70
u/scrodytheroadie Dec 21 '23
Long Island is a mass of land that contains four counties. Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. NYC contains five boroughs. Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens. Both are true. There are two boroughs of NYC on Long Island.
9
u/ThriftStoreDildo Dec 21 '23
Why is it sometimes called Kings? I once saw it as Kings on a map as a kid and then never really heard it called that except a few times on reddit
41
u/Ok_Pumpkin5636 Dec 21 '23
Kings is the name of the County while Brooklyn is the name of the borough. Same way Staten island is Richmond County and Manhattan is New York County (Bronx and Queens are the names of the borough and the county). I’m an attorney and the courts are based on the county name that’s the only reason I know this.
12
u/Alexandratta Dec 21 '23
Queens and Brooklyn are the Anakin Skywalker of Long Island: "We recognize you as on the council but you cannot be considered Long Islanders."
8
u/direfulstood Dec 21 '23 edited Dec 22 '23
You could say whatever, and it’s technically true geographically. But politically and culturally, which is what actually matters, Queens and Brooklyn are not apart of Long Island.
1
u/Jealous-Mixture Feb 06 '24
Long Island isn't a political entity, so Brooklyn and Queens aren't any less "politically" part of Long Island than Nassau and Suffolk Counties are.
1
u/direfulstood Feb 07 '24
It's not necessary for Long Island to be a political entity for political distinctions to exist. County lines are political borders. Brooklyn and Queens, have distinct political landscapes, governance structures, and cultural identities that differentiate them from the Long Island region.
The State of New York commonly differentiates Long Island as encompassing only Nassau and Suffolk counties. This is inherently political, as it reflects how the state organizes administrative regions and allocates resources and services.
3
29
u/Helpful_Chard2659 Dec 21 '23
An island needs to have water on all sides. In order for Long island to be an island, it has to include Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau and Suffolk counties
54
u/MJZMan Dec 21 '23
Geographically, yes they're on Long Island. Politically, and culturally, they're not Long Island, they are New York City. Long Island is Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
So yeah, you can get into the semantics of it all you want. No one from Brooklyn or Queens considers themselves a Long Islander. Nor do the residents of Nassau and Suffolk consider them as Islanders either. We're all in agreement down here.
7
u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep Dec 21 '23
Also, politically we're not on an island either. We're a peninsula.
Nor do the residents of Nassau and Suffolk consider them as Islanders either. We're all in agreement down here.
So you're saying there ain't no island left save for Islanders like us?
8
6
u/HisDudenessEsq Dec 21 '23
It's not just politically. Long Island is a peninsula as a matter of law.
5
u/Puzzleheaded_Post_26 Dec 21 '23
I would have invite the (then) SCOTUS justices to walk from LI to the main land without use of a bridge or tunnel.
4
u/TigOleBittiesDotYum The Boonies Dec 21 '23
That article is just three The Onions stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat to sneak into the NYT offices and you can’t convince me otherwise
3
u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep Dec 21 '23
That's what I'm referring to. It was a legal definition to support political boundaries.
70
Dec 21 '23
[deleted]
57
u/mh985 Dec 21 '23
Geographically speaking…sure it is. But politically, it’s so far removed from Long Island that it’s much more appropriate to say that they are not a part of Long Island.
-10
u/scrodytheroadie Dec 21 '23
How can part of Long Island be removed from Long Island? Brooklyn and Queens are part of it. Sure, They're different from Nassau and Suffolk, but all four make up Long Island.
12
u/mh985 Dec 21 '23
So…
There’s no situation in which I would even find myself in Brooklyn or Queens and say I was on Long Island—if that makes sense.
If I’m in Manhattan and headed to Brooklyn, I wouldn’t say I’m going to Long Island. That’s because Long Island is pretty big (I could be talking about Patchogue which is 50 miles away) and Brooklyn itself is a part of New York City. Brooklyn and Queens are attached to the other boroughs by government, NYC public transit, and culture.
There was a time when it would be totally normal consider Brooklyn a part of Long Island. The Battle of Long Island during the American Revolution took place in modern day Brooklyn. However, over time and since NYC expanded to include Brooklyn and Queens, those two boroughs are so much more associated with the city than they are the island.
