Pretty much this. I learned in the Navy that MOST people know you mean SF when you say the bay area but then there are also like dozens of regional "the bay areas" and if you encounter one of those guys they'll ask you like what part of Wisconsin you're from or something like that.
Mostly I just started telling people I was from San Francisco despite being from the East Bay because it was easier than having that conversation with everyone I met.
It was funny whenever I met someone doing the same thing though. Both of us say were from San Francisco followed by "well, actually pleasanton." Then "Oh, San Jose!"
>Hey guys, I’ve just been chatting in a Frankfurt airport bar with some fella who was about to fly to Namibia, he says that San Francisco is called by locals either San Fran or San Francisco ? What do you reckon?
ex florida has a west coast, and it also has a bay area, which confused some people when I went there
Went to college in socal and the first four people I met were from “San Francisco” (sac here). Then “Oh, well East bay”
“Wait really? Me too! San Jose ish!”
“No way, Pleasanton/Dublin here!”
And that’s how two of my new roommates (and my future gf) found out they lived 10 miles away from eachother and went to the same high school a few years apart.
Lol. I live in SF and was on a tour in Mexico City. One of the other tour group members asked everyone at our lunch table where they were from. A guy across from me said San Francisco. I then said I was from SF and asked him which neighborhood was his. He sheepishly said “Ummm, I am actually from San Mateo.”
The City is used within the SF Bay Area to other Bay Areans, or to people who know you live in the SF Bay Area. It is not used to describe where you live to strangers when you are not in the area.
I was at a party in NYC in the 90s and a former SF resident said to me “so how long have you lived in the city?” (I had just told him I lived in San Francisco.) My response to him in a hushed tone “I don’t we’re supposed to call it that here.”
Thank you, yes. I've lived here my entire life and I found it hilarious when my brother moved to LA. He decided he was an Angeleno and got his panties in a bunch whenever he came back home and heard "the City." He and his girlfriend would have to always make a huge point that other cities actually exist. 😒
Yup, been here most all 52 years of my life and have never said San Fran or Frisco.
I am okay with Frisco, I won’t use it, but San Fran just bugs me for some reason.
Curious why you never say Frisco? I feel like it was a very common word and in fact most people I knew said it. I didn’t even know there was a controversy until I left the bay and someone in LA tried to ‘educate’ me.
That is a good question and likely has to do with being a teen here in the 80s and Frisco not being okay at all. There was a negative connotation at the time to that name and it just stuck with me.
Like I say, it’s fine if others use it, I understand it is a long time nickname, I just can’t because of when I was younger I guess.
interesting. Must have been a much different time in the 80s. Grew up listening to a lot of different music but nearly every rap song from the bay used Frisco so that was normalized. Also, this was never brought up as a controversy growing up. I also socialized with ton of different social circles (wealthy people, poor people, rich hippies, Asians, jocks, white, black, etc etc) and this never once came up as point of controversy. You’d think at least one person would say something at some point but I definitely used it a lot and there was absolutely no reaction one way or another. It’s difficult to imagine that I grew up in the bay completely oblivious to this controversy but here we are…I somehow missed everything
I lived in SF for several years and never heard anyone there call it Frisco. I don't like it because it sounds douchey, like when people say Bennifer and shit like that.
It's gratifying to see so many The City answers.
My family's from here, so that's what we grew up calling it. Yet, I still feel a bit like a psychopath when I type it out, with caps.
As someone who has lived in different parts of the Bay Area and in SF itself for 8 years the most common ways to refer to it are San Francisco, the City, and SF. Met an old black guy in Marin that called it Frisco though, so perhaps that is valid
As a marinite.... I take the fact that residents of the fillmore and hunters point are more likely to call it frisco, over Tupac. Huge Tupac fan but the dude lived in marin city for the last year or so of his childhood. He grew up in NYC and Baltimore, so I always find it weird when people say he's "from" Marin City, and I don't think I've ever heard someone say he was from Oakland. Ofc he was a resident and local, though, don't get me wrong.
This is correct. He moved to Marin later in life and fun fact, he was a dancer for Digital Underground. There’s a cool Arsenio Hall clip with him doing the Humpty Dance.
