Right on, captainspatula. I try to explain to people that hearing "Frisco" or "San Fran", or seeing it on a t-shirt, sounds like fingernails scraping on a blackboard to a resident. Ack. Stop it please. I usually get one of two reactions to my request. One is "Oh I will now intentionally call it those names at every possible opportunity, just to annoy you." The other reaction is "Well, what do you call it, then?" which I will attempt to answer now.
- The City. This is most common if you're in Silicon Valley. It may seem ambiguous, but what other city could it be referring to? Oakland? San Jose? Hah. We laugh at those places, much like New Yorkers laugh at, uh, every other city in the world. (Admittedly, this is probably because of ignorance of those places. I haven't been to San Jose in almost 2 years.)
- The name of the neighborhood you're going to. This is more common among SF residents. It is a smaller city than many, but personalities of San Francisco neighborhoods vary widely. Try "Gonna grab a burrito in the Mission" or "Meet you at Tart to Tart in the Sunset".
- SF is OK in text. Sometimes I use the airport code, SFO.
- If the full name "San Francisco" is used, at least get rid of the assonance in the 2nd word. Shorten the "a" in "Francisco"; say "San Frinn-ciss-co" or "San Francis-co" but not "San Fraaaann-cisco". Except if you're Frank Sinatra; the chairman can sing it his way.
Okay, now that I've explained it, you can resume calling it San Fran to intentionally annoy me, while wearing the glittery "Frisco" t-shirt you bought at Fisherman's Wharf, and hanging off of the cable car with the huge line of tourists also waiting to take the cable car, preventing its use as public transportation by actual residents. But it's okay, cause I'll laugh my ass off when you try to make a left turn off of Market, and hunt for street parking near Union Square.