Who says Frisco?

About four weeks ago, I was in "San Francisco" and one of the guys we were working with said "So how do you find Frisco?" I said "What the hell is Frisco?". As it turns out, it's San Francisco. Ok, fine. So I started speaking to a few other people, and turns out the whole city is divided into two groups. People who love to use the word Frisco, and those who can't stand it!

What's the big deal with calling San Francisco "Frisco"?
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55 Comments

lionosh 2yrs+
AJ, no one in their normal right mind would ever use the word Frisco in fear of getting bashed. It's not very "cool" man, which is ridiculous.
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mileykelly 2yrs+
i SOOOO agree AJ. I think it's a locals thing. I've been in SF just on 9 months now and I never used Frisco moreso over fear that people will hang me!!
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advisor2008 2yrs+
Hey AJ~ a little reserach on San Francisco. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=frisco lol... :)
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paulyg 2yrs+
I said it to a girl from there once just to bother her and she laughed in my face.
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AdamS 2yrs+
advisor - great link to urbandictionary! I've never seen that site before, very cool.

It's interesting how so many people find it is offensive. I guess if people starting abbreviating my hometown of Melbourne to be just Melb, I wouldn't like it either.

Thanks!
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advisor2008 2yrs+
You’re welcome it was my pleasure. By the way ~ what do you think of the word ‘Philly’ for Philadelphia? It seems that folks affectionately used word this for this major city.
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advisor2008 2yrs+
Could it be that some locals thinks that "Frisco" sounds like "Crisco"??? Conversely, I discovered a website that seems to suggest that this word is no long out of favor... http://www.sfgate.com/
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lanzedom 2yrs+
only the out of towners call it frisco.... bay people call it "the city".....
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AdamS 2yrs+
Thanks for the update lanzedom, when I'm back in SF next month I'll be sure to use the proper lingo!

AJ
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tanister 2yrs+
I live in Sacramento, but visit SF frequently. When I'm there, I call it "the city". When I'm not there, I call it "San Francisco". But when I type online...it's so long to spell out (and I'm lazy, haha). So if I'm talking to people in the area online, I'll call it "SF", but if I'm typing to those not around here, I'll refer to is as "Frisco".

I don't see the problem with calling it Frisco AT ALL. I live in Sacramento and everyone calls our city Sac or Sacto. ZOMG, IT'S ABBREVIATED, LET'S EVERYONE FREAK OUT!!11!1!!! HOW DARE YOU CALL US SACTO!1!!! WHERE'D TEH RAMEN GO!! I LUV RAMEN, YUM!!!11!!1

Seriously, that's just dumb. So what if they abbreviate or come up with a nickname for your city. Big deal. Get over yourselves, SF. You just look like big douchebags that have nothing to do but complain about who calls your city what.
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advisor2008 2yrs+
AJ ~ started this... LOL! It's no big deal as ‘tanister’ so eloquently stated. Ya’ll have a GREAT weekend in "the city" of FRISCO… Life is too short to worry about something this trivial after all tomorrow is not promised to anyone!!!
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jbelkin 2yrs+
People in the SF Bay Area might use it ironic or mockingly but yea, no one calls it 'Frisco. People aren't offended but you come off as some rube who's never been out of podunk. So, if you use frisco, people will probably just roll their eyes and treat you accordingly. Most people in the SF Bay Area usually just call the city, SanFran or even the full name ... people who live in SF tend to break the city down by neighborhoods.
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tanister 2yrs+
To quote jbelkin, "People aren't offended but you come off as some rube who's never been out of podunk. So, if you use frisco, people will probably just roll their eyes and treat you accordingly."

Why? Like I said before, people shorten the names of cities all the time. Why is SF so special that it shouldn't be shortened? Because it should...it's a long name and one that many people have difficulty spelling. Obviously, "SF" is the shortest thing you could possibly refer to it as, but why consider "Frisco" rude, but not "SF"?

I mean, I kinda get that it's seen as an out-of-towner kinda thing. Sac has that too. If you hear people pronounce Sacramento with the T sound, they're most likely not from the area. Locals pronounce it as if the T were silent...Sacramenno. But we don't treat people accordingly. We don't make people feel like they can't say it like that or they're going to be hung. I mean, seriously. So freaking dramatic. I guess it's fitting for that city.

And this is why I shall never live anywhere near the bay (and I don't consider 2 hours away as near, really). I couldn't handle that kind of attitdue 24/7. I'd rather live in Sac and visit SF yearly like I do now.
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AdamS 2yrs+
tanister, great conversation!!

I have to point out that I laughed at the shortening of Sacramento to just Sac (needs no explanation)...sorry bout that. Back onto Frisco, I think it's just the way it sounds? A bit wanky?

