Daily life
Metro
MET-roh
The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County — city and county merged in 1963. There is no separate 'city council'; everything is Metro.
The Batman Building
thuh BAT-man BIL-ding
The AT&T Building, whose two spires make it look like a cowl. Nobody uses its actual name and it is the city's orientation landmark.
Pedal tavern
PED-ul TAV-ern
A pedal-powered party vehicle full of bachelorette parties. Their proliferation downtown is a live local political argument, not a joke.
Culture
Lower Broad
LOH-er brawd
The neon honky-tonk strip on lower Broadway. Locals go for out-of-town guests and otherwise avoid it, particularly at weekends.
Music Row
MYOO-zik roh
The few blocks of converted houses south-west of downtown holding the publishers, labels and studios of the country music business.
The It City
thuh it SIT-ee
A 2013 New York Times label the city has never shaken. Used with pride by boosters and with a sigh by anyone who has watched their rent since.
Food
Meat and three
meet un three
A cafeteria-style plate — one meat, three vegetable sides, cornbread. Arnold's and Swett's are the institutions, and macaroni cheese counts as a vegetable.
Hot chicken
hot CHIK-un
Cayenne-paste fried chicken invented in Nashville's Black community at Prince's. 'Medium' at a real hot chicken place is hotter than most people's 'hot'.
Emergency
hubNashville
hub-NASH-vil
Metro's 311 service for non-emergency city requests — potholes, brush pickup, codes complaints. Reached on 311 or through its app.
911 / 311
nine-one-one / three-one-one
911 for emergencies; 311 for hubNashville. Middle Tennessee also has a genuine tornado season, so a weather radio or phone alerts are not optional.
Social
Y'all
yawl
Second person plural, used universally and unironically. 'All y'all' is the emphatic form for a whole group.
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