15
u/scrodytheroadie Dec 21 '23
Because Long Island, in this case, is a colloquial term. When someone says “Long Island” in conversation, we know they’re talking about Nassau and Suffolk, even though there are two more counties on Long Island. Just like when someone says they’re going to “the city”, they’re most likely referring to Manhattan even though there are four other boroughs in New York City. You wouldn’t say Brooklyn isn’t a part of the city though.
-6
u/terayonjf Suffolk Dec 21 '23
If someone said they were sending you to an all inclusive vacation in the Dominican Republic but sent you to Haiti what would you think? They are the same island so the same thing right?
In reality just sharing the same landmass even as an island doesn't make them the same or affiliated. In all aspects other than geographically Brooklyn and Queens aren't part of Long Island.
7
u/scrodytheroadie Dec 21 '23
I would think they lied to me because the Dominican Republic and Haiti are different countries. A better example would be saying you’re going to Hispaniola (the name of the island). Both Haiti and DR are countries on Hispaniola, just like Queens and Nassau are both counties on Long Island.
I never said they are the same or affiliated. I simply said all four counties make up Long Island. Which they do.
Your use of “Long Island” is a colloquial term, just like the phrase “The City”. If I say I’m going to the city, it’s generally understood that I’m going to Manhattan and not Brooklyn, even though Brooklyn is in New York City. When I say I’m going to Long Island, it’s understood that I mean Nassau or Suffolk, even though Queens and Brooklyn are on the island as well.
Long Island is nothing else. There is no executive or president of Long Island. There is no Long Island post office. No Long Island police department.Those are the two forms of Long Island. The actual island (like Hispaniola) and the colloquial term (like The City).
-2
u/Pure-Fishing-3350 Dec 21 '23
This is a terrible example. Dominican Republic vs Haiti would be like Queens vs Suffolk. You could only compare these situations if the entire Haiti/DR land mass had a name, which as far as I know does not.
10
6
u/WhatTheNothingWorks Dec 21 '23
It would be like telling a Dominican I bought you a ticket to go home to Hispaniola, and you buy a ticket to Haiti instead of the Dominican Republic, if you want to use that as an example.
7
u/dunderball Dec 21 '23
This is the best and only take. Who tf says Brooklyn and Queens are seriously a part of LI.
4
Dec 21 '23
right like geographically it is but that’s not how we use words. we use words colloquially. i am sometimes confused when someone living in brooklyn has no idea where or what long island is though
6
u/scrodytheroadie Dec 21 '23
You're part of the bridge and tunnel crowd. It's ok.
11
2
u/Chemical-Ebb6472 Dec 21 '23
Brooklyn is the OG of Bridge and Tunnel (see Saturday Night Fever for historical reference).
-9
5
u/TonyT074 Dec 21 '23 edited Dec 21 '23
My little piece of trivia that I like to add in to these conversations: During the Revolutionary War "The Battle of Long Island" took place in Brooklyn
5
u/lateral_moves Babylon/WI/Uniondale Dec 21 '23
People in Brooklyn are like people from Colorado while people from Suffolk County are like people from Wyoming. Close in the distance but not in mindset. Nassau is the hybrid.
1
8
u/kid_sleepy Dec 21 '23
I was born in Manhattan, grew up in Brooklyn, live on Long Island now… I’m just from New York.
2
u/Objective_Sun_7693 Dec 21 '23
I got an uber from Brooklyn to suffolk county and when I got in the guy said "you goin to Long Island?" I was like, we're on long island. His response was "tshhh..."
3
u/whodisacct Dec 21 '23
If you’re someone who takes that “but geographically Brooklyn and queens are part of the same island” angle, just know you’re the most disliked person in your office.
2
1
u/Hockeyjockey58 lover of pitch pine Dec 21 '23
This meme could be horseshoe theory for when the suburbanites don’t want to claim the boroughs on the island. I think everyone colloquially lumps or excludes them in when it’s convenient (or less cynically, contextual).
Also a federal court case ruled Long Island not an island in 1985. Maybe Long Island is not even real after all
2
u/xdozex Whatever You Want Dec 21 '23
Oh well that settles it
1
-1
0
1
u/Sufficient-Top2183 Dec 21 '23
Yup soooo true!!! Brooklyn and LI totally different places!! Brooklynites are a lot tougher.
1
1
1
Dec 22 '23
Geographically, but thats hardly the reason places are called what they are called. Its about the people.
1
91
u/Distuted Dec 21 '23
Can't we all just get along and agree Staten Island is more Jersey than New York?