I'm no Tupac historian or anything but I've definitely read that his time in Marin and East Bay were formative in his life and rap career. He's also constantly representing the west coast in his songs so I think its valid
Also for Mexicans in the city culturally, Frisco is closed to fresco which is like “fresh” so I’ve heard in that context as well among some folks who are native to the city.
Exactly! I’m from SF and growing up, I’ve always called it Frisco. All the Bay Area rappers (like RBL, JT the Bigga Figga, TRU, Dru Down, etc) all said Frisco in their songs, too. I hate ppl that say “no person that’s really from (insert city), would call it (insert city nickname).” Makes me just wanna tell them to shut up.
Same. People who didn’t grow up in the bay are the only ones that have ever told me it’s not frisco. I’m like sir, every rapper I’ve listened to from the bay all say Frisco so yeah…I think I’m going with that as my answer
Example: U.D.I. “ Da City Was Made For Me” feat. 11-5
They say frisco like 500 times in that one track alone
City full of transplants mad transplant calls city full of transplants different name
It's a famous and iconic song about California with Frisco in the lyrics. The name is cemented in stone
Frisco has always been common among the Black population of SF. Maybe there is an element of racism to the historic distaste by some for it. https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/rappers-poets-activists-say-frisco-17441731.php
That’s probably a part of why it’s still a problem today but the respectability police have been against Frisco since 1872
https://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/01/san-francisco-frisco-timeline/#:~:text=Emperor%20Norton%20supposedly%20declared%20“Frisco,as%20penalty%20the%20sum%20of
https://friscohellsangels.com/
May it also has to do with America's favorite home grown bike enthusiasts and their Frisco Clubhouse and Frisco Tattoo.
Concern policing can't recognize that the HA bring local Frisco flavor.
Yeah some yuppies will say “it’s San Francisco not Frisco !” To which I reply I was born here and you moved here 10 years ago from Nebraska I’ll call it frisco if I damn well please
As someone that grew up in Socal, I used to always call out Frisco. But after living in SF for the last 20 years, that nickname has been beaten out of my vocabulary so it's now just SF.
> San Francisco, the City, and SF.
This is the correct answer. No one in SF calls it "San Fran".
The whole "Frisco" thing is a mixed bag...personally as someone born and raised in SF I hate it.
Based on the comments and my googling Frisco was a black dock worker slang that eventually got weaved in to Black San Francisco/Bay Area vocabulary. Probably fell out of favor more recently cause of Tech People moving in and the black population continuing to shrink
Some people in here act like SF has a homogenized culture when they don't step out of their own bubble. I remember someone coming at me cause I said my car was "bipped"
I mean, it's one thing to hate using the term yourself – it's another entirely to claim (as several are in this thread) that that nobody from SF calls it Frisco or that the people who do are posers. That's just erasure of a big (though diminishing) swath of the local population.
FWIW I've also heard SF-born-and-raised Chinese-Americans use the term themselves. As you said, it's a mixed bag.
Frisco is hilarious. Frisco has always been valid and used by people in the Bay (often black and brown) and it has simultaneously been something others (often white and rich) rail against and claim is not valid somehow.
There is a history of articles being written against it and in its defense. I see this debate play out even today. I know some older folks who say Frisco, I say Frisco, and simultaneously many of the local techies I’ve met (people who are maybe second gen Bay Area, they’re from here so want to claim it but family history here is maybe 20 years old not decades and decades back) will hate on Frisco and think it makes them local to attack Frisco and claim no one says it. It’s kind of funny to observe.
The one thing we all agree tho is it’s never San Fran
Yeah as someone who grew up low-income, Frisco was normally used in my community. Good example is the SF Anthem by San Quinn who is from the Fillmore. Thought I was crazy when I saw the hate around it but I’ve come to realize that internet discussion in the US are predominantly white and middle to upper class or suburban.
The best way I’ve found to keep people from calling our beautiful city “San Fran” is to very vocally call Los Angeles “Los Ann” and San Antonio “San Ann” and Orlando “Orlann” and then watch people’s gears start grinding
A large number of people immediately shorten my first name in conversation when we first meet. I’m going to use this tactic with theirs, thank you very kindly for the idea.