I guess this raises a bigger issue on what the people in SF, San Francisco, Frisco or "The City" are actually like? I know there is a minor stereotype that SF people think they are a bit above everyone else? (NOT MY OPINION!!) Anyone else agree with this?

AJ
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AdamS 2yrs+
Hi 4sho,

I watched that episode of South Park on TV last night, it was hilarious...although quite the insult to people in SF implying they love the smell of their own farts!

I love San Francisco as many MANY people do, can't wait to be back over there soon (although I'll be skipping the Tenderloin area, it gives me the creeps)

AJ
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advisor2008 2yrs+
Regarding San Francisco...

FYI ~ http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/sf/tenderloin/ [note:} the name of the paper...

Enjoy the weekend!!!
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rascleattop 2yrs+
how about San Fran??
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AdamS 2yrs+
yes rascleattop, the most obvious has escaped us all! I always call it San Fran. That normally doesn't offed anyone when I am in town.

AJ
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ucbears 2yrs+
I live in SF. Locals do not use "frisco" or "san fran." I've been here 10 years and don't know the history, but I do know "frisco" is more despised than "san fran." We call it, simply, "The City" or refer to a particular neighborhood to be more specific, like "the Castro" or "Potrero" or "the Mission." If you use "frisco" or "san fran," it's no big deal, it just indicates that you are from out of town. If you had to shorten it and didn't want to use "the City" for some reason, I guess "SF" would probably be a more acceptable back-up.
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AndyBell 2yrs+
People of bay celled it is Fransisco.
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mauro 2yrs+
Whatever the case might be, it will be a still 'the city'
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SFMan123123 2yrs+
Why not simply use "CISCO" and get some sponsorship money for doing that?...
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AdamS 2yrs+
Nice one SFMan123123, but who would get the money ;)
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AndyBell 2yrs+
I don't think there is any big deal in that. People just use words that make them comfortable and I think it is all up to personal choice at the end of the day.
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StephSF 2yrs+
I was vehemently told to stop calling it "San Fran" when I moved here, although it sounds like visitors take great pleasure in assigning this particular abbreviation. I have since stopped any and all friends from using this language, and generally refer to it as "the city" when I am here. If I am out of town, I refer to it as San Francisco, and in writing I'll just type "SF" (although I would never verbally refer to it as the latter).

Sacramento is another story...in my opinion, "Sac" is a completely and utterly appropriate reference to the city.
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FlowerGirl 2yrs+
@StephSF: I've noticed that "Sac" is almost a term of affection among my friends who went to Davis. It implies that they really know their way around the capitol. It's the exact reverse of "San Fran" or especially "Frisco," which for whatever reason sounds to Bay Area natives like nails on a blackboard. Thank you for spreading the word.
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aircoopdog 2yrs+
Otis Redding called it Frisco; I'm calling it Frisco.....No one has to like it but, they have to deal with it.....peace!
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FlowerGirl 2yrs+
Bad Dog!
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userzero55 2yrs+
No native San Franciscan says "Frisco." Its just what out-of-towners think you say when you're on the inside. It's the same as "Cali" for California- you can tell they are foreign as soon as they open their mouths.

-cj
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SFSinner 2yrs+
Frisco is Slang for the city, aka 415, sfc, the sco, and sucks free
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SFSinner 2yrs+
My fault. Sucka Free City.
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nomonkeybro 2yrs+
Live in SF. I think it's weird that people call it "Frisco," and it only bothers me because there are actual towns named that, and I'm not in it.
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userzero55 2yrs+
The above is incorrect and it is the out-of-towners who say "Frisco." Its not about "swallowing pride" just about correct etymology. BTW- we already have people saying "San Fran." Again, no biggie, just not local.
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savagekity 2yrs+
I grew up in "The City" and am a 4th generation San Franciscan or maybe more, still doing the family tree research, and not having much luck since all my family's records burned in the 1906 fire. I just cringe when I hear people refer to The City as Frisco. Everyone I grew up with and everyone I know from San Francisco feel the same. It is only outsiders and transplants that refer to The City as Frisco and it is considered to be disrespectful, lazy, and ignorant, NOT cool. It may seem petty, but as long as I have lived it has been that way and I am 61 years old now.
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Lisaloha 2yrs+
My mom is from there, but we have lived in Hawaii for over 40 years. She still bristles when she hears "Frisco", I think the problem is not so much that it's an abbreviation, so much as the parts of the word aren't even together in the proper name. (San) Fr(anc)isco = Frisco. Whereas, "Philly" is at least reminiscent of "Phill(adelphia)" and "Sac" is from "Sac(ramento). As for people not saying the T in the latter, it is probably a local thing, but I always pronounce it, mostly because I also speak Spanish and the T is pronounced in the root language (even when I say it without proper Spanish pronunciation).

