Today's Word of the Day, Cream City, is one of many outdated nicknames for American cities based on former industrial dominance. The cream-colored bricks used to build many of Milwaukee's buildings in the 19th century and onward were originally fired in the city. While many organizations in Milwaukee still use the old Cream City namesake, Brew City is a much more common nickname for Milwaukee, whose dominance in the beer industry prevails in the minds of Milwaukeeans and other Americans alike. Other similar nicknames, just off the top of my head, include:
- Underwear Capital of the World, given to Knoxville, TN for its former prominence in textiles
- Porkopolis, given to Cincinnati, OH for its pork industry dominance
- Steel City is still a popular nickname for Pittsburgh, PA, but with the recent closing of several steel mills pointing to a city in transition, perhaps this nickname will eventually go the way of these other more obscure monikers
Can you think of any other ones?
Best,
Tom @ City Dictionary
Oh, btw, if any of you nerds want to whip out your stylebooks and take me to task over the capitalization of hyphenated words in titles, give me your best shot.
