On weekends, I usually walk my dog in the park near the Queensboro Bridge, which connects Manhattan and Queens. And today I remembered that this bridge is one of the most striking examples of so-called Geographical Snobbery.
The bridge is officially called the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, but firstly, the name of the 105th mayor, Ed Koch, was only added to the bridge in 2011, and secondly, not everyone likes him — the former mayor.
So everyone calls the bridge what it’s been called since its construction in 1909 — the Queensboro Bridge. The Wikipedia entry also has the same name.
And, you’d think, after 117 years of its existence, the name should have stuck, but not for the residents of the City, that is, Manhattan! They call it the 59th Street Bridge, because the bridge crosses 59th Street in Manhattan.
More precisely, Manhattanites think their 59th Street is turning into a bridge that leads somewhere they don’t go anyway, so they call it the “59th Street Bridge”
So, by the way someone calls a bridge, you can easily deduce where and when it was built.
Another example of geographic snobbery is the attitude of residents of megacities on both coasts of the ocean toward those living in Central America. There’s even a term for it: “Flyover Country” — a piece of land you always fly over but never actually visit.
For example, my beloved Nebraska or Arkansas are a good example of flyover country for 90% of residents of the East and West Coasts.
The New Yorker magazine’s March 1976 cover featured a brilliant illustration depicting how New Yorkers imagine the country from their perspective.
By the way, the term “City” is also a good example of geographic snobbery; I wrote about it not long ago.
The magazine’s illustration was created by Saul Steinberg, an American cartoonist born in Romania.
