It's the Polis Not San Fran

While humming and miserably attempting to sing along with They Might Be Giants's rendition of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" I stopped and thought about the etymology of the former, i.e. from the Greek "stan pouli" or "to the City." And "the City" of course being Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over 1000 years, the city straddling Europe and Asia, the city that's preserved the vast majority of modern links to classical times. That city.

I casually mentioned this over lunch (when I was attempting to sing) to which the other replied, "Oh so it's like San Francisco." Of course, no it's not like San Francisco. It's not like San Francisco for the reasons I harped on this when I first arrived in the Bay Area. Frankly the only reason why logically or otherwise it makes sense to call Frisco "the City" is because that's the only place you can go to in the Bay Area for typical nightlife activities. I don't know about the rest of you, but I haven't heard anyone rant or rave about Concord. Maybe it's still cool to hang out at the Fry's in South Bay, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure there's cooler things to do in San Fran.

All in all that lends for a pretty pathetic reason to call yourself "the City." I mean it doesn't even have a six-minaret Mosque or a church reconstructed by the founder of the Civil Code system (Justinian on the left presenting the Hagia Sophia to Jesus, and Constantine on the right presenting THE CITY).