If my town (Kane`ohe) were to be abbreviated like SF is, it would be "Keohe" or "Nehe" or something completely different than the two words which make up the word (bamboo man), and that would just be wrong. Some of us refer to it as "K-town", but only on our bumper stickers! We don't say it or write it, per se, mostly because so many of our towns begin with "K" that it would only lead to confusion.

I can see why San Franciscans are opposed to Frisco.
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4sho 2yrs+
I have actually found that people who move from other places to San Franscisco, are the ones that think they are above everyone else just cuz now they live in "San Fran" or "DA SCO" a couple more for ya.

I get the occasional roll of the eyes when I tell people where I am from. They presume I come with SF SMUG( there was hilarious Southpark epsisode where the smugness of George Cloney was going to collide with the Smugness of SF and cause a disaster)


Folks who grew up here or have been here for years don't really care what you call it. Its the newbs and hipsters that get annoyed. This city seems to welcome ya regardless.

What ever you call it, glad you came and come back soon......
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OzKat 2yrs+
Most locals don't like it when people say Frisco. I told my friend that my uncle from New Jersey called San Francisco Frisco and she said she'd want to punch him in the face if he did that in front of her. I told her he was 6'5 so she amended it to kicking him in the shins and then running away.

There's a long history of locals not liking people calling The City Frisco. In 1872 Emperor Norton decreed: "Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word 'Frisco,' which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars."
Question: Does that mean we can demand $25 from people who say Frisco? Are we allowed to factor in inflation? Because my uncle is coming to town and I could use a free $470.
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khom 2yrs+
Never ever ever say Frisco! You can say SF, San Francisco, or The City. Frisco is located in Texas. People will automatically know you are a transplant if you say Frisco.
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Shroudwoman 2yrs+
People who don't live here use that unfortunate disrespectful term. Natives and REAL Locals call it "town" or by it's proper name .
"Frisco" is vulger & disrespectful . This town was named after Saint Francis of Assisi- one of the most loving kind Holy Men ever!
Built with Gold rush money by Goldminers, Sailors, Bootleggers , Sinners, Gamblers, Chinese railroad workers, Ex-slaves, Whorehouse Madams, Jewish fine craftsmen (Lacemakers,Tailors and glass & mirror bevelers- like the Gumps and the Magnins) and people seeking religious and sexual freedom from the East. Living all together - "the city of Fruits and Nuts".
This city is not stable. It is ALWAYS transcient. It is Earthquake prone and after big ones ALOT of people leave. People come here to transform themselves , become something they could not be anywhere else or to get rich. Golddiggers , Beatniks,Hippies, Eastern Religious groups ,homosexuals, all manner of deviants ,immigrants from Mexico (who think California still belongs to Mexico) and immigrants from all of America's many many many wars, Dot-Com-ers and now Techies or whatever this new group is ( but PLEASE don't call them "Hipsters"! Anything but that! The very last thing this new group is is "hip". More like Young Techno-Corporate Capitalists .)
People who live here have always respected the tolerant and non-judgemental " Live and Let Live" attitude of San Francisco so they would NEVER use such vulgar slang to address this town they LOVE that gave them FREEDOM and allowed them to just be themselves.
The new young people who have now moved here do not show much respect nor show much love nor understanding of where they actually are, it's history or who was here before they came.
In the Mission the true locals (or anyone not 20something working in IT ) are perceived like movie extras, like a painted set in their "download " of SF to feel "hip" against .Meanwhile they have taken over like locusts , jacking up the rents so that real locals can no longer afford to even live here.
Soon it will be just them and their iPhones and all the failed restaurants, and all that was truly "cool" and artistic about this town will be gone and then the BIG ONE will hit and they will all get very scared and run back home to Pittsburgh or wherever the hell they come from - like they always do. You just have to be patient and wait it out.......
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I hear that the SF Angels call themselves the "Frisco Hell's Angels." Probably as yet another attempt to annoy the general populace.
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The term Frisco originated in Frisco, on the docs, the Hells Angels, and such. To say that only out-of-town yokels call it Frisco, is simply not true. It seems like the people that have the most problem with the name Frisco is the people that moved in from out of town. The same people that are ruining the city. Swallow your pride and accept Frisco, or you may end up with "San Fran".
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I think you people need to calm down. They have been calling San Francisco "Frisco" since the gold rush of 1849. It is part of your heritage. It is a term that originated in San Francisco and it will stay there. Even the Hell's Angels, workers on the docks, and the rest of the working class (that has been driven out of town) call it that. I will continue to cal it "Frisco", not due to ignorance, but because many people from there have such a knee jerk reaction against that moniker. I think it is time you embraced your heritage, and the abbreviated name for "The City"... FRISCO!!
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The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway known as the “Frisco” began
operating in 1876, but the nickname is as old as the American West.
