Talk:Washington metropolitan area

Why is the page called "Washington Metro Area"?

This page really should be called "Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area", to specify that it is the region around Washington DC...rather than perhaps Washington state or something else. I think I tried to move it some time ago, but someone moved it back inexplicably. Kold9 (talk) 22:09, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps someone took into account the most common use of the terms (outside of the construction provided by WP-editors) - I find the given topic-name unsurprising. Tedickey (talk) 00:45, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Same question. I corrected this long ago and someone else changed it back. I also corrected the way it was phrased on the Redskins (football team) page and someone changed it back there. Don't care to get into a revision war but this is clearly a confusing thing for people unfamiliar with the fact that the USA has a City and a State with the same name, and we differentiate them by saying "Washington DC" and "Washington State." Asaturn (talk) 02:17, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

In "X metropolitan area", X is never a state, correct? Largoplazo (talk) 02:52, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Principal cities

Several items are listed in this topic as "principal cities" of the WMA. That has a specific meaning, and unless those are listed in the corresponding authoritative source, should be removed from the list. TEDickey (talk) 10:01, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

The cities listed are arbitrary at best. Alexandria, Arlington, and Bethesda MIGHT qualify as principal cities--I don't have the data. No way are any of the other principal cities. I am not sure this topic adds much to the article. I think it should be deleted or changed to something like "Cities of Note". Then populated with all the cities in the area such as Fredericksburg, Manassas, Leesburg, Falls Church, Charles Town, etc... --Joegraff (talk) 13:25, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

Although it is densely populated, Arlington is not a city but a county by form of government.--WriterArtistDC (talk) 20:10, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

increasing known (sic)

There's a one-line comment in a six-year-old note, citing no numbers. The given source reads like the author's opinion. Recall that Wikipedia is not supposed to be a random collection of trivia. TEDickey (talk) 13:56, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

For what reason are you using "sic" in the heading here? The "Newser" source and the article both use "increasingly". The Washington Post and the Newser sources note the emergence of the term in 2010. I don't see any usage statistics cited regarding the use of "National Capital Region" or "D.C. area" either. Are you advocating removal of the whole paragraph? —ADavidB 02:04, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

7th Place to 6th Place

The Census announced that between 2014 and 2015, Washington had overtaken Philadelphia as 6th place in terms of population size for U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2016/cb16-43.html ("◾Between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., surpassed Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., to become the sixth most populous metro area."). Any objections to updating the article to reflect that change?One-Off Contributor (talk) 17:33, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

The National Capital Region is the core sub-region of the Washington Metropolitan Area.

National Capital Region :
District of Columbia
Maryland
Virginia

Outlining Subdivisions:
West Virginia

---

The Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia portions of the metropolitan area is also sometimes referred to as the National Capital Region, particularly by federal agencies such as the military and Department of Homeland Security. Another term for the region is the D.C. Area and a nickname is "DMV", which means "District, Maryland, Virginia." The area in the region that is surrounded by Interstate 495 is also referred to as being "Inside the Beltway". The city of Washington, which is at the center of the area, is referred to as "the District" because it is the federal District of Columbia, and is not part of any state. The Virginian portion of the region is known as Northern Virginia. The Maryland portion of the region is sometimes know as the Maryland-National Capital Region, but is not widely used by the general public . — Preceding unsigned comment added by Llakew18 (talk • contribs) 16:01, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

References

DMV

Regarding the alternative addition and removal of "DMV" as an alternative name for the Washington metropolitan area: different sources discuss the fact that it means different things to different people, and doesn't necessarily coincide with the Washington metro area. For example:

One point of disunity? Just how far the DMV extends geographically. According to 20Bello, M and V refer to the entire states; Dre All Day limits his notion of DMV to the I-95 corridor north to Baltimore and south to Richmond and even Norfolk. Galloway, the original coiner, was calling out only as far as the Beltway.

D.C. is the heart of the DMV. Almost everyone familiar with the term considered all of DC as being in the DMV. Almost everyone feels that the areas immediately surrounding DC are part of the DMV. ... Most feel that the DMV expands beyond the areas bordering D.C. ... Some think the DMV expands to include the entirety of the counties surrounding DC, plus some of the counties beyond that. ... A few people feel it expands to include all of the counties mentioned above and further. This include areas like Baltimore, MD, Fredericksburg, VA, and almost all the way until Harper’s Ferry, WV. ... Largoplazo (talk) 19:39, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: These are very interesting articles. I feel like these articles do indeed show that the DMV coincides with the DC metro area as a nickname. No doubt that it's disputed how far the "DMV" reaches, but that doesn't mean it should be excluded from the article. I think it's significant. My suggestion is to include the DMV term somewhere in the lead paragraph alongside a note that includes some of these statements (importantly the people who coined it), as well as include them in the body of the article as well. Sekyaw (talk) 21:15, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

I believe that's a level of detail that calls for it not to be covered in the lead. For one thing, the area is defined up front as "all of the District of Columbia and parts of the states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia". No part of West Virginia is in the DMV, so the names are already mutually exclusive on that account. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Largoplazo (talk • contribs) 22:24, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

However, none of the above demonstrates that DMV is (per MOS) a significant alternative name. It seems that the incidence of its use for that purpose is a few orders of magnitude less than the existing names (frankly "DC Area" or "DC Metro" are more likely). TEDickey (talk) 22:58, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

Getting reliable sources that could demonstrate that the DMV is "really" the Washington metropolitan area of course is hindered by the fact that most uses of "DMV" refer to various Department of Motor Vehicles. TEDickey (talk) 23:04, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

And predictably, a recent edit to DMV abuses the reader's understanding by listing the link to this topic first. Or perhaps that was intended to provide amusement to someone. TEDickey (talk) 23:06, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

References