That City by the bay: by any other name

During a TGIF moment, a woman named Erika posted a whimsical iPhone photo of the Transamerica Building, replete with sunspot bubbles, on Facebook, and called it Frisco. People lost their shit. It was a landslide against. But old monikers die hard. 

One reader said, "frisco, the word that sounds like a brand of lard, sucks. everyone is entitled their opinion. You can be an outlier, but just know that people will make fun of you for it. Sorry not sorry," 

 I get weird connotations too: Frisco/Crisco, Friskies with Crisco.

Another reader tried to establish a quasi terminus post quem by stating that Frisco, Texas was...

So named because part of the Frisco rail line, originally incorporated in 1876, ran nearby. Care to guess which city's name is in the full name of the line? Frisco is in Texas only because it was here first. You do realize that the place in Texas was so named because part of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway a.k.a. the Frisco line ran through the area."

True, Frisco, Texas was named after a railway line, but wasn't named after the city of San Francisco. Frisco, Texas was called Frisco City. And the train system never left the Midwest. Not only that, it was named after another San Francisco landmark, a name of a mountain range that predates the founding of San Francisco. 

That same someone who headed up an unsuccessful campaign to rename the Bay Bridge after Emperor Norton, then tried to call in the race card, saying it was a class system. He said only the cocktail set call it by its full name, while the African Americans in the Divisadero, and the Latinos in the Mission call it Frisco. 

Well, I beg to differ. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Besides, the Mission was Irish, it was not always Latino. That came much later. It is not a class thing, it’s more about old San Francisco vs the influx of outsiders that began arriving during the 1970s.

He said

A 175-plus-year stream of San Franciscans have addressed their city with this term of endearment. What also is true, though, is that the longshoremen of the 1860s and the African-American residents of the Fillmore district, a century later, never were going to have the approval of the cocktail-party set. Antipathy to "Frisco" often has been an index of class snobbery."

Well, speaking of presentism, lifting a theme from today's social milieu and blanketing the past with it—about all we agreed upon that people from outside SF called it Frisco—primarily sailors who didn't live here. A frisco was the place where you got your boat repaired, it was not so much about the city's name. Frisco stems from an old Icelandic term for safe harbor. And equally for 175 years, people have been objecting to outsiders calling it Frisco. Nothing to do with demographics, or cocktail party sets, as he put it. Not class snobbery either. But if it fits his agenda....

He said:

"There are number of theories about the origins of "Frisco." Peter Tamony's little article, "Sailors Called It 'Frisco,'" in the July 1967 number of the journal Western Folklore, is worth checking out. No agenda here. It's fine that many have been schooled to have a distaste for "Frisco." But, they should be honest enough to admit that it is, in fact, an issue of taste. When they step into language policing, to say that it is objectively wrong to say "Frisco," they are out of their depth."

So you know I looked it up, only to find, he lifted it out of context from an article. Tamnony was merely strengthening the sailor reference. How folklore works, is what's passed down. More people grew up with the full name vs. using the moniker Frisco. It had nothing to do with working class vs the hobnob set. It's not a matter of taste, status, or even language policing, it's a subcultural trait. And it's not cut and dry either.

JL said:

To the contrary, Mo, it is precisely BECAUSE preferences about the name of the City are "passed down generationally" that these preferences become, and are, a matter of taste, status and language policing. I don't challenge the point that "more people grew up with the full name vs. the moniker Frisco." I simply am saying that THAT FACT, such as it may be, does not give those who weren't trained to tolerate "Frisco" the right to badger those who do use "Frisco" into some kind of submission, as though the "Frisco" crowd is "doing it wrong."

So, according to JL, those who say Frisco are allowed free reign, and a pat on the back because they feel justified in calling it Frisco, but those of us who learned it as San Francisco must stay mum because he says so? De gustibus non est disputandem; call it what you will, but expect a reaction.

I pointed out that there are 14 place names called Frisco, or Frisco Station, or Friscoville, none of them were originally called San Francisco, then shortened to Frisco, and they're named after a St. Louis, Missouri train route that didn't even go to San Francisco. Ever. "Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco." It never even left the Midwest.

For the record, there's a town called Frisco, aka Fresco, in Alabama, Frisco, Arkansas (no train), Frisco is a Colorado mining town, as was Frisco, Idaho (no train), Illinois, Friscoville, Louisiana, Missouri (trains), Frisco, North Carolina on Hattaras Island (too watery for trains), Oklahoma, Pennsylvania (no train), Texas (train), Tennessee, Utah, a  mining town named after Frisco Peak in the San Francisco Mountains, named BEFORE San Francisco was founded, I might add; and Frisco, Virginia.

