Literally translated, it means "Old Gold Mountain". I'm serious. It hails back to the California Gold Rush of 1849, when many Chinese people sailed to California in hopes of striking it rich.
I had no idea that people still referred to San Francisco as "Old Gold Mountain" until I came to China. But they still do, go figure.
If you wondering why this is the first time I've heard the term 旧金山 , it's because in (Hong Kong) Cantonese we call San Francisco 三藩市 (Sān fán shì), which is a phonetic translation of the city name, San Francisco. If you hear the word for San Francisco in Hong Kong Cantonese, it's obvious that the term was phonetically derived from the city name itself. Literally translated, the characters have no relation to each other at all.
P.S. Yes, these are my own pictures.
Very interesting linguistic info! Thanks for the cultural lesson Angela! :D
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