Herb Caen, the Pulitzer-winning San Francisco Chronicle columnist,
was adamant that no one call his fair city by such a sliced up moniker.
Instead, "Caress each Spanish syllable, salute our Italian saint.
Don't say Frisco and don't say San-Fran-Cis-Co," he advised.
"That's the way Easterners, like Larry King pronounce it. It's more
like SanfrnSISco." Yet, cultural forces from Otis Redding ("headed
for the Frisco bay") to Pink Floyd (the unofficial Darkness Over Frisco
live album) to Google (search "Frisco" and see what comes to the
top of the page) keep the name associated with San Francisco.
Here's the thing with "Frisco": Nicknames are supposed to embody
some overall characteristic, not just act as a lazy surgery of the
city’s name. There's a reason we don't call New York "Nork" when
we're feeling saucy. It’s the "The City That Never Sleeps" for poetic
reasons. Just because "Frisco" sounds like a place (and it is,
in Texas and Colorado), doesn't make it a good nickname. No one
would get on the I-5 and head south for "Agles."
(Pro tip: If an out-of-town friend calls it Frisco, avoid the soapbox.
San Franciscans have a rep for being uptight jerks about the nickname.
Don't play into the stereotype. They'll eventually notice you never
call it that anyway.)
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userzero 2yrs+
Very, very well done!
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MortimerPost 2yrs+
F the pretentious windbags of Frisco!
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jbelkin 2yrs+
Exactly so we can tell the idiots. Ultimately, we don't really care as clearly youre too stupid to live in SF. You actually have to have a brain to make enough money to live here so ultimately we don't care if you want to announce loudly you are idiot. You are free to do as you please.
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Lisaloha 2yrs+
I love when someone calls other people idiots while committing grammatical and spelling errors in doing so. Just saying.
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Aaron Bellings PRO 2yrs+
I'm a native San Franciscan and having lived, worked, and grown up here all of my life it is safe to say that I have never, under any circumstances, called this city "Frisco." It is a word used mostly by tourists and out-of-towners, and rightfully so since it has a nice ring to it for those not in the know. I don't hate on people who use the word, but it's the easiest way to identify a local with a visitor.
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DanielGruver 2yrs+
All 90's Bay Area rap refers to The City as Frisco. Especially folks from Hunters Point, Bay View etc
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LilianeP 2yrs+
I was in San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s and always was under the impression that
"Frisco" was commonly used to refer to the city, without offending anyone. I guess that with the years, the meaning of certain words have changed. Back then, there was a word that meant: "merry, bright and lively," according to an old dictionary. That word is "gay," which has an entirely different meaning, nowadays.
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The call Philadelphia "philly", so why all the problem with "Frisco"? It must be all of the uppity people that have moved into the area.
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tinam3 2yrs+
Frisco just sounds like you're trying to be cool, like from the 70's or something. I don't understand why San Fran is bad. "The City" makes sense if you are physically there or in close proximity but, it doesn't make much sense if you are elsewhere and are making reference to San Francisco. It's a long name. People refer to Los Angeles as LA. New York does not have as many syllables as San Francisco. I'm not trying to rub any San Franciscans the wrong way but if I'm visiting and refer to SF as The City, will that offend them as well?
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bhbb93 2yrs+
natives call it frisco, natives hate it being called fresco. it depends what part of town your from and what you consider a native. plenty of transplants of over 15 years or so refer to themselves as natives, you guys aren't. my grandfather was born in a Richmond district kitchen in 1920. He called me low class whenever I called it frisco, not that its not said because "out of towners" say it. if you grew up in the Mission, Excelsior, Crocker, Mission terrace, Bernal Heights, Bayview, you've been hearing SF be called Frisco your entire life. If you're a Friscan but you're from west of Twin Peaks, you may associate calling the city Frisco as being ghetto or as my grandfather thought, low class. Yes SF's Hells Angels chapter does go by Frisco as well. They've used the term since before there were any wannabe natives making things up, like that natives don't call it Frisco.
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victoro 2yrs+
Born bred and fed a native San Franciscan, me and my buddies always used Frisco, growing up, so I can tell you, it's all you transplants that don't like it, Frisco has been used in this town for decades. The natives in the neighbor hoods say it a lot. , again its the transplants., who aren't even from my hometown!!
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okserg 2yrs+
Wow, who would have thought this could generate so much heat? I only lived in San Francisco for a few years, but have been a regular visitor for nearly 40 years. From my observations, when someone says “Frisco” it’s usually someone who is not familiar with The City. I’ve never seen anyone get red-faced or crazy when someone says Frisco, it’s usually no reaction at all or sometimes a friendly comment about it being out of use. I think we can agree that there are a lot of other things that require our outrage, it’s just a word.

Oh, and I’m puzzled by those who say San Francisco is too lengthy. How can that be? It’s not like we have to meter the number of syllables we use. It doesn’t make sense.
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