Word.ws English Dictionary

No Fun City

No Fun City proper noun: derogatory name for Vancouver: a major city in British Columbia, Canada.

Proper noun

No Fun City

  1. (derogatory, informal, usually) Derogatory name for Vancouver: a major city in British Columbia, Canada.
    • Where did this wealth of visual expression come from, and how did it blossom in No Fun City, of all places?2002, Elizabeth Nolan, "Vancouver's Underground Stars Light up the Night", The Nerve, Volume 3, Number 3, May/June 2002, page 4
    • Celebrates independent art and culture in “No Fun City” — Vancouver, BC.2013, Heidi Waechtler, editor, The Canadian Writer's Market, 19th Edition: The Essential Guide for Freelance Writers, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 37

Origin of No Fun City

Reportedly coined in 2000 by an organiser of Vancouver's annual Symphony of Fire fireworks exhibition (now known as the Celebration of Light), who was upset over a tobacco company being prevented from sponsoring the event. Strict liquor licensing laws have also been pointed to as the source of the nickname, as has an incident in which police advised people to avoid a New Year's celebration, fearing violence. Further popularized in 2010 via a feature documentary called No Fun City about the struggles faced by Vancouver music venues, directed by Melissa James and Kate Kroll.

Questions about No Fun City

What does No Fun City mean?
No Fun City means derogatory name for Vancouver: a major city in British Columbia, Canada.
What part of speech is No Fun City?
No Fun City is a proper noun.

Words near No Fun City in the dictionary

  1. no free lunch
  2. no free lunch theorem
  3. no frills
  4. no fun
  5. no fun at parties
  6. No Fun City
  7. no further action
  8. no fuss, no muss
  9. no gain without pain
  10. no glove no love
  11. no glove, no love

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: No Fun City (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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