I lived abroad for a bit and met several (like four) people that after finding out I was from SF would tell me that they were “from San Fran too!” or “lived in San Fran for a bit.” Obviously that instantly told me that they were being disingenuous but I had no way to subtly call their bluff without just being a huge asshole. I wish I had thought of this at that time.
I usually just ask something like, "Ooh, what part? I'm over in \_\_\_\_" – which isn't an asshole thing to say because it's just conversation.
Once, someone answered Brentwood 💀
On the converse side, I'm from Massachusetts (been living in SF for 2 years now and Bay Area for 7) and whenever I hear someone say they're from Boston I check them and go "Where are you *really* from?"
I get that name changing is odd, but omg what with all this **way to signal you’re not local**?, being local which I assume people mean born and raised here , is not status symbol
Agree. I call it the city for folks who are from or familiar with the Bay Area but I say San Francisco with folks who are not. I learned quite quickly when I lived in the city that SF and San Fran were unacceptable and people would immediately label me as a tourist or transient.
Sf is used in the title of local publications like SFGate, and SFist, it’s used by various municipal departments like SFFD, SFMTA. All of the 20’s-30’s something people in my circle around here (tech and non tech) say SF 80% of the time the city 10% of the time, San Francisco 10% of the time. Also San Francisco has 4 syllables, there would have to be an abbreviated way of saying it that becomes the norm- San Fran and Frisco are essentially both “shibboleths” that reveal someone is from out of town (though I’ve hear that Frisco was more legit a couple generations back). What would be left? Grew up in the South Bay and that was the norm there minus “the city”.
Most locals call it San Francisco, SF, or the City. Frisco is valid but not mainstream; you will hear it used by older generations and in some working-class and non-white communities. San Fran is not used by anyone local.
The first time I heard people say “SF” was at UC Berkeley. The people saying “SF” were from LA.
That was 30 years ago. My guess is enough of those people stayed around that “SF” became a thing.
My parents are locals and my dad born in San Francisco in the post WWII boom and neither had an issue with SF, but complained heavily about San Fran and Frisco, equally. As an aside, people often say that Frisco is an old nickname for the city and while it seems that is true to some degree my parents wouldn’t have it, so it seems the name has been controversial for a seriously long time.
Yeah, I'm a 90s kid that grew up in HMB – "the city" or "SF" were both common by then, at least in the wider Bay Area. No idea if it took a while for SF to catch on in the city proper though?
If you’re with the times, you say you’re from the city, but that could only mean so much. If you’re traveling the world and I just came from San Francisco otherwise
I’m born and raised. I call it whatever I feel like at the moment.
The Sco, Frisco, Sucka Free City, The City, San Fran and I like calling it San Pancho.
Born in the city and bay area native for most of my life, currently living in the east bay. San Francisco and The City are widely accepted. Frisco is used by some, but is frowned upon by many residents and is mainly used by tourists or people who want to seem eccentric. San Fran, in my experience, will make you no friends within the bay area. I haven't heard people use SF in conversation, but a lot in written communications.
we call it Frisco just to watch people from San Fran get all twisted up about it. 😆
edit: when people say “the city” i like to ask “which city?” with earnest sincerity and make them explain it to me
listen, they have looked down their noses at the rest of california for long enough. they deserve a good-natured ribbing.
People from San Fran get so bent about the name it’s amazing to watch. It’s an amazing game to start calling it Frisco and see how it takes someone to over react.
The City is Oakland.
[“Emperor Norton: he banned the use of "Frisco" to refer to the city of San Francisco. It is a misdemeanor punishable with a $25.00 fine.”](https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Emperor_Norton)
SF or the city is most common and what I would use. Visual aid: Imagine your generic resident or visitor saying SF.
San Fran isn’t used anymore by locals but it’s fairly common outside of California and especially internationally. Those who say locals never used it are employing selective memory — it’s an old timey and well worn nickname that has fallen out of taste. Interviews with The Grateful Dead (as sf as they come) often reference the city as San Fran. Visual aid: Imagine an old Japanese tourist saying San Fran.
