How famous is Sheffield?

[Longcol 596]

28 minutes ago, Ontarian1981 said:

Just bumping my add on up about a village called Sheffield in Ontario.

Back in the early days of SF a member found a Sheffield USA  (Texas if I remember) that had a computer forum and a number of SF members posted messages on it. I think the story appeared in the Star.

[kidley 48]

the Sheffield in the u.s is very small,

 

But i dont get the question, "how famous is Sheffield" its known all over the world, certainly the football teams, even though, they were in the second tier.  

[Cyclone 10]

I've seen lots of blank looks when people have asked where I'm from, most recently in a fairly touristy area of Egypt.  Sheffield, nothing, near Manchester, that they recognise.

[Ridgewalk 96]

19 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

I've seen lots of blank looks when people have asked where I'm from, most recently in a fairly touristy area of Egypt.  Sheffield, nothing, near Manchester, that they recognise.

To be honest, most people seem to have only heard of London or Manchester. I once tried to describe Yorkshire to French people stating proudly that it was England's biggest county, to be met by blank looks. I'm currently writing from a Department of France ( county equivalent) which is two and a half times the size of South and West Yorkshire combined with only a fraction of the population. 

 

[Longcol 596]

15 hours ago, Cyclone said:

I've seen lots of blank looks when people have asked where I'm from, most recently in a fairly touristy area of Egypt.  Sheffield, nothing, near Manchester, that they recognise.

Perhaps because Manchester United are one of the best known football teams on the planet?

[Cyclone 10]

Just now, Longcol said:

Perhaps because Manchester United are one of the best known football teams on the planet?

Not really the point, the point being that Sheffield isn't well known, which is what I said originally.  It's not known all over the world, even in tourist spots that get lots of English people.

To be fair, I couldn't name the second largest city in Egypt, so why should they know the 5th in the UK.

[Longcol 596]

14 hours ago, Ridgewalk said:

To be honest, most people seem to have only heard of London or Manchester. I once tried to describe Yorkshire to French people stating proudly that it was England's biggest county, to be met by blank looks. I'm currently writing from a Department of France ( county equivalent) which is two and a half times the size of South and West Yorkshire combined with only a fraction of the population. 

 

That would fit most departments in rural France - the majority of the country - like here in the Dordogne.

Just now, Cyclone said:

Not really the point, the point being that Sheffield isn't well known, which is what I said originally.  It's not known all over the world, even in tourist spots that get lots of English people.

To be fair, I couldn't name the second largest city in Egypt, so why should they know the 5th in the UK.

I was making the point why Manchester is recognised.

 

As I've posted before, in this part of France Sheffield is still recognised for tools - you can walk into any garden centre - and they are numerous - and see a whole load of Spear & Jackson "made in Sheffield" tools.

[Planner1 428]

On 01/07/2019 at 15:58, Longcol said:

Back in the early days of SF a member found a Sheffield USA  (Texas if I remember) that had a computer forum and a number of SF members posted messages on it. I think the story appeared in the Star.

There is one in Vermont and one in Alabama.

[Longcol 596]

5 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

There is one in Vermont and one in Alabama.

And more if this brief thread is anything to go by

 

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/118131-how-many-sheffields/

 

[Ontarian1981 10]

1 hour ago, Longcol said:

And more if this brief thread is anything to go by

 

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/118131-how-many-sheffields/

 

 There are 25 U S States with a Paris and 2 in Canada (Ontario and Yukon), but not one in Quebec. LOL

[Unisol 12]

7 hours ago, Cyclone said:

Not really the point, the point being that Sheffield isn't well known, which is what I said originally.  It's not known all over the world, even in tourist spots that get lots of English people.

 

Not my experience at all. I’ve met LOADS of people far and wide on my travels that have heard of Sheffield and similarly to an above poster - I’ve had lots of foreigners say things like “I was there a couple of weeks ago” and things like “yeah I went to the Leadmill there one”. Gatecrasher is another one often quoted. In fact I’ve heard this one far more than anything about cutlery.

[Cyclone 10]

9 hours ago, Longcol said:

That would fit most departments in rural France - the majority of the country - like here in the Dordogne.

I was making the point why Manchester is recognised.

 

As I've posted before, in this part of France Sheffield is still recognised for tools - you can walk into any garden centre - and they are numerous - and see a whole load of Spear & Jackson "made in Sheffield" tools.

But only a subset of the people would have ever read the tools (or been into a garden centre).

France is our closest neighbour though (well, maybe I should count Ireland, but hey), so I'd hope they're English geography is a little better than further away around the world.

2 hours ago, Unisol said:

Not my experience at all. I’ve met LOADS of people far and wide on my travels that have heard of Sheffield and similarly to an above poster - I’ve had lots of foreigners say things like “I was there a couple of weeks ago” and things like “yeah I went to the Leadmill there one”. Gatecrasher is another one often quoted. In fact I’ve heard this one far more than anything about cutlery.

I met a shopkeeper in Egypt who used to live here, but he was the only one (of the small number who asked where we were from) who knew the place.  So whilst there will always be someone who knows it, it's most definitely not universally known.