Are you referring to why the addresses are the easy they are (because of the 1898 consolidation)? I knew that already. What I’m referring to is that it is improper to address an envelope to someone in Brooklyn using New York, New York. No one I’ve ever known does that, we all follow what the post office says to do, which is Brooklyn, New York.

Funnily enough, I kind of do know what I’m talking about. I’ve only lived in Brooklyn my entire life (outside of the maybe 4 months after I was born, which were spent in Manhattan).

Yes, you can technically address Brooklyn-bound mail to New York, New York as long as the zip code is correct. I could even address an envelope to Fort Lauderdale, NY and as long as the zip code is a Brooklyn one it will get there.

But why make the USPS’s job harder? They tell us to address Brooklyn-bound mail to Brooklyn, NY, and we do. Brooklyn mail is already bad enough, no need to complicate it more.

I forgot about that lol, I’m just so used to putting Brooklyn that I don’t think about it any more.

I guess I didn’t explain it clearly enough, tbf it’s a weird concept to get your head around though. Here are some Wikipedia articles that might help you understand what I’m trying to say:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_New_York_City

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughs_of_New_York_City

>All five boroughs came into existence with the creation of modern New York City in 1898, when New York County (including The Bronx), Kings County, part of Queens County, and Richmond County were consolidated within one municipal government under a new city charter. All former municipalities within the newly consolidated city were eliminated.

>New York City was originally confined to Manhattan Island and the smaller surrounding islands that formed New York County. As the city grew northward, it began annexing areas on the mainland, absorbing territory from Westchester County into New York County in 1874 (West Bronx) and 1895 (East Bronx). During the 1898 consolidation, this territory was organized as the Borough of the Bronx, though still part of New York County. In 1914, Bronx County was split off from New York County so that each borough was then coterminous with a county.

>When the western part of Queens County was consolidated with New York City in 1898, that area became the Borough of Queens. In 1899, the remaining eastern section of Queens County was split off to form Nassau County on Long Island, thereafter making the borough and county of Queens coextensive with each other.

If NYC was broken into five different cities for the five different boroughs, Brooklyn would be the second largest city in the US by population after LA.

No, you wouldn’t. Like I wrote in my other comment, NYC’s municipal government is weird. If you are writing a letter to Manhattan, you address it as New York, New York. For Brooklyn, same as with Staten Island or The Bronx, you say Brooklyn, New York. Queens is where it gets even weirder. AFAIK, there is no address with Queens, New York. If you’re writing a letter to someone in Flushing or Maspeth, Queens, you address it as Flushing, New York or Maspeth, New York.

Manhattan is one of the five boroughs that comprises NYC. It is not a separate city, they are all part of the same one. See my comment below the parent one you were responding to.

That Wikipedia list is just so wrong. There are so many inconsistencies with how cities are defined across the world, and the authors seem to have incorrectly identified parts of cities as entire cities themselves (Manhattan being the obvious example to me).

You are correct. NYC is composed of five boroughs, Manhattan (New York County), Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens (Queens County), The Bronx (Bronx County), and Staten Island (Richmond County). Manhattan is the densest, Brooklyn is the most populated, Queens is the largest by land area, The Bronx is the only one connected to the mainland, and Staten Island is the most suburban feeling one. NYC municipal government is kind of weird, because the city is comprised of five counties. Most city services are citywide (police, fire, education, etc), but each borough elects its own DA and Borough President (from what I understand, as a life-long NYCer, this position doesn’t have a lot of power and is often a stepping stone to become mayor). The Mayor and City Council represent the whole city, not each borough individually.

All of that being said, when most people think of NYC, they think of Manhattan, which is the “core” of the city. This (not very beautiful) infographic seems to be cherry-picking individual parts of cities to compare, so that’s probably why they chose Manhattan.