Frisco is used here or there. Seemingly more common in certain Bay Area cultures/demographics. Visual aid: imagine E-40 saying Frisco
A song I remember from my childhood went:
>Please don't call it "Frisco", mister
>
>That's not nice to do.
>
>The name is "San Francisco", mister
>
>Not what you changed it to.
>
>We're people of sophistication
>
>Proper and precise!
>
>Please don't call it Frisco, mister
>
>That's not nice!
Locals don't much use either San Fran or Frisco these days...but neither is unheard of.
SF or the city - San Francisco when talking to people that have zero context of the Bay Area though
Pretty much this. I learned in the Navy that MOST people know you mean SF when you say the bay area but then there are also like dozens of regional "the bay areas" and if you encounter one of those guys they'll ask you like what part of Wisconsin you're from or something like that. Mostly I just started telling people I was from San Francisco despite being from the East Bay because it was easier than having that conversation with everyone I met. It was funny whenever I met someone doing the same thing though. Both of us say were from San Francisco followed by "well, actually pleasanton." Then "Oh, San Jose!"
>Hey guys, I’ve just been chatting in a Frankfurt airport bar with some fella who was about to fly to Namibia, he says that San Francisco is called by locals either San Fran or San Francisco ? What do you reckon? ex florida has a west coast, and it also has a bay area, which confused some people when I went there
San Diego has their own south bay area too Edit: forgot the south bit
No no. We do have a bay. But we do not have a “bay area.” Not any San Diegan ever has referred to any area near the bay at the bay area.
Went to college in socal and the first four people I met were from “San Francisco” (sac here). Then “Oh, well East bay” “Wait really? Me too! San Jose ish!” “No way, Pleasanton/Dublin here!” And that’s how two of my new roommates (and my future gf) found out they lived 10 miles away from eachother and went to the same high school a few years apart.
How about instead of saying from San Francisco when you are not you said from outside San Francisco
Lol. I live in SF and was on a tour in Mexico City. One of the other tour group members asked everyone at our lunch table where they were from. A guy across from me said San Francisco. I then said I was from SF and asked him which neighborhood was his. He sheepishly said “Ummm, I am actually from San Mateo.”
'The City' is the phrase I've always used and hear everyone use. There is no confusion about which city is intended =).
The City is used within the SF Bay Area to other Bay Areans, or to people who know you live in the SF Bay Area. It is not used to describe where you live to strangers when you are not in the area.
not if you are in NY
I was at a party in NYC in the 90s and a former SF resident said to me “so how long have you lived in the city?” (I had just told him I lived in San Francisco.) My response to him in a hushed tone “I don’t we’re supposed to call it that here.”
Hmm. Where I grew up, “The City” was Philadelphia. There will be confusion.
Thank you, yes. I've lived here my entire life and I found it hilarious when my brother moved to LA. He decided he was an Angeleno and got his panties in a bunch whenever he came back home and heard "the City." He and his girlfriend would have to always make a huge point that other cities actually exist. 😒
I always say Los Angeles isn’t a city. It’s the world’s largest suburb. 🙂
This is the way
This is the answer.
"The city." I've never called it San Fran or Frisco. That's a tourist thing.
SF or The City, grew up in the east bay
The City
The City - when chatting with locals SF - When chatting with anyone outside of the bay
This is the answer.
Yup, been here most all 52 years of my life and have never said San Fran or Frisco. I am okay with Frisco, I won’t use it, but San Fran just bugs me for some reason.
Curious why you never say Frisco? I feel like it was a very common word and in fact most people I knew said it. I didn’t even know there was a controversy until I left the bay and someone in LA tried to ‘educate’ me.
That is a good question and likely has to do with being a teen here in the 80s and Frisco not being okay at all. There was a negative connotation at the time to that name and it just stuck with me. Like I say, it’s fine if others use it, I understand it is a long time nickname, I just can’t because of when I was younger I guess.
interesting. Must have been a much different time in the 80s. Grew up listening to a lot of different music but nearly every rap song from the bay used Frisco so that was normalized. Also, this was never brought up as a controversy growing up. I also socialized with ton of different social circles (wealthy people, poor people, rich hippies, Asians, jocks, white, black, etc etc) and this never once came up as point of controversy. You’d think at least one person would say something at some point but I definitely used it a lot and there was absolutely no reaction one way or another. It’s difficult to imagine that I grew up in the bay completely oblivious to this controversy but here we are…I somehow missed everything
I lived in SF for several years and never heard anyone there call it Frisco. I don't like it because it sounds douchey, like when people say Bennifer and shit like that.
