Here comes another idiot list: Men’s Health has produced a list purporting to rank the happiest cities in the United States. By “happiest,” the magazine really means “least unhappy,” as measured by the percentage of the population using anti-depressant drugs and feeling the blues all or most of the time.

It turns out that among the 100 largest “cities” in the country, Virginia Beach rates an A-,  placing number 12 on the list, while Chesapeake scores B+ and a number 13 spot. Norfolk comes in at number 42, Richmond at number 68, and Washington, D.C. at number 81.

Here’s the problem: While Virginia Beach and Chesapeake may be “cities” from a state constitutional perspective, they bear little sociological similarity to “cities” such as Norfolk, Richmond and Washington, D.C., much less other “cities” on the list, which encapsulate traditional urban cores with higher levels of poverty. Having experienced most of their population growth in the past three decades or so as the middle class fled crime, poor schools and high taxes in the traditional urban core of south Hampton Roads, inhabitants of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are more affluent, better educated and have fewer social pathologies. Men’s Health is comparing apples and oranges.

This misuse of the word “city” is a classic case of what E M Risse calls “core confusing words.” For the record, when I use the word “city” on this blog, I refer to it as a municipality designated a “city” under the Virginia state constitution with administrative and taxation powers distinct from those of “counties” and “towns.”

— JAB