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TheMikri t1_j75bqca wrote

Chicago is called the Windy City due to Politics, not actual wind. At least that’s what Chicagoans said the year I lived there.

Regarding JC, it’s simply where we are in the harbor, and our lack of natural buffer. The waterfront is particularly bonkers wind wise, especially when a storm system or cold snap rolls through.

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_homegrown t1_j75gc7m wrote

To give you (or someone else) the background on the politics thing... Chicago politicians argued so long for the World's Fair that it became known as the windy City because the politicians were long winded...

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bodhipooh t1_j76wybd wrote

>became known as the windy City because the politicians were long winded...

Not because they were long winded, but because they were supposedly called windbags in a NYC press editorial! A wingbag is someone who talks at length but says little of value. NYC and Chicago were competing against each other to host the World Fair and the Chicago advocates were derided in that editorial as being wingbags. But, the World Fair theory is more like an apocryphal story. Even before the World Fair's shenanigans, Chicago politicians (and residents) had a reputation for being full of hot air, and that's a theory for the Windy City moniker that holds more water.

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TheMikri t1_j75iqsu wrote

Ah, good to know it originated with the World Fair. Thanks!!

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