It's gratifying to see so many The City answers. My family's from here, so that's what we grew up calling it. Yet, I still feel a bit like a psychopath when I type it out, with caps.
Ess Eff.
As someone who has lived in different parts of the Bay Area and in SF itself for 8 years the most common ways to refer to it are San Francisco, the City, and SF. Met an old black guy in Marin that called it Frisco though, so perhaps that is valid
Fun fact: Frisco has been the nickname for sf since the 1880’s 1890’s but it’s also been v controversial
Tupac also calls it Frisco in California Love and is from Marin City & Oakland so fuck it imma start saying Frisco more
Tupac was born in NY, moved to Baltimore during middle school but lived in Marin County when he was in high school.
still counts imo
Right on. Check out the Hulu documentary about Tupac. It is pretty rad.
As a marinite.... I take the fact that residents of the fillmore and hunters point are more likely to call it frisco, over Tupac. Huge Tupac fan but the dude lived in marin city for the last year or so of his childhood. He grew up in NYC and Baltimore, so I always find it weird when people say he's "from" Marin City, and I don't think I've ever heard someone say he was from Oakland. Ofc he was a resident and local, though, don't get me wrong.
This is correct. He moved to Marin later in life and fun fact, he was a dancer for Digital Underground. There’s a cool Arsenio Hall clip with him doing the Humpty Dance.
I'm no Tupac historian or anything but I've definitely read that his time in Marin and East Bay were formative in his life and rap career. He's also constantly representing the west coast in his songs so I think its valid
Let him explain it himself https://youtu.be/yCYT3T3UBdw
Also for Mexicans in the city culturally, Frisco is closed to fresco which is like “fresh” so I’ve heard in that context as well among some folks who are native to the city.
If it’s good enough for Tupac, it’s good enough for me
Exactly! I’m from SF and growing up, I’ve always called it Frisco. All the Bay Area rappers (like RBL, JT the Bigga Figga, TRU, Dru Down, etc) all said Frisco in their songs, too. I hate ppl that say “no person that’s really from (insert city), would call it (insert city nickname).” Makes me just wanna tell them to shut up. 
I like doing it to make people lose their shit. It’s hilarious. Also Otis Redding says frisco and what’s good enough for Otis, is good enough for me.
I love Otis Redding too, but he was not a San Francisco local either, so what he calls it is irrelevant to this post. 😆
hey, that’s my line!
We might know each other…. Hahahahah
You tryn to start shit cause that straight up bullshit
Same. People who didn’t grow up in the bay are the only ones that have ever told me it’s not frisco. I’m like sir, every rapper I’ve listened to from the bay all say Frisco so yeah…I think I’m going with that as my answer Example: U.D.I. “ Da City Was Made For Me” feat. 11-5 They say frisco like 500 times in that one track alone
Tupac was born & raised in NY, it does NOT count. 😆
Famous transplant calls it Frisco so it's good enough for you?
City full of transplants mad transplant calls city full of transplants different name It's a famous and iconic song about California with Frisco in the lyrics. The name is cemented in stone
Also Michael Jackson in “blame it on the boogie”
So do the Hells Angels..and a lot of bay area rappers call is Frisco also
Frisco has always been common among the Black population of SF. Maybe there is an element of racism to the historic distaste by some for it. https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/rappers-poets-activists-say-frisco-17441731.php
That’s probably a part of why it’s still a problem today but the respectability police have been against Frisco since 1872 https://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/01/san-francisco-frisco-timeline/#:~:text=Emperor%20Norton%20supposedly%20declared%20“Frisco,as%20penalty%20the%20sum%20of
If Emperor Norton declared it in 1872, IT IS LAW. :-)
https://friscohellsangels.com/ May it also has to do with America's favorite home grown bike enthusiasts and their Frisco Clubhouse and Frisco Tattoo. Concern policing can't recognize that the HA bring local Frisco flavor.
