Essential English phrases

Not a request — it means 'pardon?' or 'say that again'. A direct calque of the German 'bitte?', left behind by the city's nineteenth-century German population. It confuses every newcomer exactly once.

The standard Cincinnati opening question, asked of adults in their fifties. It is a map question, not a status one — the answer places you on the west side or east side, Catholic or public, city or county.

Over-the-Rhine, the neighbourhood immediately north of downtown named for the canal that German immigrants crossed to get home. One of the largest intact districts of nineteenth-century Italianate architecture in the United States.

The riverfront district between the two stadiums, built on top of the flood-prone bank — bars, flats and the approach to the Roebling bridge. Where the city goes before and after a Reds or Bengals game.

A real and durable cultural divide, not just geography — the west side traditionally German Catholic and parish-organised, the east side wealthier and more transient. People still explain themselves by it and it maps closely onto the high school question.

Cincinnati chili over spaghetti with a heap of shredded cheddar. Four-way adds onions or beans, five-way adds both. The chili is cinnamon-and-clove spiced and is a distinct dish from Texan chili; saying so out loud is fine, calling it bad is not.

Pork, beef and steel-cut oats, sliced and fried until crisp — a German-American breakfast meat that essentially does not exist outside this metro. It is on brunch menus everywhere here and nowhere an hour away.

The local ice cream, made in French pots one two-gallon batch at a time since 1870, with chocolate chips the size of a thumb. Loyalty is genuine and the black raspberry chip argument is not settled.

Ohio taxes municipal income where you work AND where you live, with a credit between them. Cincinnati's rate is 1.8%. Almost nobody arriving from outside Ohio has met this arrangement before, and here it can involve two states as well as two cities.

What Kentucky calls its local payroll tax. Northern Kentucky cities and counties each levy their own on wages earned there, resident or not — and unlike Kentucky state income tax, it is not covered by the reciprocity agreement with Ohio.

The steep I-71/75 descent through Fort Wright in Kentucky, on the approach to the river. It is where the Cincinnati skyline appears and where southbound traffic stops dead.

The double-decked bridge carrying I-71 and I-75 over the Ohio into Kentucky, functionally obsolete for decades and the subject of a long-running companion-bridge project. It is the single most discussed piece of infrastructure in the metro.

Cincinnati's nickname since the 1820s, when it was the largest city in the American west. It is on the beer, the murals and the sports jerseys, and locals use it without irony.

Cincinnati's city services line and app — potholes, bulk pickup, code complaints, streetlights. 911 stays for emergencies; 311 is the one you will actually use.