Hello, Rowan!

I take it that "Poms" means the British? I wonder where that nickname came from... I suppose it's a relatively friendly nickname-though that may depend on the tone of voice one uses when saying it. I got the sense that you were not being insulting when you wrote "Poms"...

With regard to the words I used to describe communities within a larger community, I suppose that "boroughs" is the correct term for New York City as per this online source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_subdivisions_of_New_York_State

Here's an excerpt from that wikipedia article:

..."New York City is a special case. The city consists of the entire area of five counties. These counties retain a small amount of governance as boroughs. Under the state legislation, commonly called Consolidation, that allowed the city (as the City of Greater New York) to annex huge areas beyond its original borders (including smaller cities, towns and villages) in 1898, the State of New York retains certain powers over the city. At the time of Consolidation, Queens County was split between the western towns, which voted to join the city, and those that did not. The next year (1899), the eastern towns of Queens County separated to become Nassau County."

-snip-

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania there are specific formally identifable & identified neighborhoods within the city proper. And different sections of these neighborhods have their own names with which they are more informally identified. My understanding is that most sections of the city were once autonomous towns that joined together at some point in time-though probably not all at the same time-to form the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to a particular township's decision to join or not join the city of Pittsburgh-and also due to the topography of the area which is separated by rivers and joined by bridges and highways-it's possible to drive outside of Pittsburgh through other towns or boroughs and then continue "straight" ahead and once again re-enter Pittsburgh.

The neighborhoods that comprise Pittsburgh aren't called boroughs, and unlike New York City, besides members of city council and school board members who are supposed to represent that community's interests, these communities have no administrative authority.

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Thanks, also Rowan, for the explanation about England, GB, and UK.
I'm still influenced by almost 5 decades old high school book learnin which is really faulty in our changing world. For instance, I didn't know that "the UK is rarely described as "Great Britain" these days".

Good ole Mudcat! You can always learn something here.