.C. also carried that title. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1185 Registered: 11-2005 |
The Detroit Almanac has a slew of them. I'd check there. Some off the top of my head: City of Churches, Arsenal of Democracy, City of Champions, City of the Strait. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 459 Registered: 03-2006 |
My grandad told me Detroit was once called Forest City because there were so many trees. True? | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1186 Registered: 11-2005 |
Spacemonkey, I believe it was called the City of Trees. I wasn't 100% sure, but the Detroit Almanac will have it. It's about halfway or so through the book on the right-side page toward the top. I saw it a week ago or so. I'd tell you for sure, but I don't have the book at my side. | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 360 Registered: 04-2005 |
What about the '313' | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 80 Registered: 02-2008 |
Paris of the West is my favourite. It's so true too! | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 5214 Registered: 12-2005 |
Hockeytown | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5742 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Big D | ||
Parkguy Member Username: Parkguy Post Number: 266 Registered: 04-2007 |
I've heard "The Big D" before, but I think in the minds of most people, that refers to Dallas. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2000 Registered: 09-2007 |
D-Town The 313 Detractor Mootorville And yeah D_stylin, Parkguy is right  (Message edited by DetroitRise on April 26, 2008) | ||
Swede1934 Member Username: Swede1934 Post Number: 44 Registered: 04-2007 |
How about "Dynamic Detroit" in the 50's | ||
Mpow Member Username: Mpow Post Number: 290 Registered: 11-2003 |
detoilet is quite common. | ||
Deteamster Member Username: Deteamster Post Number: 110 Registered: 07-2007 |
"The D" always struck me as lame. Usually coming from teenage suburban white kids who listen to too much Eminem. It's usually sufficient for me to say, "I live in Detroit" rather than try to make it sound cool and hip. I like Motor City or "The Motor" as well, except with the Michigan accent it's pronounced "Moder Ciddy". | ||
Bobceng Member Username: Bobceng Post Number: 78 Registered: 04-2008 |
Det-riot | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2003 Registered: 09-2007 |
"The Motor" sounds too Liberal for me. They're making it seem like Detroit itself is a car. (Message edited by DetroitRise on April 26, 2008) | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1205 Registered: 01-2007 |
Shit | ||
Hpgrmln Member Username: Hpgrmln Post Number: 430 Registered: 06-2007 |
I always liked the pronounciation from "The wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald': Detroy-it, as in "A musty old hall in Detroyit." Not so much a nickname as a butchered mispronounciation but still worth a mention. | ||
Ladyinabag Member Username: Ladyinabag Post Number: 582 Registered: 03-2007 |
I have always called it, "Detroit, The Emotional City"....or "Detroit, The Soul Of The Earth". But, this is just me. | ||
Retroit Member Username: Retroit Post Number: 3 Registered: 04-2008 |
Okay, I'll be the bad guy... "The Murder Capital" | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 814 Registered: 08-2005 |
Rock City | ||
Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 37 Registered: 02-2008 |
I gotta go with the motor city. That's what they called it in the '60's when I was a kid. When just about every car on the road was built by one of the big 3. The TV channel ads used to come on with a female voice saying" The motor City" | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4782 Registered: 10-2003 |
'The City of Trees' was Highland Park's claim. It was on our blue and white city limit signs into the 80's. Tragically Dutch Elm disease made a mockery of the that. It is finally getting grown back in with mature trees. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 2243 Registered: 01-2006 |
Spacemonkey is looking for "alternative" names for a specific reason, so I don't want to thread-jack, but Deteamster has my whole-hearted agreement with post #110. Detroit now has a small touch of luster sparking up in the downtown area, at last, but it is still a very gritty place; the terms "shot & a beer" and "blue-collar" may be a bit over-used, but I think they still apply. We're not glitzy, but to paraphrase Lou Grant, I hate glitzy. | ||
Parkguy Member Username: Parkguy Post Number: 268 Registered: 04-2007 |
Nobody has listed "Tigertown," even though they made a movie about it! | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3228 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've noticed lotsa metro detroit diaspora refer to themselves as being from "Michigan", does that count? | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 3229 Registered: 10-2003 |
Greater Midtown? | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 143 Registered: 10-2007 |
Destroyed. In the same vain as Filthadelphia or Cincinasty | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 461 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thank you all, that was very helpful. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 462 Registered: 03-2006 |
