Over the long weekend, I got into an argument on Twitter with Eric Celeste’s daughter (!) about the appropriate nickname for Dallas. She had taken Vice President Mike Pence to task for calling it “Big D” when he was in town. Ms. Celeste maintains that the proper nickname is “The Big D,” with the definite article. I’m not sure what’s going on here. Maybe it’s because her father is from Oklahoma. In any case, she is wrong. Clearly. As is the person on Twitter who said it’s “The Big D,” because Mark Chesnutt sings, “I’m going through the big D and I don’t mean Dallas.” “The big D” is divorce, while “Big D” is the city. I put up a Twitter poll to settle this. Apparently a significant number of the respondents also hail from Oklahoma.
What’s the right nickname for Dallas? Article or no?
— Tim Rogers (@timmytyper) February 18, 2018