Yes, dahling, calling San Francisco Frisco is a bit problematic. It could refer to some place completely different. If you want to live in Frisco, consider moving to one of those states. Then it won't be an issue.

JL went on to say:

"The narrative that San Francisco natives and residents never have, or don't, call their city Frisco is both tired and false. The term has a long, storied history here dating back before 1850."

I repeated: The only problem with your train story, is that it never came to SF. And not once did I say that San Francisco natives and residents never have called their city Frisco. I said, it wasn't a class issue, that was too cut and dry, because many working class people, my own family included, never called it Frisco.

Many of those Frisco place names were derived from other places: In 1629, Spanish friars founded a mission at Oraibi, a Hopi village, in honor of St. Francis, 65 miles from the San Francisco Peaks. The Franciscans gave the name San Francisco to the peaks to honor St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of their order.

The San Francisco Peaks, and the San Francisco Mountains both lent their names to several hamlets. Frisco Mountain, Washington, got its name from a mining camp, as did Frisco, CO, UT, etc. Frisco Coloradans are quick to defend their town's name, saying it's NOT named after San Francisco, CA, but that it's an acronym.

"Frisco, CO, wasn’t named after San Francisco. The name Frisco is desired from the letters associated with the St Louis- San Francisco Railway company. You have the FR from Francisco, IS from St Louis and CO from Company!" Frisco Colorado History Facts

So, the point is that the moniker, Frisco, did not originate in San Francisco. It's an exogamic term. Accretion. Like those barnacles on the ships.

The name of our city, San Francisco (est. 1769), was derived from the Latin, San Franciscus—full name: Mission San Francisco de Asis (1774), which was later dubbed, Mission Dolores. And it brought much sorrow for the Ohlone and Coast Miwok tribes.

Saint Francis of Assisi was a Frenchman. Frank, France, or Francis means a "free man." Oui! San Francisco's first European name was Yerba Buena. Good herbs. The island we now call Yerba Buena was called Goat Island. What, goats?San Francisco was also called The Golden City, after John C. Frémont dubbed it Chrysopylae in 1846, before the Gold Rush. It was also called The Golden City, or The City, probably because nobody could pronounce Chrysopylae. The Yelamu Ohlone names are lost. One candidate is Ahwaste, "place at the bay."

San Francisco was also called the Barbary Coast, and coined Bagdhad-by-the-Bay by Herb Caen. Though we refer to SF as a she, and Francisco may be a masculine name, in the City, gender is fluid. 

Herb Caen, the Pulitzer Prize–winning San Francisco Chronicle columnist, was adamant that no one call his "fair city by such a sliced-up moniker." Herb Caen, "the voice of San Francisco," wrote a a sequel to his 1949 loveletter to his multicultural adopted city, Baghdad-by-the-Bay, entitled Don't Call it Frisco in 1953, "named after a local judge's 1918 rebuke to an out-of-town petitioner ("No one refers to San Francisco by that title except people from Los Angeles")‍." He said “the F word” as “a salty nickname, redolent of the days when we had a bustling waterfront.”

Caen's column appeared in the SF Chronicle for nearly sixty years (with a brief defection to The San Francisco Examiner). Everyone turned to his page first, then, read the news. "Herb Caen" (archive) was the longest-running newspaper column in the country, until Caen's death in 1998.

Caen also coined, or popularized the terms Beatnik, hippie, and Beserkeley. A thousand words a day with Caen's trademark ellipses "three-dot journalism banged out on his "Loyal Royal", defined our city. June 14, 1996, was designated Herb Caen Day. He had that much influence. He didn't call it Frisco.

Herb Caen articulated it best.

You don't call New York, York do you? Nor do you say Kong. Or Angeles. Or Diego. Maybe Moscow should just be 'Cow. And while we're at it, let's cheapen St. Louis to just Louis. Why should San Francisco be shortened?

For the most part, only people from out of state, the recently arrived, or the tragically hip call it 'Frisco. There are exceptions. But it still draws ire. And it's also an old saw. There's even a sitcom called Don't Call it Frisco.

You also need that apostrophe BTW, as 'Frisco is a contraction. Otherwise it could refer to those 14 other cities legally called Frisco.

I found this 2006 story by Sean C., a frequent contributor to Trip Advisor:

"The city is named for Saint Francis, one of the most loved Catholic saints. Apparently, that word was shortened to "frisco" and was used by sailors to refer to a place where a sailing ship could be scraped, repaired, and refitted. The Court of Historical Review convened to decide if such a nickname was acceptable. The court ruled that the name of the city was San Francisco and that no nickname should be tolerated."

LOL it's the law!

