Where did this nickname of " 'Nati" or better yet " 'the Nati" come from and how long has it been around? I never heard it as a kid in Cincinnati though it's possible that it was just slang to which I wasn't exposed...but I hear it a lot now, mostly in casual reference on the Internet. Do people use it in person? Is it a common nickname not only slang-wise but in things like local media?

I hate the sound of it, it really makes me think of poseur thug-types or something, like the city is trying to give street cred to itself when in fact it seems so dead-set against anything involving the words "street" or "cred" in practice. I'm not too crazy about "Cincy" either, but at least that sounds more like the city's actual name and doesn't have connotations on its own.