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Big Apple, The Windy City...DMV?

  • July 30th 2010

by Mark Wellborn

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Big Apple, The Windy City...DMV?: Figure 1

Apparently, a move is afoot to give the DC area a moniker that is synonymous with headaches and frustration.

The Washington Post has an article in today’s Metro section that reports that “DMV,” a nickname for the DC, Maryland and Virginia area is growing in popularity, despite the fact that most people in the area still associate the initials with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

While the move is being met with a level of support that is reminiscent of when the Bullets became the Wizards, the nickname’s credibilty suffers mightily due to the fact that its genesis is a mystery. While Chicago’s nickname has been attributed to the howling winds coming off of Lake Michigan and the Big Apple seems to have been coined by a sportswriter in the 1920s (and fittingly stuck), DMV’s origins are attributed to…Craigslist. From The Post:

We would congratulate the originator of “the DMV,” but it’s not clear who should get the props. [Sandy Bellamy, executive director of the Historical Society of Washington] isn’t sure where the name came from. She suggests this clever coinage may have originated as location shorthand on Craigslist.

Naturally, the comments to the idea/article were less than favorable of the idea:

“DMV is a really bad idea. Although the DMV in DC has become very user friendly, it brings up bad connotations for people from every state. Please don’t do this!”

DC or the District, that’s it. There is no need for any other “nickname”. And yes, if you live within the District of Columbia, you are a DC resident. If you live in Arlington, you live in Virginia, or you might say “Northern Virginia” because you are somehow afraid people will think you live in Appalachia. If you live in Silver Spring, you live in Maryland.

Now time for your thoughts. Will you be calling the DC area DMV anytime soon? Let us know in the comments.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/big_apple_the_windy_city...dmv/2326.

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