There is a new Model T museum: www.tplex.org/3_aboutclub.html Are there any other new museums or sites of interest like this that I should include in my brochure about Detroit? | ||
Django Member Username: Django Post Number: 199 Registered: 10-2003 |
City of Ghettopalm Detroit Shitty | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 1589 Registered: 12-2005 |
Per the Detroit Almanac: Detroit's Nicknames 1890s - City of Progress 19th Century - City of the Strait, City of Churches, City of Trees 20th Century - Motor City, Dynamic Detroit 1930s - City of Champions 1940s - Arsenal of Democracy 1950s - Big D 1960s - Motown 1970s - Murder City, Snuff City, Renaissance City 1990s - Hockeytown | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1270 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroit as in (De twa) the French city en la riv! | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2238 Registered: 07-2004 |
Old-times: Paris of the Midwest With a Southern Accent: DEE-troit | ||
Clermont Member Username: Clermont Post Number: 28 Registered: 09-2007 |
seen on an overpass in the '70's: "krazy masonite city." for that reason many of my friends referred to it as "the masonite." | ||
Melody Member Username: Melody Post Number: 191 Registered: 11-2007 |
""The D" always struck me as lame. Usually coming from teenage suburban white kids who listen to too much Eminem." I'm inclined to agree with you there. Did anyone mention "Detroit Rock City," that's over used too, but it's cooler than others. | ||
Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 42 Registered: 02-2008 |
Franklin D Roosevelt named it "The Arsenal of Democracy" | ||
Andyguard73 Member Username: Andyguard73 Post Number: 284 Registered: 03-2006 |
Regionally, I know a few people from the suburbs who refer to it simply as "The City." Not very original, but I liked the sound of it. | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 432 Registered: 10-2006 |
Paris of the West! | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2032 Registered: 09-2007 |
French777, I believe it's "Paris of the Midwest." | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 4166 Registered: 06-2004 |
"The Big D" was Detroit before it was Dallas. Sammy Davis Jr.'s song Hello, Detroit uses it. and French is right - it was once "Paris of the West" (Message edited by lilpup on May 01, 2008) | ||
Ggores Member Username: Ggores Post Number: 68 Registered: 10-2007 |
me and my friends always call it "the vacuum". it sucks ya in. you can leave even, but get too close, it'll suck ya right back in. oh! sorry, heh, you're looking for something more "romantic". ;-) | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 147 Registered: 10-2007 |
I always thought the Cass Corridor was the vacuum, or at least the breeding ground for lost souls. | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 526 Registered: 03-2006 |
Are you saying the Cass Corridor sucks? How so? The Old Miami is there and everything. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2037 Registered: 09-2007 |
"Are you saying the Cass Corridor sucks? How so? The Old Miami is there and everything." Get rid of the homeless, whinos, trash, and crackheads then we'll talk. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 93 Registered: 02-2008 |
It still is the Paris of the West or Midwest, i've heard it described as both, I'd probly say the Midwest. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2038 Registered: 09-2007 |
Yeah, it's sad that we lost our Nicknames to Dallas and San Francisco.  | ||
Downriviera Member Username: Downriviera Post Number: 337 Registered: 02-2008 |
I always liked Car City. | ||
Detroits_own Member Username: Detroits_own Post Number: 82 Registered: 12-2004 |
The D | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 648 Registered: 01-2007 |
home | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 176 Registered: 08-2006 |
Dtowncitylover says, "It still is the Paris of the West or Midwest, i've heard it described as both, I'd probly say the Midwest." I think that 'West' may refer to its relationship to Paris since the U.S. is west of Europe. So, comparing Detroit to Paris is quite a compliment. I think to those of us in the U.S., 'West' means Calif., Nevada, Utah, etc., so 'Midwest' has more meaning to us. Of the two, I think Paris of the West is a very impressive nickname. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 2050 Registered: 09-2007 |
We will never earn the "Paris of the West" name back or "Big D" unless San Francisco were destroyed by an earthquake then abandoned, or if Dallas were to lose a quarter of it's population or get destroyed by a tornado. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 95 Registered: 02-2008 |
I think we can remain "Paris of the Midwest". But the link below describes SF as being "Paris of the West" way before we were described as such. I'll let them have "West" we can have "Midwest". http://sfist.com/2007/11/26/sa n_francisco_the_paris_of_the_w est.php | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 6089 Registered: 02-2007 |
When did signs go up proclaiming Birmingham the "city of trees"? | ||
Alley Member Username: Alley Post Number: 119 Registered: 02-2008 |
the Grosse Pointes have "Tree City, USA" signs | ||
Tkshreve Member Username: Tkshreve Post Number: 319 Registered: 07-2006 |
KWAME-Town De-toilet |