Pancho (or Paco, Chico, Cisco,) is a diminutive Spanish baby name for Francisco. But Ess Eff is not a baby. Then, by way of parallel structure, in English, we oughta be calling The City St. Frankie, San Pancho, but not 'Frisco.  Just don't call it San Poncho, or San Pacho! SF may be free and easy, but nothing is ever truly free. One way or another, there's always a price to be paid, la mordida. Absurdum infinitem.

Can you imagine Tony Bennett singing, "I left my heart in Frisco"?

Me neither.
(Don’t) CALL It Frisco According to the late Peter Tamony, [Peter Tamony. “Sailors Called It ‘Frisco.’” Western Folklore. University of California Press: July 1967, pp. 192-195] the Mission District’s respected slang detective, “Frith-soken” meant “refuge” or “sanctuary.” Because San Francisco Bay is just such a haven, sailors called it Frisco Bay.
Don't Call It Frisco: The History of San Francisco's Nicknames
Why San Francisco's “Frisco” Debate Will Never, Ever Die
It’s okay. Go ahead and call it Frisco.1849 The earliest known written usage of “Frisco” is in a letter written in 1849 by a New Englander who arrived in San Francisco by ship. He, like the New Englanders of today who tend to come here for a few years and then flee home to get married and have babies, was not impressed.

The actual, no-apostrophe word "frisco" goes back to Middle English, and means “a port where ships could be repaired”. It's possible that the treasure hunters who flooded San Francisco during the Gold Rush were actually being quite clever with a play on a word when they created the nickname.

There was an internet campaign in 2016, to begin calling SF Frisco, claiming working class roots vs the cocktail and pearls elite. Which is hogwash, as my family certainly was blue collar. But even then, 80% of San Franciscans objected bitterly to the moniker. It gained a toehold with LA rappers, ca 1996, as it Frisco wasn't such a mouthful. (Exogamic, again!)

Urban Dictionary Define Frisco: informal San Francisco: not a local usage.

And apparently there was even a court ruling to never call it 'Frisco. Still hunting that one down.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11339599/why-do-some-hate-the-nickname-frisco?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=factsmatterhere&utm_content=link So KQED ran a pro Frisco article and podcast and the same old arguments arose. I said Well, that’s playing it fast and loose with the history of the use of Crisco, I mean Frisco. Even my spellcheck rejects the word. One story thread is that it’s working man”s parlance vs the blue bloods. But my grandparents were working class and to them it was always San Francisco. There was a deliberate push to begin calling it Frisco from the outside, it’s both an old and new thing. But the latest push was this decade—primarily due to modern pop culture (outside influence). There was even an attempt to use social media to turn the tide as well. But it is not a class thing, it’s more old San Francisco vs the massive influx of people that began arriving from elsewhere during the 1970s. One person pointed out that there was Frisco beer, the Hells Angels usage of Frisco (like the Hells Angels were ever native San Franciscans!) the WWII fighter plane and a 1930s movie as the reason why people preferred Frisco over San Francisco. I said Frisco Kid was not from San Francisco! It was a movie from LA. As to the plane, it’s a reference back to the movie. There was also a very large influx of people during the war years to build ships, which changed the demographics, and the term (coming from outside the local culture) was probably revived. and the Hells Angels were post war veterans, not from San Francisco. Just because people were working class, doesn't mean they ALL called it Frisco. That's a very modern spin. Some did, some didn’t. My very large immigrant working class family (3 generations Mission Irish, Inner Richmond) did not call it Frisco. They were cops, sheriff, turnkey, Coast Guard, postmen, firemen, priests, nuns, felons, gun runners, hootch makers, maids, seamstresses, shipbuilders, trolley ticket takers, maids, street sweepers, asbestos workers, waitresses. In terms of folklore, that’s exogamic, or from outside the culture, a case of modern, or mainstream pop culture influencing speech patterns, vs arising within the subculture (what’s below the surface). Just because the term is used in rap culture, or by Otis Redding, or in literature by Jack Kerouac (who were from outside the SF culture—as in VERY non-native), doesn’t mean ALL working class people called it Frisco. Nothing to do with nativist, or neo-nativist gatekeeping. What’s interesting is that those who are in the pro-Frisco camp, are quick to claim class, or racism, or elitism, or nativism, to the point of vociferousness, and name calling, rather than just accept the fact that not all working class people did not call it Frisco. Or those not born here.... So the larger, more interesting question is: why doesn’t the pro-Frisco crowd want to hear that not everyone (who was / is from a working class background) did not call it Frisco? Why are they so intent on denying it? Reverse snobbism? And again, the question arises when those who are trying to squelch others, or deny their personal experience, by saying “it’s mostly people not born and raised in the Bay [Area] who get all sanctimonious about calling it Frisco.” Talk about sanctimonious in extremis.