[ti:Nicknames for Cleveland and Detroit] [ar:Faith Lapidus] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Now,the VOA Special English program [00:16.23]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:18.35]Many American cities [00:21.69]have interesting nicknames. [00:23.79]Nicknames can help establish [00:26.54]the identity of a city. [00:28.40]They can also spread pride [00:31.12]among its citizens. [00:32.54]But nicknames sometimes [00:35.01]can make fun of something. [00:37.16]Cleveland,Ohio is a city [00:40.69]in America's Midwest. [00:42.65]One of its earliest nicknames [00:45.46]was Forest City. [00:47.53]No one knows for sure [00:50.18]who gave it this name [00:51.96]in the eighteen thirties. [00:53.82]But Cleveland probably [00:55.99]had a lot of trees. [00:57.83]This nickname became popular [01:00.71]among local businesses [01:02.50]in the eighteen fifties. [01:04.72]Today,some businesses [01:07.17]in the Cleveland area [01:08.64]still use Forest City [01:11.41]in their names. [01:12.81]Cleveland sits next to Lake Erie, [01:17.24]one of North America's Great Lakes. [01:20.37]It was once [01:21.94]a major manufacturing city. [01:24.58]Ships used the lake [01:27.21]for transporting goods. [01:29.05]In the nineteen fifties, [01:31.69]businesses called Cleveland, [01:34.28]the Best Location in the Nation. [01:37.56]However,many factories closed [01:42.24]or moved away. [01:43.69]Cleveland had severe [01:45.77]financial problems [01:47.42]in the nineteen sixties [01:49.04]and seventies. [01:50.21]In nineteen sixty-nine, [01:52.77]the city became famous, [01:54.93]but not in a good way. [01:58.07]Cleveland's Cuyahoga River [02:01.26]caught on fire [02:02.92]because of industrial wastes [02:05.34]on the surface of the river. [02:07.42]So in the nineteen seventies, [02:10.95]the national media [02:12.84]began calling the city [02:14.58]The Mistake on the Lake. [02:17.45]Since then,Cleveland has sought [02:21.16]to improve its image. [02:23.08]The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [02:25.83]and Museum opened in Cleveland [02:28.38]in nineteen ninety-five. [02:30.41]So the city is proud [02:32.95]of its latest nickname, [02:34.70]The Rock and Roll Capital [02:37.38]of the World. [02:38.80]Another city in the Midwest [02:42.69]is Detroit,Michigan. [02:44.82]Henry Ford started [02:47.42]the Ford Motor Company in Detroit [02:50.28]in nineteen hundred three. [02:53.07]Five years later,he made [02:56.54]the first "Model T" automobile. [02:59.98]Within ten years, [03:02.81]Detroit was being called [03:05.45]The Motor City. [03:07.17]It is still the center [03:10.27]of the automobile industry [03:12.15]in America. [03:13.14]Another popular nickname [03:16.50]for Detroit is Motown. [03:19.41]Berry Gordy,Junior started [03:22.55]the Motown Record Corporation [03:25.09]in Detroit in nineteen fifty-nine. [03:28.40]African-American singers [03:31.79]recording for the company [03:33.58]were extremely popular [03:35.82]in the nineteen sixties [03:37.62]and nineteen seventies. [03:39.75]Their records were so successful [03:42.59]that Detroit was also called [03:45.43]Hitsville,USA. [03:47.45](Tempations - "Ain't Too Proud to Beg") [04:20.61]This program was written by [04:22.93]Shelley Gollust. [04:24.13]I'm Faith Lapidus. [04:25.80]You can find more [04:27.49]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES [04:29.02]at our Web site,51voa.com.