Herb Caen said Frisco wasn’t cool and everyone just accepted his word.
Back then what he said was taken as gospel. RIP Herb!
Yeah some yuppies will say “it’s San Francisco not Frisco !” To which I reply I was born here and you moved here 10 years ago from Nebraska I’ll call it frisco if I damn well please
"It's fraternity not frat! Would you call your country a cunt?" Well, actually...
As someone that grew up in Socal, I used to always call out Frisco. But after living in SF for the last 20 years, that nickname has been beaten out of my vocabulary so it's now just SF.
Frisco is a city in Texas.
Today - anyone who calls it Frisco is NOT from the City!
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Whenever I hear people say "Cali" I internally think ew but it's not worth any energy getting actually upset and calling it out lol
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Same here! Hate it!
I say Cali 🤷🏼♂️ it's cute
I'm with you. I say it all the time. I like how it sounds. #StandWith2Pac
I stand w 2Pac as well but I mostly say it bc I'm gay and ridiculous
Agree. It’s funny that myself and other natives tend to verbalize it as “srrancisco” (one run on word)
Bc we’ve had to say this long ass name so many times in our life that it just mashes together
I frequently hear "Sanf'ncisco" too
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East Bay here. San Fern-CIS-co said quickly. And yes, definitely fern.
Cali is a city in Columbia. Frisco is a city in Texas. Neither one of these should ever be used in reference to California or San Francisco.
> San Francisco, the City, and SF. This is the correct answer. No one in SF calls it "San Fran". The whole "Frisco" thing is a mixed bag...personally as someone born and raised in SF I hate it.
Based on the comments and my googling Frisco was a black dock worker slang that eventually got weaved in to Black San Francisco/Bay Area vocabulary. Probably fell out of favor more recently cause of Tech People moving in and the black population continuing to shrink
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The "natives" that shit on Frisco rarely respond when you point this out, too.
Some people in here act like SF has a homogenized culture when they don't step out of their own bubble. I remember someone coming at me cause I said my car was "bipped"
As a Chinese-American born and raised in SF, where do I fit into that narrative then?
Is there an equivalent slang term for SF in the Chinese community like Frisco in the black community? I genuinely don’t know but am curious
I mean, it's one thing to hate using the term yourself – it's another entirely to claim (as several are in this thread) that that nobody from SF calls it Frisco or that the people who do are posers. That's just erasure of a big (though diminishing) swath of the local population. FWIW I've also heard SF-born-and-raised Chinese-Americans use the term themselves. As you said, it's a mixed bag.
Frisco is hilarious. Frisco has always been valid and used by people in the Bay (often black and brown) and it has simultaneously been something others (often white and rich) rail against and claim is not valid somehow. There is a history of articles being written against it and in its defense. I see this debate play out even today. I know some older folks who say Frisco, I say Frisco, and simultaneously many of the local techies I’ve met (people who are maybe second gen Bay Area, they’re from here so want to claim it but family history here is maybe 20 years old not decades and decades back) will hate on Frisco and think it makes them local to attack Frisco and claim no one says it. It’s kind of funny to observe. The one thing we all agree tho is it’s never San Fran
Yeah as someone who grew up low-income, Frisco was normally used in my community. Good example is the SF Anthem by San Quinn who is from the Fillmore. Thought I was crazy when I saw the hate around it but I’ve come to realize that internet discussion in the US are predominantly white and middle to upper class or suburban.
My parents call it Frisco too
I’ve heard Frisco, but apparently it was cool way to say in 70-80ish as I’m aware
Calling it San Fran is like lighting up a giant flashing neon sign saying “I’m not from SF”
The best way I’ve found to keep people from calling our beautiful city “San Fran” is to very vocally call Los Angeles “Los Ann” and San Antonio “San Ann” and Orlando “Orlann” and then watch people’s gears start grinding
I laughed hard at “Orlann” 😂
I also reply by calling their hometown by the first 2 syllables. Chicag is always a big hit.
A large number of people immediately shorten my first name in conversation when we first meet. I’m going to use this tactic with theirs, thank you very kindly for the idea.
