Unbelievably, People Actually Once Used These Nicknames For Areas Of The Hudson Valley

Like most parts of New York, the Hudson Valley has some pretty tough-to-pronounce town names.

It would make sense for some of these places to have nicknames, and some places do in fact have nicknames. But, in my day-to-day experience in the Hudson Valley, I don't think I've ever actually, seriously, heard anyone use these nicknames.

I'll just put it out there now that I'm not a Hudson Valley-born and raised resident. So maybe this information will feel a bit appalling to those specifically active in the Hudson Valley between the years 2004 and 2007.

Nicknames for Hudson Valley Towns That I Don't Believe People Actually Use

The first one is Po-Town. I've seen it written out on the internet but I've never heard someone utter the phrase "Po-Town" when referring to Poughkeepsie. And understandably so. It feels like a pretty lame nickname.

In doing a search on Urban Dictionary, most of the definitions for Po-Town that reference Poughkeepsie were published between the years 2004 and 2006, so maybe it's simply a relic of time.

Here's how one Urban Dictionary definition eloquently explains how to use the phrase Po-Town in a sentence:

Vince(From Wappingers Falls, NY):Nick, where you don' come from, son?
Nick: Po-Town, playa.
Vince: Fo shizzle? (Points to himself) "Wapps" in ya grill, kid!
Nick: "Hud Val" represent, beliedat.

Yep.

So naturally, this led me down a rabbit hole to discover that people actually once referred to the area of Wappingers Falls as "The Wapps." And no, I'm not basing this solely off of this one terribly 2006 dialogue exchange.

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There are 3 other Urban Dictionary definitions referencing Wappingers Falls as "Wapps" from 3 different years! Here's one example from 2008:

Johnny: Yo man, where you from?
Mike: Wapps, dog, you?
Johnny: I'm from da tough streets o' Po-town, bro!
Mike: Righteous *peace sign*

I know you won't believe me, but yes, these 2 examples were posted by 2 different people from 2 different years. Considering its uncomfortable similarities to the sound of one derogatory term, I'm glad this nickname has seemingly sunset into oblivion for the most part.

Where I will draw the line is "Hud Val" as used in the first example. I have not found a single other piece of information using Hud Val in place of Hudson Valley.

Maybe I'm simply not tethered to the nostalgia of these phrases, but I think it's ok that we leave both Po-Town and The Wapps in the past for the time being.