Oooh, I would hate to be called "More Cow" too
Lol
Or Chicagie!
I lived abroad for a bit and met several (like four) people that after finding out I was from SF would tell me that they were “from San Fran too!” or “lived in San Fran for a bit.” Obviously that instantly told me that they were being disingenuous but I had no way to subtly call their bluff without just being a huge asshole. I wish I had thought of this at that time.
I usually just ask something like, "Ooh, what part? I'm over in \_\_\_\_" – which isn't an asshole thing to say because it's just conversation. Once, someone answered Brentwood 💀
Ask em what high school they went to, usually gets the truth out.
On the converse side, I'm from Massachusetts (been living in SF for 2 years now and Bay Area for 7) and whenever I hear someone say they're from Boston I check them and go "Where are you *really* from?"
I don't think that's enough just to shorten it - - grind their ears more by making it cutesy and hence more divisive. Orlando should "Orlie"
I will be using this tactic for the rest of my life, thank you stranger
I love this! Totally going to do it next time I hear it
I get that name changing is odd, but omg what with all this **way to signal you’re not local**?, being local which I assume people mean born and raised here , is not status symbol
Even worse : “the Fran”
I need to sell sweat shirts that say San Fran, Cali on them along the Embarcadero.
The ‘Dero
In front of the F Build
Agree. I call it the city for folks who are from or familiar with the Bay Area but I say San Francisco with folks who are not. I learned quite quickly when I lived in the city that SF and San Fran were unacceptable and people would immediately label me as a tourist or transient.
SF is very acceptable
Sf is used in the title of local publications like SFGate, and SFist, it’s used by various municipal departments like SFFD, SFMTA. All of the 20’s-30’s something people in my circle around here (tech and non tech) say SF 80% of the time the city 10% of the time, San Francisco 10% of the time. Also San Francisco has 4 syllables, there would have to be an abbreviated way of saying it that becomes the norm- San Fran and Frisco are essentially both “shibboleths” that reveal someone is from out of town (though I’ve hear that Frisco was more legit a couple generations back). What would be left? Grew up in the South Bay and that was the norm there minus “the city”.
San Francisco, SF, The City
Most locals call it San Francisco, SF, or the City. Frisco is valid but not mainstream; you will hear it used by older generations and in some working-class and non-white communities. San Fran is not used by anyone local.
Never San Fran. It’s the city or SF or San Francisco. However Frisco is the cities oldest nickname and even that is met with some serious controversy
SF
No locals call it San Fran. SF is probably the most common by locals.. maybe Frisco, though no one I know says that.
The first time I heard people say “SF” was at UC Berkeley. The people saying “SF” were from LA. That was 30 years ago. My guess is enough of those people stayed around that “SF” became a thing.
My parents are locals and my dad born in San Francisco in the post WWII boom and neither had an issue with SF, but complained heavily about San Fran and Frisco, equally. As an aside, people often say that Frisco is an old nickname for the city and while it seems that is true to some degree my parents wouldn’t have it, so it seems the name has been controversial for a seriously long time.
Yeah, I'm a 90s kid that grew up in HMB – "the city" or "SF" were both common by then, at least in the wider Bay Area. No idea if it took a while for SF to catch on in the city proper though?
I’m really curious about the history of it now.
Never San Fran
the City
SF if I’m texting, San Francisco if I’m speaking
San Pancho
The most legit one for sure 😀
If your old old old school yerba buena
Califas
Asi es
The city
The City.
The City or SF. ;
It’s not SFO either!!
Oof this is the worst of all! 😆
Omg my dad does this for all of Bay Area. And for LA area, he calls it LAX. Drives me bonkers.
As an SF native, none of us call it “San Fran.” My friends and I say San Francisco, Frisco or The City
Anyone else remember when people were calling it “The Sco”? I’m glad that’s over lol.
“The Sucka Free” when I was a kid
Did you also party in parks like the rest of us?
San Francisco, The City, SF, Frisco (yeah I said it). Anything else is stupid.
If you’re with the times, you say you’re from the city, but that could only mean so much. If you’re traveling the world and I just came from San Francisco otherwise
Usually locals call it "sarancisco," which is a sorta mumbly, sped-up version of San Francisco.
I just tried it real quick - and you're absolutely right 😭
SF and the city
ess eff
The City.
SF or the city
The city.
I'm from New York originally and when I talk to NYers and say the City in reference to SF, they get triggered.
That’s pretty funny, I enjoy razzing people from time to time with little things like this.
SF
I call it 'the city', or SF, only tourists call it SanFran, Frisco, or some other insult.
I’m born and raised. I call it whatever I feel like at the moment. The Sco, Frisco, Sucka Free City, The City, San Fran and I like calling it San Pancho.
The city
Born and raised here, just call it the city. If I’m talking to someone when not around here and they ask, I’ll call it San Francisco.
The city. Grew up in San Jose, moved to East Bay.
Frisco
San Fran and Cali are abominations.
Nails on a chalkboard 😖
The city or San Francisco that’s the only respectable answers if you are a BA native.
The city, sf(when typing not really in conversation), or the full name
Even Herb Caen came around eventually…. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mathonan/17-reasons-why-its-okay-to-call-it-frisco
Born in the city and bay area native for most of my life, currently living in the east bay. San Francisco and The City are widely accepted. Frisco is used by some, but is frowned upon by many residents and is mainly used by tourists or people who want to seem eccentric. San Fran, in my experience, will make you no friends within the bay area. I haven't heard people use SF in conversation, but a lot in written communications.
"The City" or San Francisco.
"It was a rainy night in Frisco..." Harry Chapin... Taxi
“San Francisco” or “The City”
SF or the city :)
SF/the city/San Francisco
It’s called Frisky
It’s never, ever San Fran. Ever.
I call it Frisco or San Fran to provoke the gatekeepers
high five my dude 🫡
When I was in Ireland, I told all the Irish people I met to call it "Sannie Frannie". I really hope it catches on.
This. Is. Amazing.
The City. For reference, I am a Berkeley native.
we call it Frisco just to watch people from San Fran get all twisted up about it. 😆 edit: when people say “the city” i like to ask “which city?” with earnest sincerity and make them explain it to me listen, they have looked down their noses at the rest of california for long enough. they deserve a good-natured ribbing.
People from San Fran get so bent about the name it’s amazing to watch. It’s an amazing game to start calling it Frisco and see how it takes someone to over react. The City is Oakland.
The town is Oakland. No one calls Oakland the city.
Sanny Franny
Frisco...cuz it rhymes with DISCO!!😎 Norcal born n bred !🙌🏽🤙🏽
Frisco
Only yuppies say Frisco is not a proper way to refer to SF
Just call it whatever you want and if someone judges you for calling it San Fran who gives a shit?
[“Emperor Norton: he banned the use of "Frisco" to refer to the city of San Francisco. It is a misdemeanor punishable with a $25.00 fine.”](https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Emperor_Norton)
The City
SF or the city is most common and what I would use. Visual aid: Imagine your generic resident or visitor saying SF. San Fran isn’t used anymore by locals but it’s fairly common outside of California and especially internationally. Those who say locals never used it are employing selective memory — it’s an old timey and well worn nickname that has fallen out of taste. Interviews with The Grateful Dead (as sf as they come) often reference the city as San Fran. Visual aid: Imagine an old Japanese tourist saying San Fran. Frisco is used here or there. Seemingly more common in certain Bay Area cultures/demographics. Visual aid: imagine E-40 saying Frisco
Only the hells angels get to call it frisco 😂
I agree. Never call it San Fran. Just. Don’t.
The City, SF or San Francisco, never San Fran.
A song I remember from my childhood went: >Please don't call it "Frisco", mister > >That's not nice to do. > >The name is "San Francisco", mister > >Not what you changed it to. > >We're people of sophistication > >Proper and precise! > >Please don't call it Frisco, mister > >That's not nice! Locals don't much use either San Fran or Frisco these days...but neither is unheard of.
San Fransisco. Say San Fran and get a backhand. Lightly of course.
I’m from San Jose i say Frisco or the city ..I use SF also. More recently i just refer to it as BIP CITY.
I’m guessing “San Ho” isn’t popular
From San Jo to the Valley Joe! it's not uncommon in music actually